“We’re pretty sure it was to protect you,” says Logan softly. “We know he had the nanochip, and it was on him when he died, but it vanished. They figured out he died in North Astley, and they’re dragging the lake for the nanochip, but even if they find it, which is highly unlikely, I doubt it would be readable. The heat is off us for good.”
“But not off her,” I say bitterly. “Why would she have done that? She should have let me deal with it. She shouldn’t have gotten involved.”
“Well, I guess she loves you,” murmurs Logan. “Wouldn’t you have done the same for her?”
“That’s different,” I growl. “She’s mine. I’m supposed to protect her. And I failed miserably. She saved me, and I couldn’t even prevent her from getting stabbed and nearly killed. And now, she’s going to go to prison. Unless you have some bright idea to keep her safe?”
“I was hoping you would. But I guess you’ve been too busy with your head up her pussy to think about actual important things.”
“Fuck off,” I mutter.
Everest runs a hand through his thick blond hair. “That poor girl. One shitty situation after another. And now, prison.”
“Over my dead body,” I snap. “We’ll figure it out. Are you sure they’ll pin it on her? Maybe we can get some sort of deal. She wasbadly injured when I found her. What do you think, Vincent? Your dad’s a prosecutor, isn’t he? What kind of bullshit do we need to come up with so the charges don’t stick?”
He hesitates. “Well, the good news is I think they’ll let the dead father case go. It’s pretty iffy anyway. The guy killed her mother, and she was only fourteen anyway. I think it’s likely they’ll decide this is the better case and bury the other one.”
Logan stares at us, and I realize he didn’t know about the patricide, after all. But I keep my focus on Vincent.
“Great,” I growl. “So she’s even more screwed than she was before. How reassuring.”
Vincent grows red, but presses on. “The first thing to do about this new case, I think, is to look at the time it happened. Middle of the night, in a desolate area, she’s already been beaten by her boyfriend.”
“Ex-boyfriend.”
“Ex-boyfriend,” he agrees politely as both Logan and Everest roll their eyes. “So, the immediate thing I would say is, she didn’t realize he was a federal officer. Self-defense.”
“Good boy,” I approve. “See, Logan? Solution.”
He shakes his head. “He was found with his card in his hand. He had obviously identified himself to her. And the stab wounds were not consistent with self-defense.”
“Why not?”
“Well, for starters, there were twelve of them.”
Everest lets out a low whistle. “Who’d have thought that girl had such anger issues?”
“Fuck off,” I spit out through gritted teeth, “and don’t talk about her in the past tense.”
“Right, right. Sorry.”
He backs off, raising his hands in the air in a gesture of apology, and I turn back to Vincent.
“Well? What else have you got?”
He clears his throat and readjusts his frameless glasses on the bridge of his nose. “I’d say we might have another shot by pleading temporary insanity. She had been attacked pretty viciously by her boyfriend—ex-boyfriend, sorry—just a little while before. It could be argued that she was feeling a heightened sense of danger, and maybe something in her snapped, temporarily at least, causing some sort of exaggerated reaction that…”
“Fine. Temporary insanity. Perfect.”
“Except for one thing,” cuts in Logan, and I grunt in exasperation. “One thing that invalidates either of those arguments. The fact that it was confirmed he was carrying the nanochip on him right before he went to see your girl. Meaning, she had to have stolen it.”
“Or,” I interrupt, “the guy who moved him into the forest did. Isn’t that a possibility?”
Logan pauses. “Yeah, I guess. It’s true there will be a major flaw in the prosecution’s argument. She couldn’t have moved the body by herself. Especially not injured as she was.”
“Petty theft,” I suggest. “Someone stumbled upon the body and took advantage of the opportunity.”
“Perfect,” smiles Everest, looking relieved. “Simple, straightforward, and…”
