Arresting Love (A Sequel to 'A Bite of Candy Apple' ; Sam's Forbidden Love)

Chapter Nine: Innocence Before Guilt

Chapter Nine: Innocence before Guilt

True to his word, Jack called his supervisor and was handed over to the jail that was currently housing her father. Sam put on her most conservative outfit, since her father was restrictive and right winged.

As they drove to the jail, her heart thumped heavily in her chest, she had a million questions for her father; did he kill her mother, where was he that night, and why had they started fighting so badly near the end?

They pulled into the parking lot after Jack had shown the guard his badge.

“Now we are going to be checked before we can go into talk with him, once we are cleared; we will be shown to your father. I will wait for you outside the room,” Jack stated.

All Sam could do was smile weakly in response as they walked into the building.

After a time, she was shown to her father, he was sitting in a chair at a table waiting for his visitor. Once Robert’s face connected with his daughters, his eyes went down. Sam’s heart shriveled a little at his action.

She sat at the table and remained quiet for a while, she was terrified.

“Sam you shouldn’t have come here,” her father finally said.

“Are you kidding, dad? Where else would I be, at school, waiting to hear if you are convicted or not? Dad, mom was murdered, and from what I was told it was in a brutal fashion. I want to know, did you have anything to do with it?” Sam held her breath as her father’s face went red.

Robert Cooper was a young-looking  man of forty; her mother and father had met in high school; her father was from extreme wealth; her mother’s family had money, but nothing like the Coopers. They became pregnant with Sam when her father was in college, it was during a Holiday break and unexpected.

“Sam, your mother and I had problems, like any other couple. There were…things we were going through that were and are still none of your concern, but I will tell you that I did not kill your mother. I came home that evening and found her in the bathroom dead. The room covered in blood, I tried to feel for a pulse and there was none; she was not breathing. I started CPR, but the blood kept flowing out of her.” He stopped momentarily at the tears in her eyes; Sam stopped crying at the pained look in her father’s face.

 “I could not save her, even after all we had been through; I did not want her to die. So I began to cry out for help, but the staff had been dismissed by your mother that night. Like so many other Friday nights, when I worked late. So I wiped the sweat from my face with my blood-soaked  hands, and then I picked up my cell to call for help.”

Sam delved deeply into her father’s eyes and saw only truth, which begged one question, “Why were you and mother fighting, why were you home late from work that night, why did she dismiss the staff?”

“I do not want your mother’s memory tarnished by words, Sam, just know your mother loved you in her own special way, please be happy with that.”

Sam felt tears begin to course down her face; she wanted to speak with him longer, hold him, and tell him that she believed in him, but a guard told her, her time was up, and she was warned she could not make physical contact with him.

She stood as her father was taken away, and watched the door close behind him. Sam felt her feet moving beneath her, but she was in complete auto mode. So many unanswered questions, no real answers, she felt lost and alone.

Her eyes connected with Jacks when she came back into the room, “Are you alright?” he asked.

“I don’t know. The only constant I know for sure, is that my father is not the killer. There are too many variables, she dismissed the staff that evening; my dad has taken to working late every Friday evening. He said she always dismissed them when he was not home, which tells me that my mother wanted to be alone. My mother became very secretive the last few years of my parent’s marriage. My father insisted she and I travel with him, and she would create fights just to leave the room. She would go for hours at a time. She was always on her phone, talking in hushed tones and laughing as if it was a friendly conversation. I think there is a lot more going on here, than anyone is looking into.”