The doorbell chime had Raine glancing up from her computer. Callum was early. They weren’t due to leave for another forty-five minutes. Maybe he wanted to arrive even earlier than they’d planned. Could he be as nervous as she was about speaking to the prison board?
No. She smiled at that ridiculous thought. Callum wouldn’t be nervous. He was always confident and capable, even when facing certain death. He’d saved her from Knox a few days ago. And she had faith that if anyone could save her brother today, it was Callum. This was Joey’s last chance. His only chance. If this didn’t work, he’d be executed this evening.
Tears started in her eyes. She brushed them away and drew a shaky breath. Good thoughts. Think good thoughts. We’re going to save him. We have to.
As she pushed up from her chair in her home office, she sucked in a sharp breath. Her injuries made her stiff and sore. But she was grateful and thankful to be alive. The wounds would heal. Again, thanks to Callum.
She shuffled down the hallway beneath the stairs toward the foyer. Just before she reached the door, the doorbell chimed again.
“Just a second,” she called out, flipping the top dead bolt, then a second one, thanks to his thoughtfulness. She still couldn’t believe that he’d hired someone to clean her house, replace all of the destroyed items and reinforce every door and window with new locks right after her home had been broken into. He’d had all of that done while the two of them were running all over the place interviewing witnesses, and she hadn’t even known about it.
“Did you check the peephole before unlocking the door?” Callum called out.
She smiled and looked through the peephole, even though she didn’t need to. Then she opened the door. Callum in a business suit was devastating, even more so than Callum in jeans. How had she not been this affected seeing him in a suit before? He was gorgeous, in anything.
She let out a shaky breath, and tried hard not to stare. Now wasn’t the time. Maybe later, hopefully, they could talk, see where this...thing between them was going. But first, Joey. They had to be successful today. She couldn’t even consider the alternative.
“You’re early,” she said. “The appointment isn’t until two o’clock.”
His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I wanted to check on you. It’s only been a couple of days since...since what happened. Are you feeling okay? You really should have stayed in the hospital more than one day.”
“I’m fine. I fainted from blood loss. You keep acting like I almost died.”
“You did almost die.”
“No. I was almost murdered, but you prevented Knox from doing that. Big difference. Stop worrying about me. Is that why you came early? To mother hen me?”
He smiled again, barely. “That, and to make sure that everything was fixed the way you wanted it.”
“My house? Are you kidding? It’s better than new. I still can’t believe you won’t let me reimburse you. But I sincerely appreciate what you did. After Knox...well, it was wonderful being able to come home from the hospital and not have to worry about the repairs. Thank you.”
“Of course. What about you, though? Are you sure you’re okay? Feeling good enough to make the trip to Jackson Prison? After everything you’ve been through—”
She put her hand on his arm. “Nothing will keep me from being there today. Stop worrying about me. I’m alive and perfectly fine. Bruised, with a few minor cuts here and there, but—”
“Minor?” He swore. “You had thirty-seven stitches. That’s not minor.”
“I can’t believe you kept track of the total. But the worst cut only needed twelve.”
He blanched. “Good grief. If I hadn’t already killed the bastard I’d kill him again.”
“He’d have done far worse than some punches and cuts if you hadn’t saved me. That’s exactly what you did, you know. You saved me, and the lives of other women he’d have gone on to torture and murder if you and your team hadn’t figured out he was the serial killer. It’s over. Let it go. I have.”
His jaw tightened, but he gave her a curt nod. “I wanted to update you about Hagen too.”
She motioned toward the family room. “We don’t have to stand. There’s still plenty of time before we have to leave. Come sit on the couch with me.”
He hesitated, as if he was going to tell her no. But then he nodded again and followed her across the room. She made a concerted effort to move as normally as possible so he wouldn’t start fussing about her injuries again. Getting up and sitting were the hardest parts. But she forced a smile through the pain as she lowered herself to the couch.
When he chose a wing chair instead of sitting beside her, she couldn’t help the twinge of disappointment. But it was the new worry lines on his forehead that had her attention.
“Callum, if you’re still concerned about me, don’t be. I’m really okay. Promise.”
“I’ll always be concerned about you, Raine. But there are a few more updates that I need to give you.” He ran a hand through his short hair, a gesture she’d never seen him do before.
“What’s going on, Callum? You’re making me nervous, even more than I already was with today being Joey’s board review.” She refused to mention the elephant in the room, that it was also the day that Joey was scheduled to die.
He winced. “That’s what I wanted to update you about. The board review. Even though the investigator Asher hired got Hagen to swear out an affidavit that he’d lied about seeing Joey with Alicia, the prosecutor is refusing to pursue perjury charges against him. His reasoning is that other witnesses said they thought they saw Joey with Alicia too. Even though they didn’t swear they were positive about that under oath, the sheer number of witnesses who gave statements that they thought they saw him is overwhelming, again in the prosecutor’s opinion. He doesn’t feel it would have made a difference in Joey’s ultimate conviction, even if Hagen hadn’t lied.”
Her stomach knotted. “If the prosecutor doesn’t think Hagen’s retraction would make a difference, what are our chances that the board will?”
He cleared his throat. “About that. I’m not going to try to talk you out of meeting with the board—”
“I should hope not. Wait, talk me out of meeting with them? We’re both going before them.” She searched his eyes, her stomach twisting even more. “Aren’t we?”
“In good conscience, no. I can’t speak to them on your brother’s behalf.”
She stared at him in shock. “I don’t... I don’t understand. Why not?”
His tortured gaze met hers. “Because I believe that your brother killed Alicia Claremont.”
Before she could catch her breath over that statement, he continued.
“I agree with the prosecutor. Hagen’s retraction isn’t strong enough to convince me that a jury wouldn’t have convicted him, even without Hagen’s testimony. No other viable suspects are on anyone’s radar. Joey’s the only one who could have killed her. He had motive, and opportunity.”
“What about an as-yet-unknown stranger as the perpetrator? Strangers do home invasions and kill people they don’t know. Look at Knox, for goodness’ sake. He didn’t know any of the women he murdered. It does happen. The police just haven’t found the right suspect yet.”
“There’s no forensic evidence that a stranger was involved—”
“And there’s no forensic evidence that Joey was involved,” she countered, hating the desperation in her voice.
He sighed. “Alicia wouldn’t have opened her door to someone she didn’t know that late at night. And there was no sign of a break-in. She’d met Joey in the bar—”
“No. She didn’t.” She clutched her hands together again. “Hagen retracted.”
“Other people saw them, as we’ve discussed. And you saw Rose’s diary, those pictures. You saw what he did to her. You heard her say that even though she deeply loved Joey, she was convinced he could kill. We spoke to other witnesses from the trial, including experts, and no one has changed their opinions or their stories since their very first statements years ago. Your biggest argument for him is that his confession was coerced. The leading expert on false confessions said she couldn’t conclude that it had been.”
“She couldn’t conclude that it hadn’t been either.”
“Raine—”
“Stop. Stop trying to convince me that my brother is a killer.” She wrapped her arms around her middle.
“I don’t mean to try to convince you of that. It was never my intention to take your belief in his innocence away from you.”
“Then what is your intention?”
“I want you to understand my beliefs, that I have a different view of what happened than you do. And I want you to understand why I can’t go against those beliefs. More than anything, I’d hoped I could find proof of his innocence. I wanted to give you that gift, to make you happy. But I can’t.”
“I gambled everything, I gambled my brother’s life, on you helping me save him. And now you’re refusing to do the one thing I absolutely needed you to do—talk to the prison board and tell them he’s innocent.”
“From the very beginning, our agreement was that I would investigate, that I would search for the truth. And if I didn’t find anything to point to his innocence, I was done. I never lied about that.”
She squeezed her hands together so hard they ached. “If you do this, Callum, if you refuse to go with me and speak to them about the outstanding questions, the doubts, Hagen’s retraction, then it’s just me. His sister. Pleading for his life. What kind of chance would I have? A family member doesn’t have the credibility that you would. I need you. I need your expertise, your reputation in law enforcement. Callum, I’m begging you. Please. Just talk to them.”
“I already have.”
Her world tilted on its axis as terror flooded through her veins. “What are you saying?”
“I met with them early this morning and gave my full report.”
“I don’t... Full report? Why didn’t you wait and go with me? What report are you talking about? You’re not making sense. My God, Callum. What did you tell them?”
His pain-filled gaze searched hers. “The truth. I told them the truth, that I investigated his case and found nothing to justify me arguing on his behalf. I’m still taking you to your appointment. I don’t want you going through all of this alone at the prison, especially if, well. I’ll drive you there, go with you inside, be there for you afterward. But I won’t go before the board and try to convince them of his innocence. I’m sorry. I can’t.”
“Get out,” she rasped, her voice breaking. “Get out of my house. I never want to see you again. Ever.”
“Raine, don’t do this. We—”
“Get out!”
He stared at her a long moment, then stood. “I’m sorry. I truly am. If you need anything—”
“What I need, you refuse to give. Go.”
He sighed, then headed toward the door. “Goodbye, Raine.”
She ignored him, refusing to look his way.
The door opened, then shut with a firm click.
She crumpled into a ball and gave in to the sobs she’d been fighting to hold back.