“You think this is true?” He stared Kelsi directly in the eyes, desperately wishing he could read whatever thoughts were flying through her brain.
She nodded slowly. “I didn’t know her well, obviously, but Marge was never one to make up stories. I imagine that she told the court exactly what she witnessed that night.”
“It’s too bad we can’t ask her.”
“What do you mean? Why can’t we?”
“She died, Kelsi.” He studied the document again. “About a week after this testimony was given, if I’m remembering the date correctly.”
Immediately Kelsi’s brows furrowed. “How did she die?”
“From what I heard, it was something related to her diabetes. I think it was that her blood sugar got too high.” He racked his brain for any other gossip he had heard from his mother.
“Everyone knew she had diabetes; it wasn’t a secret. She was always so careful when she went out in public, too. I can’t imagine she would let her blood sugar get too high and not realize it. The timing is too weird, considering she was the one witness to the crime and this happened right after she testified.”
Dylan scorned himself for not suspecting something sooner. Although he hadn’t known about the problems that had been popping up with this case, he had known Marge. Well, as well as anyone could really know a recluse, but he’d always known her to be responsible. Kelsi had caught on to the suspicious death in a fraction of a second, and it hadn’t crossed his mind at all.
“Maybe you’re right and it’s related. Or maybe it’s just an unhappy coincidence. Either way, we can’t prove that McGuinness had anything to do with this. There was no official autopsy, and she’s already been buried.” Dylan closed his eyes and tilted his head back with a frustrated growl. “And because we can’t prove he had anything to do with her death, you know that statement can’t be brought in because it’s hearsay. We’ll have to find some other way to prove McGuinness had something to do with this.”
Kelsi read through the transcript before shaking her head. “Actually, it’s not hearsay.”
A small smile played at the corner of her lips. It was the smile she always had when she knew something someone else didn’t but was trying to downplay how happy that made her. It probably shouldn’t have been an attractive quality, making herseem self-satisfied and like a bit of a braggart, but Dylan loved how intelligent she was.
“See here?” She pointed at a couple lines in the transcript but plowed onward before he could actually take a look at what she had isolated. “McGuinness’s attorney was present and cross-examined her. Her testimonyisa hearsay exception. Because she’s now unavailable but previously testified under oath, we can bring that into the trial.”
It vaguely rang a bell, probably something he learned in law school. It was things like this that reminded him that the type of law he practiced in the military was far removed from civilian criminal law. He had been in legal assistance, which largely meant that he advised soldiers and their families about a variety of issues like divorce, drafting a will, or landlord disputes, either under the laws of Germany or the United States, whichever applied.
They both looked down at the file, lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Kelsi let out an exasperated sigh, following it up with a heavy groan. Dylan thought it was a bit dramatic, but that had always been Kelsi’s modus operandi.
“This case is a mess. Even without the juror interference and everything else, it’s going to be nearly impossible to prove McGuinness intended to kill him. I’m not sure how we’re going to do it.”
He nodded in agreement with her analysis. Looking at it now, laid out how Banksy had prepared and organized the file, it didn’t look like a solid case at all. In fact, he thought it had more holes than his mom’s screened porch. “It’s definitely rough,” he said slowly, pensively. “But if anyone can put this case together, my money’s on you, Red.”
She looked at him sharply, probably caught off guard by his casual use of his old nickname for her again, but it slipped out before he could catch it. Neither of them acknowledged it, instead poring over the documents.
Eventually they reached a point in their review of the file where they had more questions than answers. After the silence had stretched for a few minutes, Dylan turned his body toward hers. They had already been sitting close to each other in order to both read the same documents at the same time, so turning put his knee in direct contact with hers, and the heat coming off her body teased and tormented him.
He captured her eyes with his stare and opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to work out what to say to this girl who used to be his best friend in the world but was now only a stranger. She looked the same and spoke the same, but she acted differently, a little bit more serious than he remembered. She had changed over the years, and he knew that he definitely had as well. Gone were the days of carefree dreaming over a successful career—those had been traded in for the reality of war and loss and grief too powerful to contend with.
He was still hurt and angry over what she’d done, and he wasn’t sure how to move past that, but she also felt like the same person he’d known his whole life. He wasn’t sure how to process all his conflicting thoughts.
Finally, looking into her beautiful green eyes, he took a deep, steadying breath. “Kelsi—”
He was cut off by Cat dramatically slamming open his office door. She stormed in, exclaiming, “Kelsi! I forgot your appointment with HR to get your ID badge printed. We have five minutes to get downstairs, and I need at least that long to waddle over to the elevators.”
Cat didn’t seem to notice how close the two of them were to each other or the palpable tension in the room as she walked over to Kelsi and grabbed her arm, dragging her up from the chair and toward the door before Kelsi could even say a word.
Kelsi spared a glance behind her toward Dylan, and he couldn’t help but think her expression looked a little lost.
He leaned his head back, remembering how struck he’d been when he’d laid eyes on her for the first time in years. She was even more beautiful than he remembered—her thick red hair tumbling in waves across her shoulders, bright-green eyes glistening at the challenge presented, delicate jaw set in a stubborn pose as she refused to cede even an inch to him. She was glorious.
But he hadn’t expected seeing her to pain him. In that first moment in Banksy’s office, he’d immediately gone back to the last night he’d seen her, walking away from him. He also hadn’t expected how upset he’d be over seeing the differences in her. It wasn’t her changing that bothered him, it was knowing that she’d changed and he hadn’t been there to see it.
He sighed, glancing at the door she’d left through with Cat, and promised himself that he would get to know this new version of her, that he’d make up for the time they’d missed. He had a second chance with his best friend, and he wouldn’t waste it.
CHAPTER 9
Kelsi
