Page 35 of Silverstorm

“He’s on a call to the—” Jude cut her off.

“If you don’t get him out here right now, I’m going to climb over this desk and go and find him myself. Are you prepared to physically stop me?” The young police officer paled slightly, and he felt a twinge of regret that he’d had to threaten her but not enough to make him rescind his words.

“Deputy, you need to calm down,” Ladley said, and Jude knew he was right. But his blood had been boiling ever since Brady had arrested Aria, and he knew he wouldn’t calm down until he got to see her. Got to see she was all right with his own eyes. Until he got her out of this place where she clearly didn’t belong.

Aria was pregnant. The notion kept rolling around in the back of his consciousness, even as he went about doing everything necessary to get her out of this stupid mess.

The ramifications of her simple slip of the tongue—because that’s what’d it’d been, she hadn’t intended for him to know—were huge. Had she been keeping the secret on purpose? Trying to ensnare him? Picked him as a soft target? Planned to get him to fall in love with her so that he couldn’t bear to kick her out of his home when he found out the truth? He didn’t know her well enough to be entirely sure, but he didn’t think that was her style. He sincerely hoped that wasn’t her style, otherwise he’d been played for a fool. His mind kept replaying all their interactions, to see if he could find a hint of falseness, a hint that she might’ve been leading him along.

He didn’t even know how far along she was. Probably no more than three months at the most, because she certainly wasn’t showing. Her stomach had been as flat as a board. If he’d known beforehand, would he still have slept with her? He didn’t know the answer to that question. He didn’t know the answer to the other million questions crowding his brain, either.

One thing he did know was that she’d become special to him, and he needed to see her safe. All his other doubts could wait for another day.

“I’ll get him for you,” the young cop said, eyeing him warily. “But you have to take a seat and wait over there.” She pointed to the row of white plastic chairs lined up along the wall.

“Thank you, Corporal Miller,” Ladley said, reading the woman’s name badge; then he took Jude by the arm and led him over to the chairs. But Jude was too agitated to sit and began to pace, hands shoved in his pockets, glancing up now and then at the front desk. He was aware he looked slightly unhinged, but right now he didn’t care. He’d apologize to Corporal Miller after he’d talked to Aria. But at the moment, he was ready to break every rule in the book if it meant he could see her.

Five excruciating minutes later, Brady appeared through a door to the side of the reception desk.

“It’s about time,” Jude snarled. “What’s this bullshit about no one is allowed in to see Aria?”

“I’m letting her cool her heels.”

“What the…? What does that even mean?” Jude got right up in Brady’s face, but Brady used his height to tower over Jude. “Is this some fucked up kind of way to get into her head? You asshole,” Jude growled. “She’s not one of your hardened criminals. She’s a young woman who’s scared out of her wits, and—” He’d almost blurted out that she was pregnant and needed to be treated appropriately, but the look Aria had given him right before Brady arrested her stopped him. She didn’t want anyone to know, and he had to respect her wishes, even if he really wanted to throw that little tidbit in Brady’s smug face.

“It’s common procedure,” Brady ground out, eyes glittering dangerously. “And I won’t have some snot-nosed, upstart deputy tell me how to run my cases.”

Jude sucked in a breath. This had just become personal, and he didn’t care that Brady was technically his superior, he was going to have to punch the guy in the—

Ladley inserted a hand between them and said calmly, “That may all be well, Detective. But if you’re refusing my client the right to an attorney, you know I will be all over you like a rash that you’ll never get rid of. I will have you up on so many harassment, unreasonable force and misconduct charges, you won’t have time to scratch your ass, let alone investigate any more criminal cases.” He gave Brady a dead-eyed stare, and Jude could suddenly see why this man was the best in the county.

Brady looked between Jude and Ladley, then back again. Out of the corner of his eye, Jude caught the corporal goggling from behind the desk. She clearly hadn’t seen anyone stand up to Brady like this before.

“Fine. It’s time we questioned her, anyway.” Brady took a step back, straightening his sports coat and brushing a nonexistent piece of lint from his arm. “Follow me,” he said curtly.

The young corporal buzzed them through the same door Brady had come out of, and Jude and Ladley followed him down a long hallway. He stopped in front of a door near the end and punched a code into a keypad, pulling the door open.

“After you,” he said ungraciously.

Jude was too eager to see Aria to care, and barged past him into…an empty room. What the hell kind of trick was Brady trying to pull?

“Where is she?” he demanded as Brady trailed in through the doorway behind the lawyer. Brady stopped and for a split-second looked dumbfounded. Recovering quickly, he brought his cell phone to his ear.

“Someone must’ve moved her,” he said. “I’ll find out. Just cool your heels for a second.”

Jude paced around the room, shooting a worried look toward Ladley, who gave a shrug. They both listened to Brady’s one-sided conversation, and Jude became more worried by the minute.

“Where is she?” Jude ground out when Brady ended his phone call.

“Wait here. I’m going to look for her.”

“You’re what?”

“Please tell me you haven’t lost the defendant, Detective Brady,” Ladley demanded, becoming almost as agitated as Jude.

“No. Just…misplaced.” Brady marched out of the room and Jude followed him. There was no way he was letting that man out of his sight.

Two hours later, Jude sat in Brady’s office with his head in his hands, not really listening to what else the detective had to say. All he could think was that Aria had gone missing. There was no way she could’ve just walked out of a fully manned, well-guarded police station. So something else had happened to her. But what? He opened and closed his fists, wanting to smash something to get rid of all this rage and misery. But he knew he needed to hang on, keep himself together, for Aria’s sake.

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