Ted looked straight at her while he spoke. “Apparently, our office had been under scrutiny for some prosecutorial misconduct, and they wanted to see how we’d react when confronted with difficult clients. One of them rushed at us, and Kellie got knocked down. I sort of lost my temper, and I pushed the guy back.”
Emma decided right then and there she didn’t like this story. She wanted to tell him she didn’t need to know, but she didn’t know how to ask him to stop now.
“Well, I had the knife in my hand, and he was a cop, and things got way out of hand from there.”
Emma took a breath, her pulse racing. “Did you use the knife?”
“No,” he said. “But it was in my possession. I may or may not have issued some threats, and the guy was an undercover cop.”
“Did you issue threats?”
“I don’t remember it,” Ted said. “But a couple of people gave testimony that I did.” Ted lifted his hand and ran it up the back of his head. “So I probably did. I can have a temper sometimes.” He resettled his hat on his head, which he’d lowered now so she couldn’t see his eyes. “And since they were already investigating our office for misconduct, it was easy to put it all on me.”
“All of it?”
Ted didn’t need to confirm. The flashing glint in his eyes said it all. “I got a six-year sentence, which probably would’ve only been twelve to fifteen months if the office hadn’t already been under investigation, and if that ‘client’ hadn’t been an undercover cop.” He shrugged, but Emma knew there was a huge difference between one year and six.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“A low-security facility with camp capability is the lowest form of security for prisons in the Bureau,” he said. “The men at the camp actually leave the facility and stuff. I stayed in the low-sec, because that’s where my friends were, and there were more opportunities for classes and recreation. The camp is really crowded.”
“You said something about having your own room,” she said. “Did you not have your own cell there?”
Ted shook his head and smiled. “No cells in a low-security facility,” he said. “We live in dormitories. Sixteen men in each unit.”
“You slept in a room with fifteen other men.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Emma wanted to know a lot more, but she told herself to stop. There was plenty of time to get to know Ted better.
No, she told herself. There’s plenty more time to get more information from Ted.
“That’s it?” Ted asked. “You’re stopping there?”
“Do you want some ice cream?” Emma hooked her thumb over her shoulder, and she turned and started for the door again. “I do, and Lord knows I need it to tell my part of the story.” She went into the kitchen, and Ted followed her. He sat at the bar while she busied herself with pulling open the freezer and taking out a couple of boxes of ice cream bars.
“These are double chocolate, and these are almond,” she said, extending them both toward him.
“Almond,” he said, reaching for one of those. She selected the same and put the rest away. She turned toward him, and he’d already unwrapped his treat.
“You know,” he said. “I could really get used to coming here in the afternoon and enjoying air conditioning and ice cream.”
“If you buy your own ice cream bars,” she said. “You can enjoy your own air conditioning and ice cream next door.” She gave him a pointed look, to which he laughed. Emma liked that he was carefree and casual, and she wondered if she’d experienced the same happiness that spilled from Ted at all in the past decade.
She pretended. She put on the happy face. She painted on her pretty makeup and her smile. But she wasn’t sure she was truly happy. Not the same way Ted seemed to be.
“Yeah, but it’s better here,” Ted said, smiling at her.
She unwrapped her ice cream bar and kept her eyes on it. “I was Robert Knight’s girlfriend a while back.”
“How far back?”
“Oh, let’s see,” she said as if she didn’t know exactly when she’d met him and they’d started dating. “Eleven or twelve years ago.”
Ted nodded. “Where’d you meet him?”
She swallowed, because she didn’t want to say that. “I’ve never talked to a lawyer. I feel like I need a lawyer.”
Ted shook his head and took another bite of his ice cream bar. “I’m not a lawyer anymore, Emma.”
“No?”
“No, ma’am. I got disbarred when I got convicted.” He glanced at her, and her heart positively hurt for him. A flash of pain crossed his face, but it didn’t stay long. “It was a good run, and I’m okay.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He finished his ice cream bar. “That’s it? You were Robert Knight’s girlfriend?”
“Yes,” she said.
“How long?”
“Five or six months?” she said, making it sound like a question. It had actually been eight months, as they’d dated for almost the entire school year.
“Did you know he was in a crime family?”
“Not at first,” she said. “But yes, I eventually realized how he made his money.”
“And how was he doing that when you were with him?”
“It was my understanding that he was doing something fraudulent with real estate.”
“Really?” Ted looked at him. “It wasn’t drugs?”
“His brother ran that, I think,” Emma said, her mind spiraling into a dark corner that she didn’t let herself visit very often.
“Larry?”
“Yeah,” Emma said. “Larry. I only met him once, and he was…creepy.” She shuddered and took a bite of her ice cream.
“I’ll bet,” Ted said.
“What were you guys investigating them for?”
“Everything you can think of,” Ted said. “No one ever talked to you?”
“No, sir.”
“Oh, do not ‘sir’ me,” Ted said, chuckling. “I’m not your father.”
Emma giggled, the cold ice cream settling easily in her stomach. “How old are you?”
“Thirty-nine, ma’am.”
“I’m thirty-seven.”
“I wasn’t going to ask,” he said. “I have some manners.”
Emma nudged him with her shoulder. “You have plenty of manners.” She licked her stick clean and tucked it into the wrapper.
“Thank you, Emma.” Ted reached over and took her hand in his, real slow, as if giving her an opportunity to pull away. She didn’t, and her fingers settled easily between his as if their hands had been made to connect.
“I like it when you say my name like that,” she said, surprised at everything happening right now.
His phone rang, but he held her gaze for an extra moment before pulling it out with his free hand. He set it on the counter in front of him and said, “It’s my mom.” He tapped the call on and touched the speaker button. “Hey, Ma.”
“Teddy,” she said, and Emma’s fingers automatically tightened. Ted met her gaze, and fireworks popped through her bloodstream.