Forever After (Unrestrained 5)

“That won’t be necessary,” I said and pushed the card away. I stood up to escort them to the door and Dana stood up beside me. Both McDonald and St. James also stood as I got their coats from the closet. Finally, McDonald walked to the door to leave. I felt Detective St. James’s eyes on me, and an expression of polite disbelief. He truly did believe what Lisa had told him.

Why?

I didn’t understand why. Drake had never been alone with Lisa except for that one time he went to her apartment to help with the flat screen television.

I followed them to the front door and caught St. James’s eye. “You know, you’re wrong about Drake. He’s not a liar and he’s not a cheater. He would never do what Lisa said. Never.”

“Thanks for letting us come by,” was all he said in reply.

As they left the apartment, I felt anger well up inside of me. He was so wrong about Drake. Why would he believe Lisa?

It was obvious she was deranged. There was no other opportunity for them to be together. Drake hadn’t spent time talking to her on the phone or via text or email. Where did she think this relationship had been developed? It didn’t make sense that the detectives didn’t already know that this was all made up.

When I got back to the sofa, Dana turned to me.

“So,” I said while Dana took a sip of her coffee. “What did you think about their questions and what Detective St. James said about me and Drake?”

She shrugged. “I talked about it a lot with Lara before I came over. She said there’s no way on earth that Dr. Morgan would ever hurt a hair on your head and that if the cops thought he might be involved, they were on the wrong track. I’m sure they’ll realize that when they find that those late-night emails were sent from Lisa's own IP. They'll realize Lisa made it all up.”

She smiled at me and I nodded, but I didn’t feel as confident as her.

“I was reading about wrongful convictions,” I said, remembering an article in the New Yorker about a man wrongfully convicted of rape who had been in jail for two decades. “They could try hard to pin it on Drake or at least make him look like an accomplice.”

She shook her head. “They have no physical evidence and no circumstantial evidence, except for some coffee dates at work and the single time Drake went to her apartment. That’s the only contact they have had since the last time Drake and she were, well, you know. At the dungeon party several years ago. It’s not enough to impute that Drake had a torrid affair with her and convinced her to try to kill you so they could be together. They’ll get off that tangent soon enough.”

“I hope so,” I said.

“Don’t worry,” Dana said to me. “I’m sure it will all work out in the end.”

“Thanks for everything,” I said and forced a smile. “I hope it’ll all work out.”

She finished her coffee and stood up. "If you don't mind, I have an appointment."

“Can I get my limo service to drop you back at the office?” I asked, disappointed that she was leaving so quickly.

“Nah, I’m going to walk," she said and went to get her coat. "I need another coffee and it’s only a few blocks. I'll call you later,” she said and went to the door. "Don't worry. They'll give up on Drake as a suspect soon enough."

"I hope so.

She gave me a bright smile and then left.

Moments later, I received a text from Drake:

DRAKE: How did it go?

KATE: Fine. They wanted to know what I knew about Lisa and when. We’ll talk when you get home.

DRAKE: OK. See you soon. Love you.

KATE: I love you.

I put my phone away and despite Dana's assurances, my gut did not feel good about the way the police were viewing Drake’s involvement in the attack.

Not at all.

A vague sense of gloom came over me. Dana seemed so sure that things would work out and that the police were doing their jobs, but I wasn’t so sure.

Sophie had been quiet the entire time the police were at the apar