Intrusion by Cynthia Justlin Read Free Book Online

God, the smell. Her icy hands sought warmth between her shins. Didn’t they turn on the heat in this place? A shiver ran up her spine. The stark cold of the cell, the pungent smell, even the hum of the people around her, were so reminiscent of another time and place.
    A shaft of pain constricted her chest, choking the air from her lungs. She squeezed her eyes shut to block out the memories, but images of the dreary homeless shelter where she’d spent a terrifying month crowded her brain. Suddenly, she was ten years old again, begging her mother not to leave her.
    Audra reached up and trailed her fingers along the scar under her right eye. So, her mom had abandoned her. Big deal. She’d survived.
    Only to land herself in the slammer.
    Footsteps echoed on concrete and Audra lifted her head to watch a uniformed guard pass in front of the holding cell. She leapt to her feet and rushed to the bars, but when he continued down the hall without stopping, she curled her fingers around the steel and gripped it in a painful fist.
    She rubbed at the goose bumps prickling her arms and turned away from the bars, rolling her shoulders to shrug off the spiders of unease that crawled across her skin. The woman on the bench opposite her snickered then immediately fell silent. Another was passed out on the same bench. And the third...
    A sudden low keening tore from the woman’s throat. She leapt from the stainless steel toilet, her skin-tight red skirt clinging to the tops of her thighs. Her shock of black hair framed her head in wild corkscrews and her glassy brown eyes darted a vacant stare around the cell. She pressed her palms to her temples.
    “I need—I need a hit. Anybody got a hit?” The frenzied words fell from the woman’s lips.
    Audra flinched and the woman zeroed in on her. Red heels struck concrete as the strung out prostitute rushed her. She grabbed Audra’s arm, her fingers digging in above her elbow.
    “Bang me.” The woman gestured to her own needle-tracked arm and poked sharply at her vein. “Bang me right here. I need it. I need it bad.”
    Audra shrank against the cell. The metal bars dug into her back. “No. I don’t—”
    The palm of the woman’s hand smacked her cheek. “Give it to me.”
    Audra sucked in a breath and blinked back the sting. She shoved at the woman but her grip was surprisingly strong. “Let go of me!”
    Something struck the cell bars, making them vibrate. The woman jumped and retreated to her corner.
    “Audra McCain?” A prison guard fit his key into the lock of the cell.
    Audra sagged against the metal and waited for her heart to slow to its normal rhythm. “Y-yes?”
    “You’re up for arraignment. Let’s go.”
    He swung the door open and she slipped into the hall. The tightness that had taken residence in her chest yesterday eased, but she didn’t allow herself to take a breath. Not yet. Not until she walked far enough away from the small cell’s bad odor and sour memories.
    The guard grasped her wrists in front of her body and snapped on the cuffs, their sharp metal teeth rubbing against her skin, while another guard joined them, flanking her for the short walk outside.
    As soon as the heavy door opened onto the sidewalk, the sun speared her eyes. She squinted against the brightness. It stung at her eyes, but she rushed out of the jail without giving them a chance to adjust.
    Clean air. Sunshine. Two things she’d often taken for granted.
    She gulped in her first fresh breath since her arrest and let it wash through her lungs. A slight breeze ruffled the edges of her trashed pantsuit. One thick hank of hair had fallen out of its neat chignon and brushed drunkenly across her cheek. She reached up to straighten it, but the guards tugged at her arms, hurrying her across the narrow street and through the back door of the Maricopa County Justice Court. After an elevator ride to the seventh floor and a quick stint down a well-lit hallway, the guards ushered her into a large