“They didn’t want that to happen. You must know that.”

“Why do I have to know that?” she asked in a mocking tone. “They wanted her out of the way, and now she is.”

“Believe it or not, police officers never want to have to use their weapons to defend themselves. That’s the last thing any of us wants to do. We need this job to pay our bills and take care of our families. An incident like this puts our careers in jeopardy.”

“Don’t act like that department of yours isn’t full of corrupt characters who’d happily shoot someone who got in their way.”

“Every organization has people of questionable character. Detective Dominguez isn’t one of them, and neither is Detective Green.”

“Save it. They’re your friends. I’ve done my research. I know how cozy you all are and how you think you’re special because the first lady is your boss.”

“We don’t think we’re special. We work very hard on behalf of the citizens of the District. Our goal is to keep people safe. That’s what we show up to do every day, and Detective Dominguez is an exemplary detective and person.”

“That exemplary person murdered my daughter, and she’s going to pay for that.”

“Your daughter entered her home uninvited, wielding a knife, and attacked Detective Dominguez physically and sexually.”

Mrs. Patrick recoiled from that news. “How did she attack her sexually? How is that even possible?”

“She forced Detective Dominguez to disrobe and then Jaycee pushed her fingers into Detective Dominguez’s vagina to find out why Detective Green wants her and not Jaycee.”

“She would never do that!”

“Why would Detective Dominguez make up such a thing?”

“Because she wants to discredit my daughter.”

“Mrs. Patrick,” Jeannie said as gently as possible, “your daughter discredited herself, first by slashing Cameron’s tires and then by throwing a brick through his window and narrowly missing him and Detective Dominguez. She was facing two felony counts of attempted assault of police officers, not to mention the vandalism charges. All this because her boyfriend broke up with her, which was his right to do.”

“He made promises to her.”

“He promised her nothing, and she knew it.”

“They were getting married!”

“He never once considered marrying her. Not once.”

“So you say.”

“I got that right from him. He wasn’t going to marry her. He’d known for quite some time before they broke up that he wasn’t in love with her.”

“That’s not true! I saw them together. He was in love!”

“No, he wasn’t, and I’m sorry if that hurts you to hear or if it hurt her, but he was under no obligation to her and was honorable in his dealings with her. She’s the one who couldn’t take no for an answer and turned this into a nightmare for herself and him.” Jeannie hoped she wasn’t going too far, but these were things the woman needed to hear—again. “He had every right to end his relationship with Jaycee and move on to someone else.”