𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 - JJ Maybank

Chapter 111: Apart

"I'm telling you he didn't do this!" Grace exclaimed for what felt like the millionth time.

The cop sitting across from her had eyes full of pity. It felt like Grace was pleading with a brick wall; no matter what she said, it made no changes. "You don't have to protect him, Grace. You're safe from him here."

Grace felt her blood boil as her fists clenched. "JJ didn't attack me, and he didn't kidnap me! What don't you understand?"

The cop sighed while jotting something down in her file. "We have dealt with plenty of domestic violence cases-"

Grace was quick to cut her off. "And this isn't one of them! Where's Shoupe? I want to talk to Shoupe."

Sensing that no matter what she said, she wasn't getting through to Grace, the cop collected her files and headed out of the room.

Grace knew she did nothing wrong, but being in a police station hadn't boded well for her and her friends over the previous year. Plus, her statement really felt more like an interrogation than a simple recounting of what occurred. It was like the cops were looking for confirmation of a conclusion they'd already reached: Grace was a victim at the hands of her unhinged husband. 

She rubbed at her red wrists while she waited. That psycho had tied her up and left her unconscious in the Twinkie for hours. When the cops found her, she was still out of it, and the sun was setting. 

As she tapped her foot against the floor rapidly, a stressed-looking Shoupe finally entered.

"If it wasn't JJ, who did it, Grace? Because right now, we have him down for battery, kidnapping, and murder," Shoupe stated, rather impatiently. He had seen far too much of the Pogues over the past year, and his patience for their antics was running very thin.

"Sorry, did you say murder?" Grace was quick to ask. "He didn't murder anyone. What the hell are you talking about?"

"Hollis Robinson was found dead in her apartment. The same apartment you were found outside of. She was shot with the gun that was stashed inside the van." As he spoke, Shoupe sat himself down across from Grace and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I was with him the entire time. I can vouch for him-"

Shoupe cut her off. "You were passed out for hours, Grace. He had plenty of time. Now, I need you to tell me, since you seem so certain JJ didn't do it, who did?"

"Chandler Groff," Grace answered immediately and definitively.

Shoupe nodded to himself, a thoughtful look on his face. "We'll look into it. You're free to go." He placed an evidence bag containing her now shattered phone and a couple of items from the van—including one of JJ's baseball caps—in front of her before standing and heading for the door.

"Wait! Shoupe, what's going to happen to JJ?" Grace called after him, stopping the cop before he could leave the room.

"We're going to arrest him and take him in for questioning," he answered before continuing down the hallway.

Grace rose from her seat and quickly grabbed the bag before rushing after him. "But I'm not pressing charges against him!"

Shoupe finally halted his hurried steps. "Kidnapping is a felony, and he's the prime suspect in a homicide, Grace. You don't get to decide."

With that, Shoupe disappeared into his office, leaving Grace behind and dejected.

___________

It was a funny thing being lost at sea. JJ couldn't see the land, which meant he couldn't see a way out of his impending doom. It was almost humorous how the endless ocean mocked him. Logically, he knew that land rested just beyond the vanishing point, but when adrift it felt like it had never existed at all. It was part of the reason he'd always loved being out on the water. Everything slipped away the moment the shore disappeared into the distance.