A Twist of Betrayal by Allie Harrison Page A

when it comes to going up against the toughest judges in the county, but turn out the lights and Justine loses it.”
    For a long moment, Steve said nothing. Hell, Dan knew there was nothing he could say. Then, “Have you thought about Justine’s mom and dad?
    “I put off calling them,” Dan said. “I kept hoping Justine would be back in my arms safe and sound before then. And I hoped when I finally did have to call, it would be with good news.”
    “I wouldn’t put if off for too long. I’d hate for them to hear about this on the news. Do you want to go back to the station with me and take a look at the store security video yet?”
    “Not yet,” Dan replied. He kept his gaze on the get-away van. “I can’t believe we haven’t yet found one shred of evidence that could lead us in the right direction,” he muttered. Dan didn’t look at Steve, knowing full well his best friend would read the fear in his eyes.
    He took a sip of the coffee Steve had brought him, and let the hot, bitter liquid burn down his throat. The pain was easy to ignore. Just as the ache in his arm was. Neither surpassed the painful knife that cut through his gut with his worry for his wife.
    He had been offered countless painkillers, but he settled for chewing up a dose of plain aspirin. He wanted to keep his mind sharp, and the pain did that.
    He should have called Justine’s parents by now. There hadn’t been any press yet. They’d managed to keep this pretty quiet, but Dan knew it was only a matter of time before the media got wind of this. The news media, as well as the public, seemed to love and live for crime in small towns where everyone thought it could never happen. Steve was right, the last thing he wanted was for Justine’s parents and brothers to hear about her abduction over the news.
    Dan could just see Justine’s mother, Abigail, now. It was Abby—as she insisted he call her—from whom Justine inherited her strength. Not that Roger didn’t have his own strength, his was just gentler. Abby would hold all her terror inside and look straight at Dan with dry eyes when she heard the news. And Dan knew that Justine addressed a jury with the same hard look in her eyes.
    He didn’t want to tell them. Terror gripped him with the thought that he might tell them too much; that once he started talking, he might not be able to stop.
    Should he call? Or should he make the thirty-mile trip to look them in the eye when he told them? He knew he should see them face-to-face, be there to give them what comfort he could. But what if something happened while he was gone? And what kind of real comfort could he offer? He couldn’t seem to do anything to help himself but chew up aspirin.
    Besides, he had more important things to do. And waiting for the right moment to begin was sending what little patience he had into overload.
    Two weeks after he’d knocked Justine to the floor in the courtroom to keep her defendant from shooting her, he’d met her parents. They were like he remembered his parents being, like what he thought his parents would have been had they not died. They had welcomed him into their home, the home where Justine had grown up. It had been a huge family dinner with her brothers and their families. He’d been so nervous he could hardly eat.
    Justine had called him out on his nervousness.
    Her mother, Abby, had hugged him.
    Her seventeen year old brother, Avery, had threatened him with bodily harm if he broke Justine’s heart.
    Her father, Roger, had thanked him for saving Justine’s life and called him ‘son’.
    As the flashes of these memories passed through his mind, Dan knew calling Justine’s parents would be too cold, too heartless. They were his family and had been since the moment he’d first stepped into their home. He had to go do it in person.
    “Dan?”
    Steve drew his attention.
    Dan looked at him, and did his best to keep his fear from reaching his expression. “What?”
    “We combined your