Free Advice of Counsel (The Samuel Collins Series Book 1) by Debra Trueman Page A

leaned her head
against me and broke down in gut wrenching sobs. “I was just trying to get away
from him.  I didn’t mean to kill him,” she sobbed.
    “It was self-defense, Landra.”
    I held her and let her cry until she had totally soaked my
shirt.  When she finally quieted down, I pulled her back from me and made her
look me in the eye.
    “You’re going to give your statement to the police and then I’m
going to take you to the hospital.”
    She shook her head.  “I don’t need to go to the hospital, Sam. 
Really.  I’m okay.”
    “Well, let’s talk to the police and we’ll take it from there.
Wait here and I’ll get the officer.”
    I left Landra sitting there and went back to the room across
the hall.  There were two more policemen and all four were huddled together
talking when I walked in.
    “She’s ready to give you her statement,” I told them.
    Two of the officers followed me back into the room where I’d
left Landra.  One sat on the bed and the other remained standing while Landra
began to relate what had transpired between her and Drake Reeds before he
landed face down on the pavement below.  Landra had stopped crying but she was
completely despondent while she sat there answering their questions.  And the
longer the questioning went on, the more distant she became to where finally,
she zoned out completely and was seemingly unaware even of our presence in the
room.  She was staring at the floor with a vacant look on her face, just like
she was doing when I’d first found her across the hall.
    “Ma’am?” one of the officers said.  Landra startled and looked
at him and then over at me.
    “You okay?” I asked her.  She nodded yes, but I knew she was
far from okay.  The two officers moved into the corner of the room and
conferred, then the one who had been doing the questioning came back over and
pulled me aside.
    “We want to get some pictures and then you can take her home. 
We may have more questions for her later.”
    The officers left the room and returned after about five
minutes with a camera.  I helped Landra out of my jacket and I could see where
the red marks on her arms were already turning to bruises, but when she pulled
her dress down to expose the upper half of her left breast, the violence Drake
had inflicted was even more apparent. There were purple bruises covering most
of the breast where he had grabbed her. I tried to remain detached, but bruises
or not, that was one incredible breast.  Landra opened the slit of her dress
revealing more bruises on her inner thighs, and again, I caught myself thinking
in lecherous terms.
    When the police had finished snapping their pictures Landra put
my jacket back on and sat down in the chair.  The officers left the room and I
went back to where Landra was sitting. “We can go,” I told her.  I offered my
hand and helped her up, and she leaned against me and wrapped her arms around
my waist and cried into my chest again.  “You’re going to be okay, Landra,” I
told her.  “Let me take you to the hospital.”
    “No.  I just want to go home, Sam.  Please.  Just take me
home,” she pleaded.
    It was against my better judgment, but I agreed.  I took her
home and followed her back to her bedroom.  She went into the bathroom and
changed into a pink robe and when she came back out she lay down on the bed and
curled up into the fetal position.  I sat down beside her and stroked her hair.
    “Can I get you anything?” I asked her.
    She shook her head no.  “Will you just lie here with me and
hold me for a minute?”
    “Sure,” I said, but this was going to take some restraint.  I
reluctantly lay down beside her and Landra scooted over closer and curled up
against me.  I put my arms around her and held her, while I tried to occupy my
mind with thoughts of war and sports.  It wasn’t working.  She smelled too good
and she was just way too feminine. Thank goodness she fell asleep almost
immediately, so I