Drew Page 5

  The ADA gave a sad noise. “Please continue, Mrs. Matthews.”

  “We were leaving the restaurant and had parked on a side street to the restaurant, so we decided to cut through the alley. When we got to the end of the alley, there was a second alley that formed a t with the one we were in. We were going to turn left down that alley to get to our car. We were about to step out when my husband heard someone rack a gun.”

  “And how did your husband recognize this sound?”

  “He was former military and served for eight years. Then he worked at a security firm.” My voice shook as I remembered what he had done for me that night. How he had done everything possible to protect me and our child. I took a second to pull myself together.

  “So he was well acquainted with weapons.” I nodded. “Please continue, Mrs. Matthews.”

  “We heard a man speaking to another man about making something happen or it wouldn’t be good for him.”

  “Can you be more specific please? Do you remember what exactly was said?”

  I took a deep breath and replayed the events in my head, the harsh words spoken by Giuseppe Cordano to Police Chief Waters. Chills racked my spine and ADA Rayland had to ask me several times if I could continue. I shook the memories from my head and cleared my throat.

  “Giuseppe Cordano was standing with Marco Abruzzo in the alley. Cordano was telling the police chief that if he wasn’t willing to look the other way, things would turn out very bad for him.”

  “This is now deceased Police Chief Waters?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you know it was them at the time?”

  “No. I was asked to look at photos at the police station and I picked them out from there.”

  “How can you be sure you identified the right people? Wasn’t it night?”

  “Abruzzo pulled a gun on the police chief when he refused to comply. It scared me and I made a noise. They..they turned and looked at me. There was a light off the back of the restaurant and as they turned, I got a good look at their faces. Abruzzo turned his gun on us immediately and the police chief yelled at us to run. Cordano pulled a gun and shot Police Chief Waters. He collapsed to the ground and that was the last I saw of him.”

  “And why didn’t you run as soon as you saw this meeting?”

  “It happened really fast and my husband had worked with the chief in the past. He was a good man and my husband would never have walked away from someone in need.”

  “Okay, so Abruzzo pulled a gun and pointed it at you. What happened next?”

  “My husband shoved me back the way we came and yelled for me to run. His face…he knew it wasn’t going to end well. I could see it in his eyes. I turned and ran, but I turned back to see if he was behind me. He wasn’t. He was fighting with Abruzzo. Abruzzo had dropped the gun, so they were using hand to hand combat, but my husband turned to make sure I was leaving and when he saw I wasn’t far enough away, he yelled at me to get out of there.” Tears filled my eyes as I saw the final look on his face, the determination to keep me safe. “He was distracted because he wanted to make sure I was safe and Abruzzo pulled a gun from his ankle and pointed it at me. Todd jumped in front of the gun just as it went off.” A small sob escaped as I tried to hold it together. “My husband died protecting me. He died because of me.”

  Tears poured from my eyes at having to relive that night all over again. It took me a few moments, but I finally pulled myself together enough to finish the questioning.

  “What happened after you ran, Mrs. Matthews?”

  “I flagged someone down in the street and asked them to take me to the police station. I knew that I needed protection and that I wouldn’t be able to go home.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Matthews.”

  The judge had us take a short break so I could pull myself together. I had to go to the bathroom and of course, my entourage followed me. I was walking into the stall when a hand grabbed me and shoved me up against a stall. My face was squashed into the stall by the hand holding my head in place and the stall handle dug into my side.

  “Listen up, bitch. You’d better find a way to throw this case or you’ll never see that baby inside you. I’ll cut it right out of your belly. You understand me?”

  I nodded my head quickly and a moment later I was released. I didn’t see where she went, but she was gone the next instant. I almost collapsed in relief and had to grab onto the stall door to steady myself. I knew I needed to get the guards immediately, so I went to the door and signaled for the guard to come with me. He stepped inside and I explained to him what happened. He immediately took me to a secure room where I was questioned by the ADA. Then I waited while the ADA spoke with the judge, but since I couldn’t identify the woman in the bathroom, we went back to the courtroom for cross examination.

  “Mrs. Matthews, you understand you are still under oath, right?” Roberts, the attorney for Abruzzo was just as slimy as he was. He was tall with slicked back hair and an expensive suit that he no doubt could afford because of his ties to the mafia.

  “Yes.”

  “Mrs. Matthews, do you have much interaction with the community down in Little Italy?”

  “No.”

  “Have you ever seen Mr. Abruzzo before?”

  “On the news.”

  “Would it be safe to say that your mind could have pulled his picture from a memory of a news story and that’s how you identified him?”

  “No. I recognized him from seeing him shoot my husband.”

  “It was dark out. Are we really supposed to believe that a terrified woman remembers the face of her husband’s attacker? No doubt, you were more focused on your husband that on the person harming him.”

  “It was dark, but I could never forget such an evil face.”

  “How long would you say it took for all of this to occur?”

  “Maybe a few minutes.”

  “So, from the moment you heard the voices to the moment you turned after your husband was shot was three minutes?”

  “Probably.”

  “That’s a lot to happen in such a short window. Tell me, why didn’t you stop to try to help your husband?

  “He wouldn’t have wanted me to. He didn’t give up his life so that I could go back and get killed. Believe me, it killed me to walk away from him.”

  “Obviously, since you are still with us today.”

  Roberts smirked at me as my stomach roiled at his implication. The ADA stood and objected, but the jury had already heard what a coward I was, that I had left my husband to his fate to save myself and our child. Not a day went by that I didn’t wish things were different. Many days, I wished I had died along beside him so I didn’t have to feel this pain, but I didn’t and I had to keep living for our child.

  “Mrs. Matthews, did you and your husband ever fight?”

  “Every couple fights.”

  “Has he ever hit you?”

  “No.”

  “No? I have a police report here that says otherwise. Police were called to your residence in the middle of the night for domestic abuse.”

  “That’s not accurate.”

  “It’s not accurate that your husband hit you? Or that the police were called?”

  “It was a mistake.”

  His questions were coming rapid fire now and he wasn’t giving me the chance to explain.

  “It was a mistake?” He boomed as he slammed his hand down on the stand. I flinched back at the look on his face. “Doesn’t every abused spouse say that?”

  “He wasn’t abusive!”

  “But he hit you. I think what really happened was that you were looking for a way out of an abusive marriage and you shot your husband, disposed of the gun, and pulled two suspected criminals out of the papers and blamed it on them.”

  “No! That’s not what happened! They were there. They shot him!”

  Air was barely getting to my lungs as he continued to accuse me of killing my husband. Tears were blurring my vision as they smeared my hu
sband’s reputation. He was a good and honorable man, but reporters would say differently. If only I hadn’t made that noise. None of this would have happened. My husband would still be with me and we would be celebrating our child’s birth in six months.

  “You wanted your husband dead and when Police Chief Waters came upon you, you shot him to cover up murdering your husband!”

  “No. That’s not what happened.”

  I was practically in tears now and barely able to speak as this man accused me of murdering the police chief and my own husband.

  “No more questions, your honor.”

  He sauntered back to his chair, knowing he had just shredded my world. ADA Rayland stood up and walked toward me with a determined face.

  “Mrs. Matthews, what happened the night your husband attacked you?”

  I took a steadying breath, knowing that I needed to calm down and answer clearly so the jury could see who my husband really was.

  “My husband was suffering from PTSD at the time and I woke him from a nightmare. He didn’t know who I was or where he was. He attacked me because he thought I was the enemy. That was two years ago and he has seen a counselor ever since. He has never once laid a hand on me since that night.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Matthews.”

  I was excused from the witness stand and ushered back into the room. When the ADA came in, I calmly stood and told him I was done. I couldn’t take any more of this. I needed to be able to move on with my life and I didn’t think I could mentally take any more of that.

  I went back to the hotel after that and closed myself in my bedroom after the guards checked out the room. I took a warm bath and tried to clear my mind from the thoughts of what happened today. Nothing helped, though. There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t blame myself for Todd’s death. As much as I wanted to go back to my little hideaway, I knew once I got there I would be alone again. I was going to raise my child alone and he would never know his father.

  The WitSec agent, Sanders, that I was working with came to my room after the trial.

  “Well, that could have gone better, but we were prepared for him to throw that stuff our way.”

  “He accused me of murdering my husband and the Chief of Police.”

  He waved his hand, dismissing what I said. “Don’t worry about that. The defense needed a viable theory to get his client off. All he needed was to present reasonable doubt. It doesn’t matter if the story is true or if the forensics match up. If he can get the jury to believe there could be another scenario, there’s a chance they won’t find him guilty. It’s in the hands of the assistant district attorney now.”

  “What happens now?”

  “You can go home.”

  “Back to my home in New York?”

  He looked at me with sad eyes. “No. You’ll never be able to go back there. With Cordano in jail, he already has a hit out on you. The whole mafia will be looking for payback. Especially if you manage to put away Abruzzo too. He was the nephew of one of the bosses. There’s no way they’ll ever let this go.”

  “So I’ll never have my life back.”

  “No. Sarah Anderson is who you are now. We won’t be keeping a detail on you, so my advice is to stay under the radar as much as possible. Don’t put any information online if you don’t have to. Social media is a great way to attract attention to yourself, so for the love of God, don’t sign up for anything. Some information is already out there, but let’s try to keep it to a minimum. That’s the best way to keep you safe. Also, try to keep your picture out of the paper. If you think anything seems off, we’ll move you and give you a new identity.”

  I nodded, trying to take in all the new information I was getting.

  “We’ll stop at a motel on the way home and dye your hair back. You’ll also need to put in your contacts and make sure you aren’t wearing any makeup. Maybe after you get home, you should cut your hair drastically. It will help conceal you better. There’s one more thing that you have to keep in mind. You can’t tell anyone who you really are.”

  “I understand that.”

  “No, I mean, if you were to get married, you could never tell your husband or your kids your true identity. If something were to happen, if you were to get divorced, they would know who you really are. From now on, no one will know you as Sarah Matthews. Your child will not get to have your husband’s name and it would be best if you didn’t name him or her after your husband in any way. Not even a letter. Now, your DNA isn’t in the system, so you should be fine for having the baby in the hospital.”

  I gave him a curious look. “I don’t understand.”

  “The mafia has a long reach. If you had DNA on file, they could hack into hospital records to scan for a DNA match. Since there is none on file, they won’t be able to find you that way.”

  “Are you sure I’m going to be safe? You make it sound like they could find me a multitude of different ways.”

  “They could, but we don’t believe that they will be able to find you. We have never lost anyone that stayed in the WitSec Program. You are well hidden as long as you help us keep you that way. Any other questions?”

  “Just one. What am I suppose to tell my child about his father when he or she asks?”

  “You won’t be able to tell him the truth. You’ll have to say that he was a one night stand or something along those lines. Todd will never be able to exist for you or your son ever again.”

  Sanders was a good man and had done so much to help me feel safe, but the idea that I would be going through this alone was daunting. If I had been going through this with Todd, at least I would feel like I had someone watching my back. I had no one now. Worse, my whole life would be a lie. I would have to lie to my child about his father. He would never know what a hero Todd was. I would never be able to tell him or her about his father’s time serving our country and would never meet his or her grandparents.

  Sanders put his hand on my arm. “I know this seems impossible now, but you’ll adjust soon enough. Remember that you are doing this for your child and yourself and that should help keep things in perspective.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Drew

  I REALLY WANTED to know who my new neighbor was, but I doubted she would tell me. She was closed off and I had been such an asshole to her, she probably had no desire to tell me anything personal about herself. When the guys showed up to pick her up a few days ago, I got a really bad feeling. They each had guns on them and that was not usually a good thing. I supposed it was possible that what she was saying was true, but they didn’t seem like family to me. That probably meant that she was in some sort of trouble. I decided to give it the week and see what happened when she returned. If she didn’t return in a week, I was going to go to Sean and Sebastian and see what they could dig up on her.

  I wasn’t sure what it was about her that had me so curious. It wasn’t that I wanted her or anything. It was more morbid curiosity. She was living next to me after all. I put her out of my mind the rest of the week. I didn’t need to be spending my time thinking about her.

  Wyatt Thompson, the man who had started renting my land, had already gotten the stables started. He had a few friends come out to help get the stables built and was also planning to put in a barn. By the weekend, I was itching to get to work on a good project, so I offered my services with building the fence. He already had the supplies, so I made plans to get started Saturday morning. When word spread that I was helping Wyatt out, Ryan, Logan, and Cole showed up to help also.

  By the end of the day Sunday, we had made quite a bit of progress, but there was still a lot of work to do. Fifty acres was a lot of property to fence in. Wyatt was more than grateful and bought us all pizza Sunday night. We were all sitting on my back porch drinking beer and eating pizza when Sean showed up.

  “Sean, you’re a little late if you came to help out. We already finished for the day, but you can come back next weekend to help,” Ryan said.

  “Yeah, I’m pre
tty sure I’ll be working, but thanks for the invite. Drew, you got a minute?”

  I stood and walked inside with Sean, crossing my arms over my chest as I turned to him. “What’s going on?”

  “Look, I know you don’t get along with your neighbor real well, but I’m asking that you look out for her.”

  “What do you mean look out for her?”

  “Just keep an eye out for anything that doesn’t seem right.”

  “Is she in some kind of trouble?”

  He took his hat off and ran his hand over his head while sighing. “I’m not sure. I have a possible lead on her, but I don’t know for sure. If she is who I think she is, she’s in a lot of danger.”

  “Who do you think she is?”

  “I can’t tell you that. Trust me, I would if I could.”

  “Sean, I just want to live my life in peace. I don’t want any trouble, so if you think she’s trouble, I prefer to stay out of it.”

  “She doesn’t deserve what’s happening to her. Trust me on this. She needs someone to keep an eye out for her. Please. I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think it was necessary.”

  I took a minute to consider what he was asking. I didn’t need this shit, but I was the one living next to her, so it made sense that he ask me. “Fine, but if shit comes my way, you better get here real fast.”

  “I promise I’ll let you know if anything comes of this.”

  I walked back outside with Sean and sat down to join the guys. Sean left a few minutes later and I contemplated why I had just let myself get talked into babysitting duty.

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  A few nights later, I was dragging carpet out of an upstairs bedroom and out to a dumpster I had rented when an SUV pulled up to Sarah’s house. There were three men with her and they all got out to help her get her bags out. Two of the guys walked over to her house and seemed to be checking out the house. I wanted to walk over there, but I held back, not wanting to be the pushy neighbor that nosed in. I saw one man hand her a small packet before he gripped her shoulder and then walked back to the SUV, joining the other two, and drove away. She stood on her porch watching the vehicle drive away, looking completely dejected. I wondered if she had been close with her father or if the trip had just worn her out.