Free True Control by Willow Madison Page A

clearer. I was able to think again without feeling the need to either heave or hit. I walk down my hall slowly.
    Paul is sitting behind Liz. PJ standing next to her. Mom, Dad, and Jake all standing separate to the side. Liz is inches from Killaney. She looks and sounds upset. I have a tightening in my stomach, but I keep walking.
    Her eyes dart to me. She’s all anger now. “What did you do to her?!” She takes one step towards me, but Paul stands and grabs her arm, PJ moving closer to her too. “What did you do to Lucy?!”
    Everyone moves in a little. I stay where I’m at. I address Killaney calmly, “Do you have any news? Any new leads?” I fear what he’s going to say.
    He steps in front of Liz a little. “No. But we did have an interesting conversation today with a former co-worker of your wife.”
    I relax a little. I was expecting this. On my run, I went through how this would play out. What would be the best and fastest way to get the police off this trail and back onto the one that leads to finding Lucy. I know Tracy squawking about me will cause waves. I just have to wait it out.
    Jake and Dad are both giving me warning looks. I know Dad doesn’t want me to go into my marriage more with this detective; he thinks it’ll look bad for me. I don’t care about that. I care about finding my wife.
    “We spoke with Rich Tesson.”
    I can feel my jaw clenching, but I keep my hands loose. I don’t like hearing that name. I only narrow my eyes. Waiting for the rest.
    Killaney pretends to look at his notes. “He said he was good friends with your wife until you stepped in.” I still remain silent. “Said he was afraid for her. That you had a violent temper.” Silence. I can hear Liz breathing heavily behind him. “He even said you threatened him. To break his arms if he so much as looked at your wife again.”
    Killaney isn’t going to continue. He waits out my silence now. “Yes.”
    Killaney’s surprised look. “I’m going to need more than that, Max…”
    “Yes. I told Lucy that she wasn’t to see or speak with him again. And I told him the same.”
    “Did you threaten him?”
    “No. I promised him.” I can’t help the little grin I let slip. A small release of the anger I feel at the memory of threatening the fuck who dared to touch my wife.
    “And did you threaten Lucy…?”
    “No.” I take a breath and sigh. I can see Dad’s small head shake. Jake’s too. “I didn’t need to threaten my wife, Detective. We’ve been through this already. I gave her an order and she obeyed it. No questions.”
    “You sonofabitch!” Liz pulls against her held arm. Killaney turns a little so she can see me. But he keeps his eyes on me; he’s waiting to see my reaction, but I give none. “Did you hurt her?! Did you hurt my baby?!”
    Killaney raises his eyebrows. He wants an answer to her question.
    Dad moves to step next to me, but I give him a small shake of my head and stern look to stop.
    I look at Killaney as I answer. “We’ve already been through this. I punished Lucy for letting Rich touch her.”
    “Oh my God.” Liz is shaking, staring at me in disbelief. I ignore her.
    “That was the night you spoke of spanking your wife?” I nod. He turns towards Jake. “The same night you were worried about Lucy and started seeing her on a regular basis?” Jake nods slightly. “And this was about five months ago?” He’s back to looking at me. I can see that he’s trying to stay calm, for Liz’s sake I’m guessing. I’m already calm.
    “Yes.”
    Killaney purses his lips and stares at his notes. Liz doesn’t like his silence. She pulls free from Paul and faces him again. “Aren’t you going to do something? Arrest him? He just admitted to hurting my daughter?!”
    He speaks slowly and calmly, turning to her a little more, “Ma’am…we are looking into every possibility. But…” He looks at me again and I know he’d like nothing more than to arrest me. He’d like this to be over.