Page 25 of Rascal

“You know shit, but carry on.” I winced as I moved, and a soft gasp left me.

“Drop the act. You’re not injured, not if you could dish a beating out as you did,” Hawthorne stated.

I stared at him and cocked an eyebrow myself.

“Can you explain this?” Ramirez asked, shoving a photograph forward. I glanced at Harry, who gazed at it puzzled, before I looked. I recoiled and winced in pain.

“What the fuck?”

Ramirez

We had her. Her lawyer’s reaction spoke volumes. He picked the picture up and studied it before handing it to Hallie. Hallie shook her head in complete confusion.

“What’s wrong? Didn’t expect us to have evidence this time?” Hawthorne asked.

“That ain’t me,” Hallie stated.

“Sure as hell looks like you,” I said.

“Yeah, if that photo had been taken a few days ago.”

Hallie looked at me, and there was total puzzlement in her eyes. A feeling of dread washed over me as a glint entered her eyes. I recognised that expression. Hallie was about to blow our evidence out of the water. Slowly, she stood up and carefully removed her cardigan.

“Harry, help me.”

The lawyer rose and unzipped her floor-length dress. Before either Lio or I could stop her, it pooled around her feet. Hallie turned around and showed us her back.

“Tell me how the fuck I could swing a bat with these. And how the hell they don’t show in that photo!” Hallie demanded.

Dark purple bruises blossomed across her shoulders and upper and lower torso. From what I could see around her panties, her ass was also badly bruised, and both her legs.

“Try having two-hundred-and-eighty pounds of muscle land on you. Let’s see how you move the following day. Take a picture, officer; somehow, I think you’re going to need this as evidence,” Hallie stated.

“I can send them the photos I have, Hallie,” Harry replied.

“In that case, Harry, grab my dress. I’ve put on enough of a show.”

Her lawyer silently zipped her up, and she sat back down carefully.

“That’s from the accident,” Lio asked.

“No accident; it was an attempted hit-and-run. Now I’d appreciate you explaining to me how the hell I could even lift a bat at the moment,” Hallie snapped.

“That is you,” I tapped the picture.

“Looks like me but can’t be. Did you Photoshop this? You forgot to add my bruising,” Hallie replied, amused. “If you didn’t forge this, then you have proof of what I was saying all along. Shane has someone else, and now the bitch is faking my appearance. I need some painkillers, if you don’t mind.”

Lio pulled a pack out and slid her two. Hallie nodded her thanks and swallowed them.

“You seem mighty big on the cops fitting you up. Almost have a persecution complex,” I stated while I scrambled for a way to take control of this interview.

“I wonder why,” Hallie retorted, and tapped her finger.

“You also failed to finish taking her alibi,” Harry cut in.

“She said she was with King,” Lio replied.

“Miss Milton wasn’t just with King. A doctor, plus a nurse, were present with her,” Harry mentioned.