Aiden Flint opened the top drawer of his desk and fished out a pack of Kleenex. He passed it to her. ‘But I am going to tell you to get your lawyer here before you speak to me. You know this isn’t going to go away without a fight, and having your lawyer here will reduce the number of times you have to recount everything.’
‘Just like that?’ Mav asked, his scepticism clear.
‘I’ve run into Alexander Cane before.’ Aiden’s eyes shuttered. ‘Between the initial interview and the follow-up, my last victim completely changed her story.’
‘You think he paid her off?’ Mav asked.
‘One can only assume.’ Aiden looked at her again. ‘Do you have an attorney?’
Nina shook her head. ‘Only an entertainment attorney. I’ve never needed a personal one.’
‘I can recommend someone,’ he replied. ‘She’s one of the best. If you have nothing pressing to do today, I can give her a call and she’ll come down if she doesn’t have a hearing. She owes me.’
Nina nodded, and even though she could barely make out Aiden Flint’s face through her glassy eyes, she had to ask, ‘Why? Why would you help me?’
He took his time replying, but when he did, he said something she hadn’t expected from the assistant chief of police. ‘My wife … She has a past. She’s been through some things. Bad things. Things she’s still working through fifteen years into our marriage. I have daughters. And I’m a veteran cop who’s seen things done to women by men … Things that you wouldn’t believe. So, this,’ he said, looking directly into Nina’s eyes, ‘this is personal for me. As it should be for every man who loves any woman, be it his mother or wife or daughter or sister or friend.
‘But because it’s personal for me, you really need a lawyer here. Ifwedo this,’ he said pointedly, ‘we do it properly. We leave no room for doubt. We get you the best lawyer money can buy, we help her build a solid case, so that when this goes to court, he’s left looking exactly like the idiot – the predator – that he is.’
Nina was too overwhelmed to speak. But because he would be able to read the emotion on her face, she looked at Maverick.
And it was him who read the reply in her eyes and said, ‘Call her. Call the lawyer.’
‘Today is 23rdJune 2025.’ Maverick remained completely quiet as Aiden Flint started the official interview only an hour and a half later. ‘Ms Keller, could you state your name and address for the record?’
‘Nina Marie Keller, 34 Hollybrook Drive, Hollywood.’
‘Ms Keller, do you understand that this interview is being recorded?’
‘Yes.’
‘For the record, Ms Keller’s boyfriend, Maverick Hunt, and attorney, Linda Patton, are present.’
Maverick couldn’t even enjoy the title, coming from a stranger’s lips for the first time. He was too tense. Too focused on Nina, who looked so small and tired just then.
She sat in the chair next to his, opposite Aiden Flint. She was dressed in a pretty white sundress that would have looked beautiful against the summer golds of the ranch but that just looked stark against the grey walls of the LAPD’s Hollywood Station’s interview room. Her dark eyes were sad and heavy, her shoulders rounded. But every time she spoke, her voice was strong and clear. God knew he admired her for it.
‘Ms Keller, are you aware of the assault allegations made against you by Alexander Cane?’
‘Yes.’
‘For the record, could you please state your own account of the events of June 2nd2025?’
Mav listened as Nina began to recount what Alexander Cane had done to her, slowly at first, and then faster as her panic began to take ahold.
Aiden Flint listened to her, only interrupting a few times to ask clarifying questions, one of which was: ‘The police report says that your friend, Markus Johnson, asked a stranger to call 911 on his way to you. Is that accurate?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why did you call your best friend? Why not 911?’
‘I grew up with a single mom who … entertained men a lot. She told me that if I ever called 911, the police would take me to jail. As a kid, when things would get rough, I would lock myself in the bathroom. As an adult … It honestly never even occurred to me to call the police. I panicked. And my best friend has always been a place of safety for me. But he – Markus – he had someone else call 911 while he stayed on the line with me.’
‘We’ve got that recording already, but the caller had no information except that there was a break-in at your address. Do you still have Markus’s outgoing call listed on your phone?’
‘Yes.’
‘Would you be amenable to submitting that phone to evidence?’
