Two months later
Carly hugged a sweater around her shoulders and shivered at the sound of the wind whipping outside her window. Dallas was having one of its rare runs of cold weather, but she was reluctant to turn on the heater since the temperatures were expected to be back up in the seventies in a few days. It didn’t really matter what the weather app said, she’d been feeling cold inside for a while now.
She looked up from her work at the sound of a knock on her door. It was nine a.m. on the Sunday after Thanksgiving and she wasn’t expecting anyone. She’d been up since six, prepping for Trevor’s trial that was set to begin first thing tomorrow morning. This afternoon, she’d have to brave the outside world for another meeting with the rest of the team at the office, but she wasn’t quite ready for human interaction.
When she looked out the door viewer she saw Mr. Jasper raising his hand to knock again. No doubt he knew she was inside, and he wouldn’t go away until she answered. She cracked the door and stuck her head out. “Hi, Mr. Jasper, do you need something?”
“Not me, no.” He held up a medium-sized square box. “This came for you yesterday, but the delivery guy left it in front of my door. Sorry I’m just now getting it to you. I was at my sister’s for the holiday.” He stood up tall and tried to peer over her shoulder. “Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?”
“Yes, thanks.” She was thankful he’d been out of town and therefore hadn’t tracked the fact she hadn’t left her apartment and no one had come to visit her. All she wanted now was for him to go away, but she felt a stab of guilt for not knowing that he had a sister or that he’d been away. She glanced back at her dining room table, piled up with work. “I’d invite you in, but I’m working on a case and the files are spread all over the place. Maybe after the trial we can catch up.”
He nodded. “That football player, right? Trial starts tomorrow?”
She shouldn’t be surprised he knew. Everyone in Dallas was following the lead-up to Trevor’s day in court as well as the team’s playoff chances if Trevor was found not guilty and able to get back on the field before the regular season ended. “That’s the one.” She decided to take advantage of his touch on the pulse of the public. “What do you think our chances are?”
“Oh, I don’t know. He seems like a good guy, but two dead girlfriends? Hard to ignore the facts.”
Carly wanted to scream that he probably didn’t know any of the facts, only the snippets he’d read in the paper, but since she wouldn’t impress the jury by yelling at them, she practiced a calm, rational demeanor. “I know the prosecutor has tried her case in the papers, but we have facts of our own to introduce. We’re just saving them for a jury. You’ll hear all about it soon enough.”
“I hope so. Would be nice to see the team have a good showing for once.”
“We’ll do everything we can to get Trevor back where he belongs.”
“I should let you get back to it, then.” He started to back away and then stopped. “There was a woman came by the other day, day before Thanksgiving. She stood at your door for a bit, but then she left. Didn’t look like she knocked.”
Carly perked up. “What did she look like?” Could it have been Landon? She hadn’t seen Landon outside of the office since their trip to Austin, but the very idea she might have come by aroused all kinds of feelings.
“Not sure. Medium height and build. Had a hat on. One of these knit things with a ball on the end.”
“A beanie?”
“Not sure what they’re called, but her hair was all tucked up in it. She wasn’t carrying anything, and she had gloves on. Leather, I think.”
Carly resisted the urge to interrogate Mr. Jasper with questions about exactly what date and time the woman had come by. “Maybe she had the wrong address and figured it out before she knocked.”
“Maybe,” he allowed. “Whatever happened to that woman who came around before? She seemed very nice.”
She wasn’t fooled by his feigned innocence. He was talking about Landon, and apparently his curiosity was strong enough for him to reveal he’d been keeping tabs. What if it was Landon who’d come by this week? She’d be surprised if it was since they hadn’t seen each other outside the office since their trip to Austin to meet with Mandy Hauser. Every interaction she’d had with Landon since had been purely business. No casual drop-ins to each other’s offices, no foodie lunches, and definitely no kissing or touching of any kind.
The personal distance was exactly what she’d said she wanted, so she had little room for regret, but in the moments between projects while getting ready for Trevor’s trial, she had plenty of misgivings. Not so much about getting involved with Landon in the first place, but of how abruptly she’d chosen to cut things off. But she hadn’t had a choice. Had she? No way could she juggle the mountain of trial prep and its implications for her career with the smoldering draw of Landon’s lips on hers. Her job was all she had, and Landon was a distraction designed to make her chuck everything she’d worked toward.
“She is nice, but she’s just a colleague. She won’t be coming back here again.”
“That’s too bad. You could use someone nice to keep you company.”
After he left, she dove back into working on the voir dire questions for the jury panel, but the words swam on the page, and her attention was fractured. She blamed the distraction on her lack of sleep, but every nerve ending in her body knew her thoughts were focused not on the case, but on the attorney who’d be trying it with her. How was she going to make it through the next two weeks of trial with Landon sitting next to her, leaning in close to discuss strategy and working together to make decisions? She had no idea, but she had approximately twenty-four hours to figure it out.
* * *
Landon was pushing the food around on her plate when her brother’s voice boomed in her ear.
“If you don’t like it just say so.” Ian slumped into the chair next to her. “God knows the critic from the Morning News won’t hold back, why should you?”
“I’m sorry. I’m sure everything is wonderful, but I’m just not hungry.”
“Said no one at Sunday brunch ever.” Ian snatched a piece of the maple-crusted bacon off her plate and held it like a cigar. “I was counting on you to tell me you can’t live without this bacon. Have you seriously not even tried a bite?”
She’d been sitting in the back room at the Salt Block, surrounded by gourmet comfort food and witness files for the last few hours. Ian had paraded several new dishes into the room, but for the first time in her life, Landon didn’t have an appetite for his amazing creations. She didn’t have an appetite for much of anything and hadn’t for a while. She’d attributed her malaise to the impending trial, but she knew this wasn’t the same performance anxiety she usually experienced before a trial. She’d been a litigator long enough to know that once she was in the swing of things in front of a jury, excitement would outpace anxiety, and exhilaration would take over. No, her melancholy was a result of the solid wall Carly had erected between them. They still spoke, but it was all about the case. Their conversations always took place at the office, and each one was stiff and formal. At this point, Landon would take the more antagonistic exchanges they’d shared when they first met over the dry, apathetic interactions of the last couple of months.
Ian waved the bacon in her face. “Eat me. Please eat me,” he said in a singsong voice.
“Stop it,” she said, unable to suppress a grin at his antics. She grabbed it out of his hand and tore off a bite with her teeth. The bacon was crisp and rich, and salty sweet, and she couldn’t hold back a slight moan. “Sweet and savory. I give it a ten on the brunch meter. I’m tasting a bit of smoke on the finish. Hickory?”
“Applewood. I thought it would go well with the maple.”
“It does.” She took another bite. Maybe she was hungry after all.
“So, you want to tell me what’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“You turned me down for Thanksgiving dinner, and now you’re barely eating bacon of all things. Something’s definitely wrong, but if you don’t want to tell me, that’s cool.”
She’d grabbed a plate from the hotel buffet on Thanksgiving Day and taken it back to her room. She assumed the food was good, but she’d barely eaten any of it. It had been a crummy day, but better than joining her mom and dad for lunch at Ian’s and facing her father’s probing questions about the case. “Really, it’s nothing. Trial starts tomorrow. It’s a big day.” She kept her gaze trained on the bacon because he knew her well enough to see the lie in her eyes.
“Uh-huh.” He folded his arms and nodded knowingly. “What are his chances?”
She flipped her palm up and down. “They have a decent case, but no smoking gun. Could go either way. I think it’ll boil down to the kind of jury we get.”
“What kind of evidence do you have?”
“Honestly? Not much. First off, it’s not our job to present evidence, and even if it was, it’s hard to prove a negative. He doesn’t have a rock-solid alibi for the time of death, but their evidence is all circumstantial. No one saw him kill Vanessa Meyers or Jocelyn Aubrey, and there’s no physical evidence to tie him to either crime scene other than fibers from a rope that’s a pretty common brand.”
“The rope thing sounds not great. Are you going to go all CSI on them?”
“Someone’s been watching too much TV, but yes. Juries expect pretty sophisticated evidence from the prosecutor nowadays. The fact that Trevor had some rope in his garage that’s the same brand doesn’t prove anything on its own. Hell, you probably have some of the same brand at your house.” Landon heard her voice rise and she took it down a notch. “Sorry about that. I might be a little passionate about the issue. I will admit, to you, the rope fibers will be more problematic if they manage to get in evidence that Jocelyn Aubrey was strangled with the same brand. The prosecutor will argue there are too many coincidences to deny Trevor’s involvement in both cases.” Landon gave silent thanks Carly was the one assigned to cross-examine the crime scene analyst and the motion to suppress the evidence gathered at the other crime scene.
“Is that all they have?”
“No, but the rest of the evidence is weak and incidental.” Landon shifted into litigator mode. “Yes, Trevor dated Vanessa and Jocelyn. Yes, both woman were killed, but to say he’s the killer because he was the only thing they had in common is a far cry from beyond a reasonable doubt.”
“I see your point. Is there really no other connection between the two?”
“Nothing else other than the manner of death.”
He swiped another piece of bacon. “But tell me more about the trial itself. Are you trying the case on your own?”
Exactly the topic Landon didn’t want to discuss. She tried to shortcut the conversation. “No, Jane will be there.”
“What about Carly? Wasn’t she working on it too? You haven’t mentioned her much in a while.”
She hadn’t mentioned her at all, and he knew that. Once Jane had successfully lobbied Judge Grafton for a quick trial date, she’d divvied up the work. Jane would pick the jury and handle the reputation witnesses, but she was leaving the rest to Landon and Carly. Landon would give the opening statement and cross-examine law enforcement, and Carly would cross the forensic witnesses and present closing argument for the defense. She and Carly had worked together on several pretrial motions, but their collaboration had consisted of sending drafts back and forth by email with little face-to-face time despite the fact their offices were only several feet apart. Jane had remarked several times on how seamlessly they seemed to be working together. If she only knew.
“There hasn’t been anything to mention.”
“Oh,” he said, obviously surprised. “Both times I saw you together, I got a vibe there was something brewing.”
“Maybe there was, but there isn’t now.” She admitted more than she’d intended to and prayed he’d let it go at that.
“What did she do?”
Landon sighed. She so didn’t want to get into this with him, but Ian wouldn’t simply let it go without some sort of explanation. “I think I misread the signals. She just wasn’t that into me.”
“Hmm.” He frowned like there was something more he wanted to say. “If you want to talk about it, you know where to find me.”
“Right here, Mr. Workaholic.”
“You’re one to talk.”
Landon deflected the commentary by glancing at her phone. She needed to get a move on if she was going to make it to the office on time. She started shoving her papers into her briefcase. “I need to go. Rain check on another serving of that bacon?”
“Anytime, sis.”
She was barely out of her seat when he scooped her up in a big hug. She allowed him to hold her for a moment, at first for his sake, and then because she actually needed the warmth and comfort of his strong embrace. “Love you,” she mumbled.
“Love you too,” he said and then leaned in closer. “You’ll find the one. She’s out there waiting for you. I promise.”
“Thanks, bro.” She eased out of his arms and started for the door.
“And for the record,” he said.
“Yes?”
“I don’t think you misread the signals.”
She didn’t reply, but he was right. The problem was what was she going to do about it?
* * *
When Carly walked into the office, her hopes of grabbing a cup of tea and hiding out for a bit were quickly dashed. Jane, Landon, Trevor, Shelby, and several of the first-year associates were gathered in the glass-paneled large conference room, and based on the raised voices and exaggerated gestures, the discussion was heated.
She stopped in the doorway, but Trevor waved her in. “Hey, Carly, I’m so glad you’re here. Maybe you can explain this.” He pointed at the empty chair on his left, and she slipped into the seat, ignoring Shelby, who sat on his other side wearing pursed lips and what Carly had come to refer to as resting bitch face. Shelby’s surly attitude didn’t bother her since it didn’t seem to have any impact on what Trevor thought about her. The good thing was she was as far from Landon as possible, and Carly would rather risk Shelby’s annoyance than the lingering lure of Landon Holt.
Mr. Jasper’s words had eaten at her all the way to the office. She wasn’t lonely and she didn’t need a nice woman to fill some void. And even if she was lonely and did want company, Landon couldn’t be that person. After this trial, one of two things was going to happen. Landon would be her boss or she’d get the partnership, which meant Landon would go back to Austin. Neither one of those scenarios was a good foundation for a relationship.
She turned her attention to Trevor. “Explain what?”
“Shelby seems to think they can’t try me here in Dallas for Jocelyn’s murder, but you’ve been preparing to deal with evidence about it, so I assume it’s going to come up.”
It never ceased to amaze Carly how often defendants in a case simply didn’t get all the angles, no matter how many times she explained them. She knew for a fact Jane and Landon had reviewed this very issue with Trevor last week. She shot a look at Jane, who nodded for her to take point, and then she looked around for a pad of paper. Like a mind reader, Landon pushed a legal pad and pen down the table toward her. As Carly said “thanks,” she locked eyes with Landon. The look was long and intense, but Carly couldn’t discern the message, choosing to believe it was only empathy for having to explain this subject again.
She drew three boxes on the pad, one centered over the other two. She wrote Guilt/Innocence in the box on top. “The guilt/innocence phase is the first part of the trial. The prosecutor won’t be allowed to bring up Jocelyn’s case during this phase for several reasons.” She scrawled shorthand notes as she talked. “The most important ones for our purposes are that Dallas County doesn’t have jurisdiction to charge you with a crime that happened somewhere else, and the rules of evidence don’t allow the prosecution to use evidence of an uncharged crime to bolster their case. It would be like saying the more cases you’re accused of, the more likely it is you’re guilty. Got it?”
Trevor nodded slowly and pointed at the other boxes. “So what are those?”
Carly circled the word Innocence, drew an arrow to one of the boxes below, and wrote the word Freedom. “If the jury finds you not guilty, then you’re free to go. A Houston DA could charge you with Jocelyn’s murder, but you can bet they will consider what happened here in Dallas before they decide to pursue charges.” She looked at Trevor as she said the words, but she was acutely conscious Landon was staring in her direction. Avoiding her gaze, Carly dropped her head, circled the word Guilty, and drew a line to the remaining empty box on the paper. She hesitated just a second, and then wrote Punishment.
“If the jury finds you guilty, then they will decide your punishment.”
“Can’t the judge decide?” Shelby asked.
Landon spoke up. “It’s up to Trevor, but we have to decide whether to go to the judge or jury for punishment before the trial begins.”
Carly turned to Trevor. “It’s okay if you want to discuss the decision again, but we’re all in agreement that it would be a bad idea to have Judge Grafton decide your punishment. She’s a fair judge, but she’s looking at a contested primary after the first of the year, and her fellow Democrats will eat her alive if she’s perceived as going easy on a convicted murderer in a domestic violence case. If the jury finds you guilty, she’s likely to give you the maximum to show she’s strong on women’s issues.”
Trevor reached over and placed his hand on hers. “I trust you.”
Carly shifted with discomfort but stopped just short of pushing his hand away. She got it. His entire life was on the line, and he was desperate to connect with the person who had answers, and she just happened to be that person. It should be Jane offering advice and explanations to their client, but this was another of the partnership tests, and she struggled to get through it. She squeezed his hand with what she hoped was an encouraging gesture and then extracted it gently under the guise of pulling the legal pad back toward her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Landon telegraph sympathy with a small sigh. Carly resisted the temptation to look too long in Landon’s direction, and wrote the words Aggravating Factors next to the box labeled Punishment.
“If you’re convicted, then we move to the punishment phase. We can call witnesses to provide mitigating evidence—to show why you should receive a sentence on the lower end of the scale—and the prosecution can present evidence to support aggravating factors. They will use that opportunity to say you killed or at least threatened Jocelyn.” She paused to let her words sink in. “I understand that it feels weird to be planning to win at the same time as we’re planning to lose, but if the jury finds you guilty, it’s likely the sentencing phase could start the next day, and it’s for your benefit that we need to be prepared.”
“Contingencies. I get it.” Trevor nodded vigorously. “You have to be ready to change course if the game isn’t going your way.”
“Exactly,” Carly said, wishing she’d had the foresight to couch her words in gamespeak to begin with. “We have to be ready to run every play in the book.” She delivered the words with a straight face, but she wanted to groan at the idea of equating the chess-like maneuvers of legal strategy with a game where the entire goal was to run a ball down a field.
They spent the rest of their session answering general questions about what to expect from jury selection and more general details about the trial. Carly was only too happy to let Jane and Landon take the lead on the rest, and when the meeting was finally over, she was the first one out of her chair.
“Carly?”
She turned back to face Trevor, who was fixated on her while everyone else was packing up their files. “Yes?”
“I imagine things are going to get pretty crazy starting tomorrow. I just wanted to say thank you for everything. No matter what happens, I know you have my back.”
Her first instinct was to nod and get the hell out. Two more weeks. Once she was a partner in this firm, she wouldn’t have to put on an act anymore. She could be her usual no-nonsense self and let her legal work speak for itself. In the meantime, she’d play whatever role necessary in order to get the job. “I do have your back, Trevor. We’ll get through this together.” She reached for his hand and gave it a tight squeeze. To her surprise, he pulled her into a hug. Over his shoulder, she locked looks with Shelby, whose eyes narrowed as the hug lingered on.
Finally, Carly slipped out of Trevor’s arms. She avoided Shelby’s hard stare and walked briskly toward her office. She could hear footfalls behind her, but she was desperate for a few moments alone after the intensity of the meeting. When she was almost at her door, she risked a look back. Landon stood a few feet away, leaning against the wall, staring in her direction with a hopeful expression. Carly glanced at her office door, wishing she could will herself to the other side. Instead she stood, rooted to the floor. “Yes?”
“You were great in there.” Landon stepped closer as she said the words. “I couldn’t have done better.”
The air was thin and it got thinner as Landon came closer. Carly had been careful to avoid being alone with Landon since they’d returned from Austin, but the proximity threatened her resolve. “Just doing my job.”
“About that, can we talk?”
Carly didn’t know a way out. This was the first time Landon had approached her in a while. “About the case?”
Landon paused briefly before answering. “Sure. About the case.”
Carly waved Landon into her office and shut the door behind them. She walked around behind her desk, the heavy wooden furniture a barrier to keep her from giving in to what she wanted. Landon settled in the chair across from her but didn’t say anything. The silence was loud.
“You wanted to talk about the case?”
“This isn’t working.” Landon leaned forward. “I kissed you, and you kissed me back. I thought it was pretty amazing, and based on your reaction, I thought you felt the same. I’m willing to accept I was wrong, but I can’t sit next to you for the next two weeks and make decisions with you in a murder case unless we clear the air between us.”
“Oh, thank God.” Carly breathed deep, trying to ignore the sharp shot of arousal she’d felt when Landon said the kiss was amazing. It had been amazing, and that was the problem. Amazing was distracting. Amazing kisses led to crappy litigation. Maybe when the case was over, there would be time for amazing. The thought barely formed before she remembered what would really happen when the case was over. One of them would win, and one of them would lose. One of them would stay, and one of them would go. But no matter what happened, kisses—amazing or not—weren’t in their future.
Landon stood. “So we’re good?”
“We’re good.” They were anything but good, but they were at least at a place where Carly could focus on the trial and nothing else. She watched Landon walk out of the room and stifled the urge to call her back. She’d gotten what she’d convinced herself she wanted. Why did it suddenly feel like she’d lost so much more?