Page 92 of False Evidence
She grabbed her girl and pressed a raspberry kiss to her belly. Gemma grabbed Alexandra’s hair and giggled. The girl then gave her a drooly kiss on the chin.
JT gave her the same raspberry kiss and received his own wet kiss in reply.
Gemma had more teeth coming in, and she was a drool monster. Thankfully, she had less teething pain this round, or she was better at self-soothing now that she was mobile and could talk.
“I was thinking I could make pancakes for Christmas breakfast. Is that something Gemmy can eat?”
“It’s a soft food we can soak in cream. I bet she’ll like it.”
“Hungy!”
Alexandra laughed. “But I should probably give her Cheerios while she waits.”
“Patience isn’t really her thing.” He winked at her. “Just like her mom.”
She laughed. “Food is important!”
“I wasn’t talking about food.”
“You made me waitdaysbefore you put out. I was a paragon of patience.”
He grinned. “Because I took care of your needs in other ways.”
She kissed his chin. “You did, and it was mind-blowing. Now, let’s head downstairs, because Gemma isn’t the only Vargas who’s hungry.”
“Can’t let my Vargas women go without.” He scooped up Gemma and climbed from the bed, and Alexandra practically melted into a puddle of confused but happy emotions.
The text arrived just as JT poured a heavy stream of syrup over his short stack. Gemma, always hungry and impatient, was deep in her mess of scrambled eggs and milky pancakes that only had a touch of syrup.
Lee
Turn on the news. CBS local.
JT frowned at his phone. The text gave no hint as to whether the news was good or bad. But surely Lee would brace him for the worst?
It had to be big to interrupt Christmas morning. He met Lex’s gaze and showed her his phone. Her brow furrowed with a tension that matched his own.
Phone in hand, he rose from the breakfast nook and crossed the room to grab the TV remote. He hit the power button, then punched in the number for the Maryland CBS affiliate.
Inset on the screen was a grainy video from what was probably a doorbell-type camera. Below the video, the chyron read:BREAKING NEWS: Video of Maryland cop shooting obtained by Action News.
The video showed gray-shaded night-vision camera footage of a swath of roadway. The front tire and hood of a small SUV were cut off on the left edge of the video. The gap between SUV and police cruiser was to the left of center. A short stretch of gravel shoulder was visible behind the cruiser.
Lex had followed him into the living room and now stood beside him, jaw open, eyes wide.
“This video is legit?”
“Yes.” The word was breathy. He could only imagine the shock she must be feeling. “But the angle… That’s…that’s not his dashboard cam or body cam. I presume he’d turned both off.”
“Looks like you pulled over across from a private driveway camera.”
“There was a long driveway across the road. I pulled over there because the shoulder was wider to accommodate the mailbox. Afterward, I considered running up the driveway for help, but it was utterly dark. I couldn’t see the house at the end of the drive and couldn’t trust anyone there would help me. So I opted to run back to Kendall’s.”
On the screen, the gray night-vision video showed Officer Williams reach into Lex’s car, as the news anchor said, “Again, we must warn viewers about the violence you are about to see. This video was obtained from an anonymous source, but we have verified that it shows Officer Williams’s traffic stop of Dr. Alexandra Vargas, a theoretical physics professor at the University of Maryland. Dr. Vargas has been missing since being pulled over by Officer Williams Monday evening. She was initially suspected of shooting the officer at the end of this traffic stop, but this video tells a different story.”
Lex’s hand covered her mouth. JT slipped an arm around her waist and held her tight against him as he watched the officer smash her cell phone and yank her from the SUV.
His body twisted with rage at watching the man assault her. He could only imagine the fear she’d felt. That she was here by his side was a miracle.