I tamped down the twinge of envy I felt at how she practically glowed when talking about their baby and returned my focus to the case, grumbling, “As if Isaac would take you to the jail with him.”
“Exactly! I’ll be perfectly safe helping with this case from the office, but it’s still driving Jax crazy because it’s going to be high-profile. The media has grabbed hold a
nd just won’t let go of this one.”
“I’m sure it’s more than that. It has to bother him that you might be near someone who could be guilty of stabbing a woman to death. And one he was supposed to have loved at that.”
“I guess so,” she sighed. “But Isaac seems fairly certain that our client didn’t do it. First thing he did after accepting the case was to head over to the station and sit down with the guy. Jax and I spoke with him before I left to meet you for lunch, and he was adamant about taking the case. He said there was something odd going on, between the way the media has been blasting the story and the fact that his client told him his girlfriend had wanted to talk to him that very same night about something weird that was going on at work. She’d called him on her way home but since he was out for a run, he didn’t answer and she left a vague message. By the time he’d made it back home, she was dead.”
“It almost sounds like the plot to a movie,” I murmured. “An innocent man facing the death penalty—”
“Except we aren’t sure if the DA is going to go for the death penalty or not,” Natalie interjected.
I waved her comment off and continued on my roll. “A beautiful girl cut down in her youth who stumbled across something suspicious while at work for a dirty, multi-national conglomerate.”
The only thing missing was the brilliant, former (mostly anyway) hacktivist who could get the information to help save the innocent client.
“Only it’s not a movie,” Natalie objected with a frown. “Real people’s lives are at stake and we have no idea whether Sheffield Oil & Gas is really dirty. Not to mention the possibility that her murder had nothing to do with her phone call, at all.”
She was right, this was so much more than a silly movie. And without someone who had the ability to get to the bottom of what had really happened, an innocent man could die. I had the skills necessary and I was damn good at what I did. Isaac needed help and I made up my mind right then, he was going to get it—whether he wanted it or not.
Chapter 2
Isaac
“Without knowing why Whitney was killed, proving your innocence is going to be incredibly difficult, Mark.” I tapped my pen on the folder in front of me as I replayed the last thirty minutes in my head. My client, Mark, sat across from me, his expression bleak. I couldn’t begin to imagine what he was feeling right then. Dealing with your grief over losing the one you love, only to be accused of murdering her on top of it.
I couldn’t let the thought of something happening to my wife leak into my mind or I would lose my shit. But, he’d been holding up pretty well and I admired his strength.
At his arraignment earlier in the day, the DA had filed charges for second degree murder. They were making it out to be a crime of passion. Evidence was presented that had records of hotel charges, blocked numbers calling her cell phone, and a purchase from earlier that day of two plane tickets to Tahiti. They’d set his bail and our bondsman paid it, then we headed to my office. I’d been grilling him for hours and I still felt like we were nowhere.
I opened the file once again and scanned his statement. We’d gone over the night in question numerous times, but there didn’t seem to be any clues beyond what the DA had entered in to evidence, as to why his fiancée had been murdered. Her frantic phone call to him earlier that night was too vague to be of any help. Her brief mention of work was all we had to go on. But, why in the world would a large company like SO&G have anything to do with the death of an employee so low on the totem pole? They employed hundreds of workers, what could have possibly made her stand out?
Sighing, I uncapped my pen and prepared to take more notes. Before we got back to her work, I needed to cover all of my bases. “I have to ask, Mark. Were you guys having any problems at all? Were there any public spats, anything that could look like motive?”
“Whitney and I were best friends and when things got tough, we relied on each other to make it better. So, the more likely scenario is that someone would have seen her upset and being comforted by me. We rarely had disagreements and when we did, we kept them private.”
I nodded, accepting his response because I could definitely relate. But, I jotted down some reminders for jury selection. We were going to have to be very careful to try to avoid divorced women. Not all of them would be bitter and less accepting of Whitney and Mark’s happy relationship, but I wasn’t willing to risk the likely percentage that would.
“What about the plane tickets and other evidence?” I felt a twinge of sympathy for having to dig into this while he was dealing with everything else. But, I had to know everything so I didn’t get blindsided in court and we could figure out what the fuck really happened.
“I honestly don’t know, Isaac.” Mark’s tone was gaining in pitch and I could tell he was close to breaking. “Those things just don’t sound like her. I’m telling you,” he pleaded. “We were happy!”
Following my gut instinct on his mental and emotional state, I moved on from their relationship for the time being. “Tell me more about her and what things were like over the last few weeks.”
Mark rubbed his temples tiredly, but began talking. Whitney had been an accountant for Sheffield Oil & Gas for the last three years. She’d loved her job and co-workers.
“Did she seem more stressed than usual about work lately?”
“We were getting married in less than two weeks, Isaac. She was over-stressed about everything,” he said impatiently.
I leaned towards him, my voice pitched low and deadly serious. “Mark, every little detail is important, you never know what will come of it. If you want me to keep your ass out of jail, you need to calm down and analyze Whitney’s last days with a fucking microscope. Clearly, by the message she left, some of her anxiety wasn’t wedding related.”
He watched me silently for a moment and I could practically see the wheels turning in his head. “A few weeks ago, Whitney mentioned that she’d come across an irregularity at work. It was in passing when I asked about her day and she didn’t elaborate.” His gaze dropped to the table and his finger traced the patterns in the wood.
“Was she upset about it?” I probed.
“Not really, she seemed more curious than anything, but I didn’t think much about it since she didn’t bring it up again.”
I filed that away and encouraged him to keep talking. After a while, I looked at my watch and realized we’d been at it for another two hours. It was a quarter to seven and I was itching to get home to my wife. This case had me on edge and I hadn’t seen her for most of the day.
“Let’s pack it in for the night. Keep thinking, make notes of anything you come up with, no matter how innocuous it might seem,” I instructed him. “I’ll get started on a few things and brief my team on our defense strategy.” Not that we have much of one right now. I kept that thought to myself. “I want you to meet with my second chair tomorrow so we have a fresh set of eyes and ears looking things over. She may hear something in your story that I missed.”
After walking him out, I grabbed my stuff and hurried down to the parking garage. The drive to our home in Clarksville, Maryland was around forty minutes in decent traffic, but I made it in twenty. Party due to my Audi A8, but mostly because I missed my wife and knowing she’s waiting there for me was motivation for a lot of things, least of all breaking speeding laws.
At the gates to our property I hit the remote and they silently swung open, admitting me. I made sure they were completely shut behind me before going on down the driveway. I parked the car in front of the garage, too impatient to pull in, even though I knew it drove Eden crazy when I’d do it. But, if my car was blocking her exit, all the better.
“Sunshine?” I called out the moment I opened the door. The sound of small feet thumping on the floor at a fast clip made my face split into an enormous grin.
I shut the door and dropped my briefcase just in time for Eden to come barreling around the corner and jump straight into my arms. Her legs circled my waist, and her mou
th pressed against mine. Over a year married to her and I still got lost in her kisses. I took over quickly, my tongue breaching her lips, devouring her sweet taste.
When she pulled back, I chased her mouth and stole another kiss. But, she eventually began trying to wiggle her way out of my embrace.
“Baby, all your squirming isn’t going to convince me to put you down, it’s going to get you fucked right here on the floor,” I growled. Her pussy was lined up with my groin and my hardening cock quickly eradicated any space in between.
“Later. I made dinner,” she pouted. Her plump little lips in that fucking adorable pucker were only making the situation in my pants worse. But, her words caught me off guard.
“You cooked?” I asked suspiciously. I loved my wife more than my own life, but eating her cooking was tantamount to risking said life.
She rolled her eyes and jumped down from my arms, prompting me to scowl at her. “No, scaredy cat. I ordered it and heated it in the oven.”
My stomach chose that moment to growl, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Eden laughed at my sheepish expression and grabbed my hand, towing me behind her as she made her way to the kitchen.
The food smelled amazing, and she got me settled at the table before bringing it over.
“I had lunch with Natalie today,” she said casually.
I almost choked on my first bite. Shit. I forgot to tell Natalie not to mention the case to Eden. I didn’t want her worrying. Maybe Natalie hadn’t told her. “That’s great,” I responded cautiously. “Did you have fun?”
Her face fell for a half a second before she wiped it away and smiled brightly. My stomach clenched, I knew exactly what had crossed her mind and it killed me. Eden and I had both wanted to start our family right away. I had a stabbing pain in my heart from the ache of wanting, but watching her pain was worse than anything. Knowing there wasn’t anything I could do to take it away. Lunch with her pregnant best friend was a bittersweet activity.