“So, we know you were involved. We know the tapes outside the morgue were tampered with, we know Rebecca didn’t drown in her car.”
Lucian’s eyes flicked up to Jake, and for a split second, his resolve waned. The tick was swift, but Jake saw, and Lucian was unnerved by that.
“And this has what to do with me?”
“You were at that morgue. Erased the tapes and tampered with the official files. You know the ones that go to the state for an official cause of death? But Hamby isn’t tech-savvy, and theykeep hard-copy files. You’ll find the report that shows there was no water in Rebecca’s lungs.”
Lucian kept eye contact as he spoke and took another sip of his coffee.
“Speculation,” Lucian retorted.
“In that file, you’ll also find screenshots from the original CCTV video from the Hamby Securities backup system. They keep them on file for ten years.” He smirked. “And judging from the color on your face,you didn’t know that.”
Jake leaned in across the table, his face stern, his voice cool, “We have you on tampering with evidence. We don’t have anything on Maureen yet, but if you were acting on her orders...” Jake let his words trail off, then sat back.
Lucian felt the sweat trickle down the side of his temple, reached for the folder, and flipped it open. He pulled out photo after photo of him in the parking lot, at the entrance, in the office. They were endless. Lucian looked up at a smiling Jake.
“What do you want from me?” Lucian asked.
“First, I want you to tell me what happened to Rebecca Hartwell in your own words. And maybe, just maybe, you won’t spend the rest of your life rotting behind bars.”
Jake pushed a legal pad and pen over in front of him, then stood up. He buttoned his jacket up and made his way to the door, Lucian keeping his eyes on him the whole time.
“I’d hurry if I were you. She’s gonna go down. Be on the right side of the law this time.”
Jake left, and Lucian looked at the empty legal pad in front of him. He hated to have to do what came next, but this time he had no options. He was sloppy, and if he didn’t play smart now, their lives would all be over. He reached for the pen and started to write. Holding his breath, he wished he were anywhere else in the world at that moment as he scribbled a single word on the notepad and set the pen down.
Lawyer.
LANA HAD ARRANGED a dinner,a final, necessary checkpoint at her parents' house before everything changed again. Before she set off for the program in Belize, and before Kayden returned to New York for his surgery. Her mother, over the phone, hadn't bothered to hide her lack of enthusiasm for hosting Kayden, her voice tight with a disapproval Lana knew all too well. Shewas, however, transparently elated to learn her daughter would be heading out of the country, finally "doing what she loved" and, unspoken, putting an ocean between herself and the Capshaw drama.
The truck bounced and jostled on the poorly maintained road, the silence inside the cab feeling stretched thin, vibrating with the unspoken weight of their impending separation. Beside her, Kayden, who had been quiet for the last few miles, suddenly stiffened. He began patting his pants pockets, a casual search that quickly escalated. His brow furrowed, his hand moving from his jeans to the inner pocket of his dinner jacket, then back to his pants, his movements growing more frantic. Lana watched him, her own stomach tightening as his expression shifted from mild annoyance to a flicker of raw, sudden panic.
“Hey, Lan’, have you seen my phone?” he asked, looking in the middle console compartment.
“Yeah, remember you put it in the glove box?”
“Oh yeah,” he muttered, pulling the compartment open.
He reached in and pulled the phone out, “If my head wasn’t screwed on sometimes,” he said, as he swiped the screen. “Paula’s left a ton of messages. What the hell happened now?”
He looked over at Lana, she frowned, and his brows pinched together as he put the phone to his ear. Her own phone chimed next, but Lana wasn’t a fan of touching her phone behind the wheel. She’d check it later.
“I’m sure it’s about the conversation you had with your mom,” Lana said, keeping her eyes glued to the road.
Inside, she wondered if the message was about Jake and his investigation. She still hadn’t heard anything since the other day. After a few minutes, when Kayden didn’t respond, she glanced over at him and his expressionless face.
“What is it?” Lana asked, worriedly.
“Nothing we have to talk about now,” Kayden replied.
He didn’t want to bring it up before the dinner with her parents. He needed to keep his mind clear.
Lana didn’t buy that; she knew her man very well and could tell when he was being less than truthful. But he was right, whatever it was, important or not, would wait until they got back to her place. Soon, they were pulling up to her parents’ house, and she was relieved only to see two cars in the driveway. There wouldn’t be any nosy family there, or Sam and Carmen either, thank goodness.
Just the four of them, however awkward the dinner may be. She just hoped that they would give him a chance and see his heart the way she did. Hopefully, they’d realize that the love she and Kayden shared was real and that anyone trying to wedge in the middle of them was pointless.
Kayden jumped out of the truck first, walked over to Lana’s door, and opened it for her. He grabbed her hand and helped her down, the short skirt riding up her thigh. She slammed the door shut, and he grabbed her hand, then pulled her close. She was more nervous than she thought, as she held onto his biceps and gazed into those mesmerizing eyes. He raised his eyebrows.
