Not what I was expecting him to say. “When did she visit you?”
His face scrunches up like he’s trying to decide if I’m tricking him in some way, so I say, “Look, I’m trying to help her out. She may be in some trouble.”
Paul’s face drops. “Oh, shit. No, they can’t get to her too.”
“Tell me what you can so I can help her.” I may be exaggerating our relationship a bit but she opened this door when she called me about the cops searching her house.
“She was here last Saturday. First time she came to see me.”
Last Saturday. The day Ben was killed.
“Was this a planned visit?”
He shakes his head. “No. She just showed up.”
“Did she say why?” It’s like pulling teeth getting an answer out of him.
“Yeah. She had questions just like you.”
We stare at each other and I wait for him to add more but he doesn’t. “Can you tell me what she wanted to know?”
All he does is shrug.
“I’m not going to waste your time or mine. You can be up front with me now, and if there’s some way I can help you with your case, I will.”
It takes a little longer before he finally gives it up. “Same thing you wanted to know when you came to see me the first time. Wanted specifics on the new evidence.”
“So Aubrey was aware of that too.”
He nods.
“And did you tell her what it was exactly?”
“Yeah. May as well tell you too. It’s a video from a surveillance camera. But before you ask, no, I never saw what was on it.”
I think back to Ben’s handwritten note in his file on Aubrey and Paul. “Did Kevin Foster come see you in early June? Was he the one who told you about the video?”
Paul’s eyes get big, and it’s the only confirmation I need that “Chief” and Kevin Foster were the same person.
“Yeah, it was him.”
“Did he give you any information other than telling you about the existence of a video?”
“He said the driver was at my house that night. Should be easy enough to match them to that list of people.”
I know what list he’s talking about. Same list I asked Scott to do a deep dive on.
Paul grips the edge of the small table. “Maybe you can call Foster, talk to him. But don’t tell him I told you his name! I mean, I didn’t have to, you already knew it. Just don’t want to scare him off from helping me.”
My mouth turns down in a frown. “Paul, I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this but Kevin Foster died over a month ago.”
Paul’s face pales and he sits back on the wooden chair behind his table. “I’m never gonna get out of here now.”
I lean forward. “Look, there’s a good chance what he had wouldn’t hold up in court. I’d have to prove chain of custody and a lot of other things. But after looking back at your case, I’m not even sure we need it. There’s enough there that I think an appeal would be possible.”
His mouth drops open as he stares at me. “You’ll take my case?”
I hold a hand up. “I’m looking at it very closely. I’m not promising I can get you out of here but if I think there’s a true path forward, I will take it.”
