Deborah Fletcher Mello - Tempted By The Badge

“Joanna’s a very strong woman. And she’ll fight this with everything in her. She’ll be fine.”

“How close are you two? She knew Ellington, but we had never met.”

“She’s one of my best friends. She was around more that year you spent in South Africa after you left the force. We talk often, and we hang out every chance we can, but our career choices keep us running in different circles. I think you, and maybe Armstrong, are the only siblings she hasn’t met.”

“Ellington mentioned her husband? Or it might have been a boyfriend?” Mingus looked nonchalant as he questioned his sister about her friend, but truth be told he was curious to know more about her. To know if Joanna had a significant other. If some man had her heart and her heart wasn’t available.

Simone finally answered. “She’s not married and, the last time we spoke, she wasn’t dating anyone special. I don’t think that’s changed.”

“Does she have an ex who might be looking to hurt her?”

“No!” Simone said, shaking her head vehemently. “No one I can think of. She’s always been very particular about who she dates, and most have been upstanding men.”

“Most? What about the ones who weren’t?”

Simone gave her brother a look. “Are you asking professionally or personally? Because I don’t know how that has anything to do with this case.”

“The more I know about her, the better I’ll be able to figure out who’s trying to hurt her. Is this kid acting out because she gave him a bad grade or has someone put him up to this? If someone is trying to frame her, then this is vindictiveness at the highest level. If there is absolutely no truth to the allegations, someone has gone to a lot of trouble to destroy her. A scorned lover would be at the top of my suspect list because this is as dirty as it gets.”

Simone blew a soft sigh. “I’m sure she’ll tell you whatever you want to know. She’s one of the most honest souls I know.”

Mingus pondered his sister’s statement. It spoke volumes that she thought so highly of her friend. That Simone attested so vehemently to Joanna’s character. For his sister to see Joanna as family meant he would welcome her as if they were kin. Family meant everything to him and for that reason alone, he would do whatever he could to help the beautiful woman.

* * *

Three hours later Joanna stood before the honorable Judge Margaret Walker and listened as the prosecutor proclaimed she’d had sex with a seventeen-year-old male student numerous times. Allegedly, sex acts had been performed in his car during school hours, in her home and off school property. The state was charging her with two felony counts of rape in the third degree and two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor. After a statement against bail from the prosecutor and Ellington pleading for leniency, the judge granted bail. Her bond was set at one hundred thousand dollars. She was also ordered onto electronic monitoring and, with the slam of the judge’s gavel, Joanna knew her nightmare was just beginning.

It took another hour for Ellington to meet with the bondsman. Joanna put her home up as collateral. Arrangements were made for her to be fitted with an electronic ankle bracelet. She struggled not to cry again as an officer explained the restrictions. When they were finally done, Ellington guided her to the front of the building where Simone and Mingus stood waiting to take her home.

Women crying didn’t faze Mingus one way or the other. Truth be known, he’d probably made more than his fair share sob. But Joanna crying had him feeling some kind of way and he was having a hard time reconciling that feeling with rational thought.

The technician installing her ankle monitor had left an hour earlier, ensuring the new device was transmitting a radio frequency signal with the location to the receiver and from the receiver to the service center. If Joanna breached the permitted range, the police would be notified of her whereabouts.

Despite her best efforts to not let her emotions show, they were written all over her face, the wealth of it puddled in the water that clouded her dark eyes. She was angry and frustrated. She was also hurt, unable to fathom how anyone could ever believe she could do something so foul. She cried when she thought no one was looking and Mingus couldn’t stop staring.

He stood against the pantry door in her kitchen, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. He watched as Simone and Joanna made an earnest effort to prep the evening meal, both pretending like nothing had happened. His sister was tossing ingredients for a large garden salad into a glass bowl. Joanna stood at the stove stirring a simmering brew of meat sauce in a cast-iron pot. Pasta boiled in a second pot on the other burner. Joanna was going through the motions, pretending to be okay when she really wasn’t. She was broken and just barely holding it together. He found himself wondering how long it would take her to snap, betting that she was probably not far from her breaking point.

Joanna’s parents sat at the kitchen table, visibly shaken by the news. Their frustration painted the walls a dank shade of blue as they peppered their daughter with questions she wasn’t able to answer.

“I just don’t understand,” Lillian Barnes was saying, her silver-gray hair waving with each shake of her head. “How can this boy say those things about you?”

“Boys lie,” Vincent Barnes snapped. “Young boys lie all the time. You’ve taught enough of them to know that.”

“Some tell little white lies about losing their homework. This is something totally different. Did you do something to lead this boy on, Joanna?”

“Of course not,” Joanna snapped. “Why would you ask me that?” She’d spun around to stare at her mother, her hand fastened around a wooden spoon. “You know I’d never do anything like that!”

Joanna’s father stood from the table, moving to stand between his daughter and her mother. “Calm down. Both of you. Joanna, your mother didn’t mean anything. She’s just concerned about you. We both are.” His gaze moved from his daughter to his wife. “You know better than most that kids these days are a whole other breed. It’s not like when we started teaching. These kids will manipulate the truth faster than you can blink.”

“It still doesn’t make any sense to me,” her mother persisted. “Clearly there had to be something she either said or did to give him the impression...”

Joanna’s tears had risen for an encore, her sobs stalling her mother’s words. She was visibly shaking, her last respite of calm exploding with a vengeance. She suddenly excused herself, slamming the spoon onto the counter before sweeping out of the kitchen toward the master bedroom at the rear of the house.

The matriarch stood abruptly, calling after her. “Joanna!”

Mingus suddenly stepped forward, an outstretched palm stalling them all in their tracks. “Give her a minute,” he said softly, his gaze sweeping from one to the other. His eyes rested on his sister last, something he couldn’t say aloud causing him to lift his brows.

He shifted his attention toward Mr. and Mrs. Barnes. “Joanna really can’t discuss the case with any of you,” he said. “She’ll be better once she gets a good night’s sleep.”

Mr. Barnes shook his head. “I think we’re going to go. We’ll call to check on our daughter later.”

“Are you sure?” Simone questioned. “I know Joanna appreciates having you both here to support her. This is just a difficult time for everyone.” She threw her brother a look.

“We’re sure,” the matriarch said, attitude ringing in her voice.

Mr. Barnes rolled his eyes skyward. “Lil, this is not the time for you and Joanna to be at each other’s throats. She needs—”