“I can’t say,” thoughtful Meg had responded. “I don’t really know her, do I?”
And that was the rub for Charles. He didn’t really know her either. They had their conversations, and they were growing closer with each passing day. But he didn’t know her like that!
But he shook his head. He’d seen that decency in her eyes. He saw that hope and fear and pain and happiness. He didn’t see some actress, he saw her. And there was no way anybody was going to tell him that Jenay Franklin stole jewels from that safe. No way. He didn’t care what so-called evidence Joffee claimed to have.
The office door opened and all three Sinatras stood at attention. Especially Charles, whose heart was hammering. But when he saw her walk in with the desk sergeant, bound in hand and feet shackles as if she was some escaped prisoner they’d just apprehended, and he saw that pain and fear in her big, gray eyes, his own pain turned to anger.
He looked at Joffee. “Take that shit off of her and take it off now! Who do you think you’re dealing with, Joff?”
“That’s no affront to her, Charles! That’s how we handle all of our suspects.”
“I don’t care who else you handle that way,” Charles responded, “you will not handle her that way. Take that shit off!”
Joffee knew he could have ignored such an order. He was the chief of police, after all. But he also knew the backbone of the mayor. He also knew the mayor, his boss, relied on men like Charles Sinatra every election cycle with their generous contributions. If Sinatra threatened to pull his support if he kept Joffee on as chief, then Joffee would be fired tomorrow. Summarily. “Unshackle her,” he said to his sergeant.
The desk sergeant was reluctant, but he did unshackle Jenay. As soon as he did, Charles pulled her into his arms.
Jenay closed her eyes and released the burden of the past hours as if she was releasing air. She quickly looked at him. “I didn’t take that jewelry, Charlie,” she said.
“I already know that,” Charles just as quickly replied. “I know that.”
Brent and Tony were surprised by their father. He usually came down on the side of guilt when it came to his fellow man. Almost always. But suddenly he believed her? Despite the evidence Joffee mentioned?
“Told you she was hot,” Brent whispered to his brother.
Jenay had fought back tears the entire time she had been incarcerated. But now they were flowing freely. Charles wiped her tears away and kissed her on the forehead. “It’s alright, baby,” he said. “It’s going to be alright.”
“I’ve never been in a situation like this before in my life. I didn’t put that jewelry in that suitcase. I didn’t---”
“It’s okay,” Charles said and pulled her in his arms again. “I know you didn’t. It’s okay.”
Brent and Tony were now intrigued. This was amazing to them. They even walked over to the twosome, to make sure this was really their father playing this sensitive man role. When Jenay saw them, she wiped her eyes. She knew, from the reception, from their pictures on the walls, from the fact that they looked so much like Charles, that they were his sons. And they were meeting her for the first time, like this. She wasn’t getting any breaks, she thought.
Charles looked away from his sons when he and Jenay stopped embracing, as his eyes, to their additional shock, were almost watery. So Tony took over.
“Hello, Miss Franklin,” he said, extending her hand. “I’m Anthony Sinatra. Tony. Charles’s next oldest son. Nice to meet you.”
“Hello,” Jenay said, still trying to get her emotions under control too.
“And this is my brother Charles Brenton Sinatra, Junior. Better known as Brent. Charles’s oldest child.”
Jenay and Brent shook hands. “Ma’am,” he said.
“Dad has told us absolutely nothing about you,” Tony went on. “But I’m sure that was just an oversight. Right, Charles?”
Charles gave him a chilling look.
“Right, Dad?” Tony corrected himself.
But Jenay was on Charles’s mind. “How have they been treating you in this place?”
“They’ve been. . . okay.”
“You aren’t just saying that?”
“No. Of course not. But what happens next? Do I have to stay here tonight?”
“No,” Charles said to everybody’s surprise. “I’m going to do whatever I can to get these ridiculous charges dropped. You just keep praying.”
Jenay nodded. “I will,” she said, pleased to hear all of the certainty in his voice, even if she didn’t truly believe dropping the charges were possible.