Logan swallowed and tried to speak, but there was no way in hell he could open his mouth right now. The knot in his throat was so dang big, he’d probably just croak if he tried to get anything out past it.
“The detectives are here,” said Monique quietly from her position at the window. “Let’s head on downstairs. I want you to wait inside for a few minutes, everyone. I’ll go out and make a statement to the media and the protesters. I’ll tell them you’ve agreed to voluntarily come in to speak with the detectives and answer some questions, and that you were happy to oblige them. I’ll ask them to please be courteous to the officers and then we’ll get you outside to the cars. They’re most likely going to insist you drive with them. Even in a cooperative situation, they’ll want to use that car ride to get you talking. Smile and be polite. Don’t talk. Do you understand?”
Logan nodded and squeezed Sam’s hand. She looked so concerned. He smiled at her, but he had a feeling it was more a tight showing of his teeth than an actual smile. He’d scare her if he kept it up.
“Wait, Sam,” said Kelly, as she lifted a black raincoat from her arms and held it up toward Sam. “You need to put this on.”
“Huh?” Sam said and Logan had to admit, that was his thought, too. It wasn’t raining, or even cloudy.
Jack answered. “It’s bullet-resistant clothing. The company that makes them makes mostly men’s clothes. They don’t keep a lot of women’s clothing in stock, other than their raincoats, but I’m having a few shirts, some business suits, and even a hat made for you. They’ll be ready next week. In the meantime, the entire chest area and hood of this coat is bulletproof.”
Sam started to argue, but Logan glared at her. She mumbled a response and shrugged into it. She ran her fingers down the coat and shrugged.
“Not bad,” Sam said to Kelly. “How do they make it so light?”
“Hell if I know,” Kelly said, “and, I don’t care. I just care that it works. It’ll stop a bullet from close range. Apparently, they’re big in Mexico.”
“You don’t say?” quipped Sam, and Logan wanted to laugh at the conversational turn these two had taken.
He schooled his expression as Monique walked outside and he heard her make a statement and then respond with “no further comment” when the press called out several questions.
Sam and their friends surrounded him as they left the town house and the detectives stepped up to him, murmured a polite introduction and a quick set of instructions for following them down to the precinct.
“I’m not riding with you?” he asked the male detective in a low voice. He didn’t know why he asked. Probably shock after what Monique had just said about them wanting the car ride with him.
The man smiled at him, meeting his eyes. “No way, Frogman. I’m not sticking a fellow SEAL in the back of my car. We’ll see you there.”
Logan’s answering hooyah was quiet but powerful, and he kept his eyes on the back of their heads as they all made their way to the waiting cars.
“Oh, hell no.” Logan was emphatic. Billy stood by his side, on alert as Logan’s emotions cranked ever higher.
The detectives had questioned him for an hour, but now they wanted to go at Sam.
“Logan, we don’t have a choice in the matter. The police want to speak to Sam and get her side of things. It’s only natural they’d want to hear from the victim exactly what took place. And besides, she’s going to be your best witness in all of this. She’s the one who can tell them what happened.”
Monique was entirely too calm about this. Sam shouldn’t have to go through this over and over again. She’d talked to the ATF already. She didn’t need to keep reliving the attack again and again.
“I should be in there with her,” Logan insisted. His eyes flashed to Samantha’s and his heart clenched at the stoic expression on her face.
“Not going to happen, my friend,” Monique said.
Sam stepped forward and put her hand on his forearm, squeezing gently. He felt the fight go out of him as he looked down at the determination in her face.
“I got this, Logan. If you’ll be out here when I finish, I’ll be fine.”
He nodded. “I’ll be right here. The whole time.”
“If it gets too rough, Sam, we can ask them to continue tomorrow,” Monique said. “Like I said, I don’t think the detectives are all that happy to be putting you through this. I think it’s all Westbrook. They’re just wanting to cross their Ts and dot their Is and all that. Let’s hope at the end of this, he realizes he won’t have a case.”
Monique had explained there were a few things Westbrook would have to show a jury. Some facts weren’t in question here. For example, there was no question Logan acted with force he should reasonably have known would end in death. Fatal force wasn’t a question when you snapped a man’s neck.
The big issue here was whether it was reasonable for him to think that level of force was necessary under the circumstances. If Westbrook thought he could convince a jury it wasn’t, and if he continued to think he could somehow win an election based on putting one over on the federal government, he might go forward with charges.
Logan nodded and stood in the hallway watching Sam walk down to the interview room with one of the detectives and Monique.
Kelly and Jack had come down to the station as well and Kelly came up to Logan now, putting a hand on his arm.
“Come on, big guy,” Kelly said, tugging him the opposite way. “Let’s go have a seat and wait. Jack ran out for coffee and sandwiches. We all ate earlier but you haven’t had anything in hours. You need to take care of yourself if you’re going to have strength for Sam when this is over.”
Logan smiled down at Kelly. He could go for days with very little food or rest, when needed. He’d done it before plenty of times and would do it again in a heartbeat for Sam, but he let Kelly lead him away, anyway. He knew the chairs were just down at the end of the hall, so he’d still be able to see Sam the minute they let her go.
With Kelly pregnant, he’d feel bad not letting her call the shots. Shoot, she shouldn’t even be here.
“You should go home and get some rest, Kelly,” he said when they reached the chairs and she lowered herself into one, leaning on his arm as she did so.
“I’ve tried telling her that, but she won’t budge,” came Jack’s voice behind them. Logan turned to take a tray of coffees and an orange juice from Jack. He handed the juice to Kelly and sat, taking the bag Jack offered.
“I’m pregnant, not helpless and useless, you two,” Kelly said with a bite to her tone.
Jack raised his hands. “I know, I know. All the same, I think as soon as Chad and Jennie get here, we should get you home. These chairs have to be brutal on your back, honey.”
Logan wondered why Jack didn’t just lift Kelly up and carry her to the car and take her home. What the hell was wrong with the man? If that was Sam, he’d never let her sit there in these stiff plastic chairs like that. He’d haul her ass—
What was he thinking? Logan sat frozen over the sandwich he’d been unwrapping and realized he’d been happily picturing Sam pregnant with his child. Quite happily.