She lapsed into silence and stared out over the city before them and the heavy clouds hanging low, dark with the impending rain. Dylan’s body crawled with revulsion, turning over all the details in his mind as the bigger picture of the monster McGuinness was came into focus.
“If he terrified you so badly, Ms. Frazier, why have you continued to be his friend for more than a decade?” Kelsi’squestion was spoken kindly, not judgmentally, but Scarlett still flinched as if she had struck her.
She shrugged, giving a laugh that had no humor. “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer, I guess? I tried to cut him out of my life when we were in college. We both went to the University of Virginia, and I thought it was large enough that we could avoid each other. I ignored him for a few days, even made some new friends, but only three days later they started avoiding me around campus. They wouldn’t even meet my eyes. Turns out he had bribed them all to stay away from me and told them if that didn’t work he would blacklist them so they could never work anywhere near DC.” She turned, leaning her back against the glass. “I knew then that he was a monster and he would never let me go.”
Dylan caught her eye, sympathy for her coursing through him. He had no idea how much this woman had put up with over decades to stay safe from that psychopath’s wrath. “Help us put him away.”
She turned her head to the side, chewing on her bottom lip. “How can you keep me safe? If he hears I’m testifying, he’s going to try to stop me.”
“We can subpoena you,” Kelsi said. “If we do that, you can tell your attorney you didn’t want to testify, but plan to say that you saw nothing, or that you plead the fifth. It’s not a great argument, but it can be a cop-out to Mr. Carver, at least for now. After you’ve testified, he won’t be able to do anything.”
Scarlett chewed on her thumbnail, eyes fixed on the floor. Finally, she exhaled a harsh breath. “I can’t. I loved Tripp, and Charlie shouldn’t get away with it, but I’m terrified of him. I have nightmares wondering when he’ll realize I saw him that night and come for me.” She met Kelsi’s eyes, then Dylan’s, holdingtheir gazes with a fierce passion. “I’ll tell you what I saw, but you have to promise to keep me safe. Even if I don’t testify.”
“We promise. We won’t let anything happen to you.”
He’d made that promise before to his team and broken it. He hoped he would be able to keep this one.
* * *
“What do you think?” Dylan asked as they climbed back into his truck.
Kelsi had been quiet since leaving Scarlett’s office. Scarlett had confirmed that she’d seen McGuinness usher a stumbling Tripp onto the boat before heading out, lights off, into the creek. She saw him return about thirty minutes later—alone—and dock the boat before going to bed.
While she was terrified to testify against McGuinness, she told them she wanted to do it for Tripp. The two of them had been in a relationship secretly for five months before his death. She couldn’t commit to testifying yet but promised she would take the next few days to think it over. Dylan hoped she would make her decision sooner rather than later, because they had barely over a week to the trial. McGuinness’s defense attorney would definitely be fighting them over allowing her to testify with such little notice, but Dylan knew how badly they needed this testimony.
“I think her testimony would be the final nail in his coffin, but I’m worried about her. I don’t know if she’ll decide to testify or not, and all we can do is promise her the police protection we already did.” Kelsi’s brows furrowed, and she stared out the windshield. The only thing in view was the cinder block wall of the parking deck.
“Me too.” Dylan sighed, placing his hand on the gear shift and switching to reverse. He pulled the truck slowly out of the parking spot and began the downward spiral to exit the parking deck. “I knew McGuinness was manipulative and cruel, but Scarlett’s impression of him is even worse than I thought. The bribes of the former prosecutors and the judge fit the bill of a rich prick using his daddy’s money as a get-out-of-jail-free card. I still don’t think he’s a psychopath like Scarlett believes, but he’s a lot more dangerous than I had been giving him credit for.”
Kelsi’s face bleached in the seat next to him, and he assumed she was worried over Scarlett. “Hey.” He moved his hand from the gear shift over the console to rest on her thigh. He squeezed it, totally not thinking about the feel of her soft flesh beneath his hand, and how only a few inches higher—
Yeah, nope. Not thinking about it at all. He pulled his train of thought from her with difficulty. “I won’t let anything happen to her. We’ll all be okay. McGuinness can’t touch us, okay?”
She nodded, gripping the sides of her seat tightly. He left his hand on her leg for another moment before reluctantly moving it back to the wheel, giving her space to talk when she was ready.
They’d driven the past few miles in silence with Kelsi staring out the window, lost in some sort of thought—he didn’t know about what exactly.
“You want coffee?”
Her random question startled him, and he jumped, jerking the wheel slightly. “Yeah, coffee sounds good,” he replied. They had reached the interstate. “If you see a Starbucks or some other place you want to stop at, let me know.”
She smiled at him. A small smile, but a smile nonetheless, and damn if it didn’t do something to his lungs.
Eventually, they saw an exit sign advertising a Starbucks nearby. At Kelsi’s insistence, he flicked on his blinker and merged onto the exit ramp. When they pulled up at the Starbucks drive-through, he rolled his window down, ordering his own plain black coffee, and asked Kelsi what she wanted. She surprised him by leaning over the console into him to order for herself. He inhaled deeply, smelling her coconut and vanilla shampoo, and barely restrained himself from running his fingers through her silky red locks.
He paid for both coffees at the window, over Kelsi’s weak protests that she owed him for breakfast that morning too.
She took a large gulp of whatever frilly drink she’d ordered, and when she lowered her cup there was a dot of whipped cream left at the corner of her mouth.
“You’ve got a little something ...” His voice trailed off and his thumb dragged slowly across her lower lip. Her jaw slackened as he put his thumb in his mouth and sucked the whipped cream from it. “Sweet,” he said with a wink. Her cheeks turned a delicious pink, and he chuckled to himself.
The upcoming Sunday was their moms’ joint birthday party, and he was determined to finally break down the walls she had set up between them. He was done playing it safe.
CHAPTER 26
Kelsi
5 Days to Trial
