Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 130619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
And now, it’s December 21st.
In other words, he’s extra amused and riding this joke all the way until midnight.
My phone rings, and I don’t even look at the caller ID before I answer. It’s Oliver. Of course, it’s Oliver. “Why are you calling me this early?”
“I thought you’d want to get a jump on the whole reaping gig.”
“That’s a bad joke on the day I’m waiting for a verdict on a murder trial. You do remember that I’m defending a man accused of killing six women, right?”
“Considering my office is prosecuting against you, yes. I remember quite well.”
“Because all that matters to the district attorney, otherwise known as your boss, is looking good in an election year,” I say. “An innocent man’s life, obviously and most certainly, does not. The evidence is circumstantial. This is all about the election. You needed a fall guy.”
“Not me. It was never me.”
“And even if I get my innocent client off, he’ll be stigmatized for the rest of his life. I’ve seen the supposed evidence, and it’s a bunch of crap. They got him on a hair in the car of a victim after she met him at the coffee shop for a tutoring session.”
“He had a connection to all of the victims.”
“So did four other professors. Any of them could have been unlucky enough to get framed. You know he was framed, Oliver.”
He mumbles under his breath and then replies, “As an assistant district attorney, you know I have no comment.”
“You could have spoken up.”
“Why are we having this conversation again? I did and was sent back to my corner. There was a lot of pressure from the public for resolution, and when that happens, in my experience, the legal system latches onto the easiest target. And I will deny saying that if ever asked.”
“There’s a killer out there who will kill again.”
“And once your client is out of the picture, the heat to find the real killer will be in play. Now, please change the subject. Conflict of interest and all that stuff. Returning to what’s important. Birthday dinner?”
I grit my teeth and force a lighter tone. “Will my food have eyes that watch me while I eat?” I ask, reminding him of the one date we’d gone on years before. He’d taken me to eat fish, served with the head and eyes intact. I hate fish. And I really, really hate fish eyes, but it’s a funny memory that eases the knots in my belly. It roots me in life, not death, and there is too much death to be dealt with this day.
“I will never live down our one bad date, will I?” he says with a laugh, and his laugh is one of the things that draws me to him. He feels it deep in his soul in a way I’ve never felt anything, and secretly wished I felt everything.
“It was our only date for a reason,” I shoot back, but the truth is, it wasn’t the fish that made our date night the start of a friendship. For reasons I can’t explain, and despite his good looks and success, he feels like the brother I’d always wished for and finally have in him.
“I didn’t know the restaurant served fish with the heads intact,” he reminds me for the millionth time. “Or that you didn’t like fish or big egos, but I’ve improved on all fronts, don’t you think?”
“Improved on all fronts?” I ask incredulously. “Your ego is bigger now than it was three years ago. Lord, help us all after that magazine prints the write-up they plan about you—hottest ADA in the country. Please. Give me a break.”
“I am pretty hot.”
“Oh jeez, are you really going there?” I tease, but I’m struggling to stay in the moment, my mind clawing its way back to the courtroom decision awaiting me. Somehow, though, I keep this going, adding, “I’m officially swimming in fish eyes and your ego.”
He chuckles, and knowing him, he’s more amused with himself than me. “I’m sure you are. Back to dinner. You pick the restaurant tonight. Name the spot.”
“You can’t be seen in public with me. Conflict of interest, remember? Let’s make it after I recover from the verdict. This weekend. I’ll sit this birthday out.”
“You skip your birthday and Christmas far too often.”
Because my parents skip holidays and that’s all I know, I think, feeling the bite of that this year more than others, for no good reason.
“Now you skip it over a verdict you’ll need to celebrate anyway,” he continues. “We both know you’re going to win.”
Hope blossoms in my belly, but I don’t dare let it get the best of me, and rejection mode hits back. “I don’t know that, and neither do you.”
“Yes, we do. And I’d say more, but I work for the DA. Until this case is completely signed and sealed, I can’t speak all the bullshit I want to speak.”