Minutes ticked by in a blur as I fought the alcohol still flooding my system, which alternated between making me sleepy and making me nauseous. In the back of my mind, a little voice kept whispering that Addison and Asher weren’t coming. That they’d finally come to terms with my white-trashiness and hadwritten me off for good.
I don’t know how long I wallowed in self-pity before metal slid across concrete and someone called out, “James, your lawyer’s here.”
I pushed myself to my feet and looked out. The guard standing outside my window directed me to turn around, then he opened the door and handcuffed me. We clomped past several cells and down a set of stairs into a room where Asher was waiting.Both relief and shame warmed my cheeks when his eyes took me in and widened. I had a pretty good idea how awful I looked.
“Those aren’t necessary,” Asher said, gesturing at my handcuffs.
The guard removed them and then left us alone. Asher pulled me into his arms and held me for a few precious seconds before releasing me. I rubbed my wrists and sat in the chair on my side of the table.
“How you holding up?” Asher asked.
I forced a smile. “It’s like summer camp, with better food.”
“Dylan.” There was more emotion behind the word than I could deal with. I looked anywhere but at Asher, knowing if I saw pity or disgust in his eyes, I’d lose it. “I’m going to do everything I can to get you out of this,” he assured me.
“I know. I appreciate your help. I’m sorry you had to come downto—”
“Don’t apologize,” he replied. “None of this is your fault.”
Relief threatened to drown me, flooding my eyes with tears. “You don’t think I did it.”
“Of course not.” He sounded almost offended. “I know you... who you really are under the tough-girl exterior. Besides, you’re smart. You wouldn’t have used your own butcher knife and you sure as hell wouldn’t have dumped the body outsideyour apartment like some sort of trophy.”
“Ohmigod, it was my knife?”
“The report says your fingerprints were the only ones on it, and it matches the set on your counter.”
Well, that pissed me off. “The cops must think I’m either a complete idiot or a nutcase.”
“Nutcase seems to be the consensus. They interviewed a couple of your coworkers.”
“Already? It’s Saturday.”
“And almost noon.They’ve been busy.”
I threw my head back and stared at the ceiling, knowing I was screwed.
“Tell me what they’ve found out. What happened after you were fired?” Asher asked.
“I might have had a crazy red-headed white girl moment and told Kirk off,” I conceded.
Asher sucked in a breath. “Bad timing.”
“Hindsight. What else do they have on me?”
He frowned. “Blood in your bathroom. They’rerunning tests on it to see if it matches the victim’s.”
My stomach plunged down to the Underworld, danced a jig with Hades, and then leapt into my throat. I’d forgotten all about the blood, and the mere mention of it made me want to crawl in a hole. Didn’t jails have some sort of “hole” you could be sent to where you never had to talk to anyone ever again? That’s where I wanted to be.
“It won’t,”I said. “It’s not Kirk’s blood.”
“Okay, whose is it?”
I stood and started pacing. “I can’t talk to you about that, Ash.”
“You have to. I can’t defend you unless I know everything.”
“Trust me, there are some things you don’t want to know.”
