Spark in the Dark

Chapter 166

"Ortiz!" A guard called. Shawn stood and walked over. "Lawyer time."

Shawn followed the guard to a room where Lowen was already waiting. She assumed it must be the same room Tara had just left. She sat down across from Lowen and waited for the door to close.

"What do we know?" Shawn asked.

"Not much on Tara, the prosecutor is claiming privileged information. They have practically nothing on you."

"So why am I sitting here?"

"Someone must have pulled some major strings to get you here," Lowen said.

"The Marshall?"

"Tara told me about him. He would be my guess. Tara thinks this is all Gemma, though."

"Gemma wouldn't go to the cops. Not her style."

"Only time will tell," Lowen shrugged.

"What do we do now?"

"Your bail hearing is Monday at 10 A.M. I'm going to motion to have the case against you dismissed based on the lack of evidence. I highly doubt the judge won't grant it."

"So I just need to stick it out two more nights?"

"Yes and no. He got you here for a reason. More than likely he's going to push you to rat on Tara. Don't let him get to you. I will get you out of this."

"Okay," Shawn nodded.

"Juice is here to see you. Do you want to talk to him?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

"Tara won't see Jax," Lowen said with a shrug. She stood and lightly touched Shawn's shoulder. "I'll check on you both tomorrow. Silver lining in all this is at least you're both in this together. I'll have them send Juice in."

"I'll just wait here," Shawn joked.

Lowen left and Shawn waited impatiently for Juice to come in. When the door opened again and he stepped in, Shawn couldn't help but tear up in relief. Just seeing him made everything better, at least for the moment.

"Shawn," he said, sounding relieved too. She stood and they hugged for a long time. He pulled away and kissed her. "Are you okay? You look exhausted."

"You try sleeping with Tara tossing and turning on the bunk above you and see how much sleep you get."

"At least you're together, right?"

"Why does everyone keep saying that to me? I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for her."

"Sorry," Juice said and they both sat down. "I'm sorry for yelling at you last night. It was a bad day."

"Tell me about it," Shawn sighed. "Why was it bad for you?"

"Clay was arrested, too. For the murder of Damon Pope."

"Pope? He's the one who-"

"Yeah," Juice said, stopping her from saying that he killed Dawn.

"Did Clay actually do it?" Shawn asked. Juice gave a pointed look up into the corner of the room. Shawn turned and followed his gaze and saw a camera with a flashing red light. "Right."

"We can talk more about it once you get home, okay?" Juice promised. "Tig told me to tell you he loves you. He wanted to come up, but they only let one person in at a time here, so..."

"I get it. Tell him I love him, too." Shawn said and gave him a sad smile. "I guess I'm missing my baby shower this afternoon."

"I'm sorry. I called Lyla this morning to let her know what happened."

"She probably thinks I got arrested on purpose just to avoid it."

"No, she doesn't. Besides she said she'd reschedule it."

"I was kidding. Tell her not to. I have a feeling I won't want to do anything for awhile after this." Juice nodded and looked down at the table. Shawn reached across so she could hold his hands. "How are you?"

"Don't worry about me. Not even for a second. I'm fine. I'll be better in two days when you're home. Just take of yourself, please?"

Shawn's eyes began to fill with tears and she nodded. "I love you."

"I love you, too. I love both of you. How is she?"

"She's okay, I think. Moving around a lot now that you're here. I think she likes hearing her daddy's voice."

Juice began to get choked up. "I can't wait until you're home. I don't even know what to do without you there. I don't like being alone."

"I know. Soon, okay?"

He nodded. "I-"

The door opened and a guard stepped into the room. "Time's up. Let's go."

"What are you talking about?" Juice asked. "It's been maybe five minutes. I'm supposed to get a half hour."

"Too bad," the guard told him. "Someone else more important than you wants to talk to her."

"Shit," Shawn swore to herself.

"What?" Juice asked.

"That Marshall must be here."

"Let's go," the guard said impatiently.

Juice leaned over the table and kissed her. "I'll be back tomorrow."

They kissed one more time before Juice left, glaring the guard down as he passed. The door closed, but not for long. It opened again with more force as Toric came into the room. Shawn leaned back in her seat to glare at him.

"How are your accommodations?" He asked politely.

"They forgot to leave the mint on my pillow, but other than that, just fine."

"Hmm," Toric said with a smirk. Shawn returned the smile. If he thought one night in county was enough to break her, he had another thing coming. "Have you had time to consider my offer?"

"I'm not sure what you said could possibly be considered an offer."

"Answer my questions about Tara and you get to go home with your husband today. He hasn't even left, yet. Him and his MC buddy are talking to your lawyer in the lobby."

"Oh? My lawyer is still here, too? Good, go get her. I'll wait."

"I'm sure she's charging the MC more than enough money to get you and Dr. Knowles out. Why don't we save them a few bucks and talk privately?"

"Why don't we just save ourselves both a lot of time and frustration and not talk at all?" Shawn asked in a fake, cheerful tone.

"If it's the MC you are afraid of, I can get you into witness protection."

"I'm not afraid of them."

"You should be," Toric said, his voice becoming louder and more unsteady. "Think of everything you've seen through out your life. The death. The destruction. All because of them. You really think it'll be any different for your daughter? What the hell kind of mother lets their child be raised in such a toxic environment?"

"You know if you're even half as pleasant as your sister was I can see why Otto chose her," Shawn said and then jumped as Toric slammed his fists down roughly on the table. Shawn looked down at the table and then noticed something.

Toric had the sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up to his elbow. The movement he made while slamming his hands down brought the shirt up higher, revealing fresh track marks on his arm. Shawn looked up at him. Toric looked down at his arm and realized she had seen.

"You should do a better job of covering that shit up," Shawn told him coldly. "You wouldn't want anyone else to see and take away all of those professional courtesies now would you?"

Toric pulled his sleeve back down and calmed himself. "Things can get a lot worse for you, Shawn. Remember that. I'll see you tomorrow."

Toric left and the guard came over to take her back to the cell. Shawn took a deep breath and let it out slowly before standing and going with him.