Fall From Grace(58)

Neither of them sat down.

Shane quietly exited the room.

The older detective, who was without a doubt the thinnest man I had ever met, introduced himself as Detective Allens and he pulled a file folder out of his soft leather briefcase.  Placing it on the coffee table, he opened its contents and Carl Sumpton’s arrest picture stared back on me.  Smiling menacingly for the camera was the man who attacked me.

Sitting down on the edge of the couch, I leaned forward and touched the image on the paper.  “Carl Sumpton?  I hadn’t been told his name.”

The second detective, who I’d estimate to be around thirty, sat down on one of the chairs.  He folded his hands on his lap and leaned forward, golden brown eyes serious, yet cautious.

“Miss Taylor, I’m Detective Ramos. Had you ever had contact with Carl Sumpton before?”

“No.  That was the first time I’d ever seen him.  Although, now that I look at his face without him trying to throw himself on me, he does look kind of familiar.” I sighed.

Shane returned with a few bottles of water and offered them to the detectives.  “I can make coffee if you’d like,” he said.

Detective Ramos accepted the water from Shane, “Thank you.  I’m sorry.  I didn’t catch your name.”  He twisted off the top of the bottle and sipped the water, waiting for Shane to reply.

Shane gave him one of his heart stopping smiles and held out his hand to shake the Detective’s hand.  “That’s because I never said it.  I’m Shane Maxton.”  He sat down next to me, placing a water bottle on the table in front of me with one hand.  The other he placed on the small of my back, letting me know he was there for me.  I wanted to melt into his touch.

Detective Ramos shifted in his seat and continued.  “You’re the one who helped to stop the attack.”  It wasn’t a question.

Shane smiled at me, gently rubbing my back with his hand.  I clamped my mouth shut, afraid that the butterflies that were wreaking havoc in my belly would fly out of my mouth and attack Shane at any moment.  “Grace was doing a pretty good job of defending herself. I think she would have taken care of him all by herself if I hadn’t get there in time, but I’m confused.  We already spoke with the arresting officers at the hospital that night. Has something changed?”

Detective Ramos and Allens shared a glance.  Then the older man nodded his head and Detective Ramos looked to Shane and me with a somber expression.  “After Mr. Sumpton was arraigned, he was remanded and housed in Riker’s.  We don’t know how it happened, but he was put in his cell at 1400 hours and at the evening head count after the meal he wasn’t accounted for.”  He hesitated for a moment, letting the news sink in.  “The cell was still locked when they went to feed him. No one understands how he escaped, since the cell hadn’t been opened since his arrival.  Furthermore, when questioned, none of the other prisoners even remembered seeing him inside his cell.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and the pressure in Shane’s hands became tighter on my back, holding me steady.  “Like he just vanished?”

Detective Ramos gave me a tight smile.  “No.  Most likely, he found some way out with help from someone on the outside of the cell. He probably terrified the other prisoners so badly that they pretended to see nothing.  He was a monster when they brought him in. They needed a few corrections officers to settle him down when he was left in his cell, but there’s an even more disturbing part,” he explained.