Chapter 8 — Charged

We arrived at the police station around two that afternoon. Surprisingly Detective Braylon was heading back into the police station as we had walked up to tell the officer behind the counter who we were there to see. “Ah, Ms. Michaels, you made good time, I’m Detective Braylon,” He says, extending his hand. “Yes, there was nobody really on the road this time of day,” I replied, shaking his hand. “These are my children Ethan and Emma,” They say a silent hello and shake his hand. “Okay, follow me and I will get to why I called you down here. As I told you on the phone your husband is being held here on suspicion of murdering Amber Wilkinson,” He explains as he opens the door of his office for us to enter. He brings in another chair for Ethan to sit in before he enters the office. “So you think Kirt killed this Amber Wilkinson,” I inquired as he sat down behind his desk. “I didn’t say that, and I won’t speculate until all the evidence has come in, but for now I want to keep your husband here.”

“I don’t believe he did it. My husband might be a cheating slime ball but he isn’t a killer."

“Can you tell me why your husband said that you might have done it?”

“He said what, seriously, that son of a bitch he cheats on me then he tries to get me arrested for a murder that I’m not even in the state to do let alone know what the victim looked like."

“Did you make your husband some Jello with grapes in it before he left?”

“No, I mean, he asked me to put a couple of Jello boxes in his duffel like I always do when he goes out of town.”

“But not already made in a container?”

“No, why do you ask?”

“I ask because we found a container of Jello in the refrigerator with poisonous berries in it. We found one of the berries on the kitchen floor and identified it as being a belladonna berry. Now I sent a couple of officers to the woods behind the cabin they were staying at and there was a bush of them growing wild not too far from where the cabin is. So I don’t know if they had picked the berries not knowing what they were or if your husband did know and wanted to be rid of his mistress."

“So he is stuck here until the evidence clears him?”

“Yes, or until the judge grants him bail which in a murder is very slim."

I nod my head in acknowledgement of everything that he had said. Then out of the blue Ethan stands up and shouts “Keep him here he has cheated and lied to my mom and now here he is being held for murdering his slut, just keep him behind bars so he can’t hurt us or anyone else,” Before we knew what to say Ethan stormed out of the police station. We found him sitting on the front steps of the building with his head in his hands. Ethan looks over at me when I sit on the steps beside him. "I’m sorry, Mom, I didn’t mean to blow up in there. It’s just, dad...”

“I know. believe me, I know. Come on, let’s go check in at the B&B.”

I look up at the detective, who agrees, “Yes, go ahead. I know that ya’ll have already had a long day. I’ll finish talking to you tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” I say as Detective Braylon helps me up off the step. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The Bed and Breakfast was very rustic so much as everything was made from wood. I’m not joking the picture frames were even wood. This place would be a termites dream. I get settled in my room as the kids get settled in there's. I was nice. I got each of them their own room. Emma comes barging into my room moaning that she is starving and fixing to wither away like a flower. Gotta love my little drama queen. Then Ethan saunters in asking what we were doing for supper. "Well I can order us a pizza, unless you want to go out for something?" I ask them, praying they say they want pizza. "I want a pepperoni pizza, how about you Ethan," Emma says pleadingly at her big brother. "Yea a pepperoni pizza sounds good," Ethan smiled at her. "Okay so we are going to need two large pizzas," I say as I look for the pizza place's phone number hoping they actually deliver here like they do at home. "Hello, Devil Tower pizza, how may I help you?" The lady's voice on the other end of the phone asks. "Yes, do you deliver?" I ask. "No, sorry, we don't, but I can take your order and have it ready for you when you get here," The ladies voice replied. "Okay that's fine I would like two of your large pepperoni pizzas with pan crust," I say as I tell her my order. "Okay we will see you in thirty minutes," The pizza lady says. Not having a clue where this pizza place is located so I go to my map apps on my phone to help me find my way there. I made my way slowly to Devil Tower Pizza. I was so glad that the kids didn't want to come with me. It gives me time to think things over in my head. I need to have my lawyer send me my divorce papers so I can have Kirt sign them.

My lawyer sent the divorce papers to Detective Braylon’s office so he could serve Kirt the papers in jail. “This came for you Mr. Michaels it seems your wife isn’t too happy with you right now she had her lawyer send some papers over for you to sign,” He chuckled as he flopped the papers down in front of Kirt. “It’s sad that your sweet wife doesn’t even believe that your innocent."

“My wife is just mad at me because I was with another woman,” Kirt replied incredulously. “Not because she thinks I killed someone, which I didn’t."

“You’ll get to see the judge in a few hours and we will see what he says."

"And he will see that I didn't kill my mistress, I agree what I did to my wife makes me a poor excuse for a husband but I'm not a killer."

"For your sake I hope so," Detective Braylon says as he walks out the door.

I waited in the lobby until Detective Braylon came out as soon as he got word that I was there. "Ah, Ms. Michaels, thank you for coming, please follow me," He gestures toward the door he had just come through.

"So your husband is set to see the judge at one then we will figure out to go from there," He continued. "I also served him with the divorce papers that your attorney sent over," Detective Braylon handed them to me as we sat down in his office. I flipped through them and noticed that Kirt had signed them. "So I'm officially divorced I guess, I thought he might have put up a fight at least," I mumble more to myself than to the detective. “Yes you are and you are free of all the horrible things that he has done to you he can’t hurt you anymore,” Detective Braylon says with what I think might be some redness in his cheeks. Then it hits me like a ton of bricks. Oh my goodness he’s blushing! “Excuse me I need to go to the ladies room,” I say as I stand up clumsily. Then as I catch myself from knocking over the chair I ram my arm into the desk. Slowly I stand straight up taking a deep breath knowing full well my face was a deeper red than Detective Braylon had been moments ago.

As I turn around expecting to see the detective in his chair I accidentally bump into him not knowing that he had moved so close to me. All I could do was start laughing at my clumsiness. “Oh my god, I’m so, so—” is all I can get out before I feel his soft, warm lips touch mine. We stumbled as one over to the door to lock it so no one could come in. Then he lowered me down to the floor where he made me feel more pleasure than any man I had ever been with. (Yes even Marcus)

After a while we pulled ourselves together, both of us looking flustered. “I can’t say I’m sorry about that. I wanted to kiss you the first time I saw you,” Detective Braylon croons. “The other part of that was a very good surprise,” All the while standing in front of me smiling so hard his dimple on his right cheek is showing. I grabbed the chair that I had almost knocked over before and sat down before I fell down. My legs felt like Jello, my mouth was dry, but most of all, I was in shock. “No, please, don’t apologize. I-I just don’t know what we do now,” I stammered. With that same adorable smile Braylon (yes I’m calling him Braylon now wouldn’t you) says. “How about I take you out for a fabulous night out,” As if his smile is magic I end up smiling back at him. “I would love to,” I reply. “I’ll call you later with the details but for now I have a court hearing to attend,” Braylon says as he gives me another kiss then walks out the door. I’m still sitting there in shock. Am I dating the detective now? How did I end up with a date with the detective? Oh my god did I actually have sex with him here in his office? I had a thousand questions spinning around in my head as I left the police station. I didn't even bother calling the kids. I just started walking down the street. What I couldn't figure out was if I was happy, sad, or what.

Surprisingly enough I walked straight to our hotel room, which isn't hard to do in this little town of about three hundred people if that. But I did figure out what mood I was feeling which I don't really ever feel like. I'm all of them. Why am I feeling this way?

I made myself snap back into reality and called the kids to tell them that I was back at the hotel room then went and took a cold shower. Yes, a cold shower. It seems like every time I think of Braylon my temperature starts to rise. While I wait for the kids to show up I text my sister. "Hey girl just wanted to let you know that Kirt signed the divorce papers. Your sister is a single woman again, sort of." A second later, my phone bings with a message from Cara. "Yay! And what do you mean sort of?" I couldn't help but laugh. I knew she wouldn't miss that last bit. "Well when the detective gave me the signed divorce papers we ended up celebrating!" I typed back hoping she would get the hint and sure enough she did. "No fucking way! You did the detective! You slut! I'm so proud! lol."

I typed back "TTYL." as the kids came through the door carrying bags of Chinese food. Gotta love them they do think ahead. "Hey so how did it go with the detective," Ethan asks as he sits the bags down on the little table. "Um, it went ok, your dad signed the divorce papers and he had to see the judge after lunch so I figure we will hear something tonight or tomorrow," I answer trying to hide the smile that was trying to appear on my face. Ethan would know something was up if I smiled while talking about Braylon. That boy is too smart for his own good.

"Hello," I say as I pushed the answer button on my phone the next morning. "Good morning beautiful," Came Braylon's voice. I hit the speaker button so I could use the hands free function as I got up and moved around. "Good morning to you," I reply while stifling a yawn. "I have some news for you about Mr. Michaels along with some other news for you."

"Hang on I think I need to sit down for this," I say as I pull a chair out from beside the table. "Okay go ahead."

"Your ex has been found guilty of murder they will sentence him in a couple of weeks."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, ma'am, he should've listened to his lawyer and gone with the jury trial."

"So what's the other news you have for me?"

"I'm picking you and your children up at seven and taking you all out for a proper meal."

"Hang on you want to have a date with me and my children?"

"Yes I do," Braylon answers before he hangs up. Once again he leaves me sitting in a chair shocked.