Banksy took a deep breath. “I don’t want to give either of you much more information on the case itself. I told everyone to keep gossip about the case mum around the office while you’ve been here, Dylan. I would prefer you two go in with an unbiased opinion and fresh eyes, read through the police reports and the evidence logs, and get a feel for the holes in the prosecution yourselves.” Her gray eyes burned fiercely as she stared at Kelsi first, then Dylan. “His family can’t continue to use their money to escape consequences. Justice may be blind, but she is nobitch. The case is currently set for a jury trial in under a month in Virginia Beach. Special venue change for dear Mr. McGuinness.”
Kelsi startled, mouth going dry at the idea of having to go back to that courthouse so soon.
“His defense attorney argued that the local jury pool is tainted due to the allegations of bribery being gossiped about in the town newspaper, and you know the locals don’t look too kindly on the vacation-home owners and part-timers anyway. So, it was granted, but they’re letting our office carry on the prosecution. It’s been continued so many times before that the judge won’t let us postpone it again. McGuinness has raised a fuss about his right to a speedy trial, so this is the last shot. Make it count.”
With that, she tossed the case file at Dylan, who had to scramble to catch it before any of the contents could spill out.
“Now go. Talk this case over and come up with a winning strategy to put that asshole behind bars. And”—she smiled at them sitting next to each other—“it’s so good to have you both back in town, working here.” Her smile dropped, and she pointed at the door with one finger while her eyes went to the papers on her desk. “Out.”
A clear dismissal if they’d ever heard one. Kelsi and Dylan stood and walked out of the office, shutting her door behind them.
CHAPTER 7
Kelsi
28 Days to Trial
Neither of themmoved for a long moment. Instead they stood frozen, facing each other, and drank in the details of the other’s appearance, both of them daring the other to break first.
Kelsi cleared her throat and took a step toward her office. Dylan had always waited for her to take the lead, and it looked like at least some things hadn’t changed. With his focus on her, she felt clumsy and uncoordinated and wasn’t sure where to even begin. But work was safe. They could talk about work, and she could totally ignore everything else.
Kelsi spoke up. “So I guess we should probably go over the file now.”
Dylan smiled at her, his real smile. “Sure, Red.”
The use of that old nickname jarred her, and she blinked stupidly at him, trying to puzzle out his behavior. Was he happy to see her? Did he think about her at all these past few years?
“Come on, we can do this in my office. It’s a little more lived in than I imagine yours is.” He started off down the hallway without waiting for an answer. He was limping slightly. Not dramatically, but enough that she could tell something abouthis left leg must be bothering him, because his movements were stiff.
She bit down on her tongue, hard, to suppress the urge to demand he tell her what was bothering him.He doesn’t owe you anything. You’re not friends anymore.You’re not anythinganymore.She mentally slapped herself for worrying about him for even a second.
He opened the door to his office, the other one without a nameplate, and she walked in after him as he held it for her. Dylan stepped close as he let the door swing closed behind her, shutting them in together. She could feel the heat radiating from him. This was the first time they’d been truly alone with each other in four years, and that thought hit her like a freight train barreling into a concrete barrier.
Kelsi gulped audibly and stepped sideways to get away from him before she made a fool of herself. She looked around at his office. It was identical to hers, except his diplomas were already hung on the wall over the filing cabinet and he had framed photos propped up on his desk. She stepped closer to see them. The first one was a picture of him and his mom, both smiling brightly at the camera, Dylan only thirteen with lime-green braces. The next picture was of his dad in his Army dress uniform. A pang went through her chest, remembering the day they got the news that he had been killed in combat.
Dylan had been inconsolable, crying in her arms for hours. They’d only been nine at the time. Learning how to handle loss had been new and difficult for them both. The following year her dad left, and their moms both became single parents, lessening each other’s burdens where they could.
She shook her head to knock the memory away and looked at the next frame, which was a group picture of Dylan and someother men in tan camouflage Army gear. They were in the desert with an American flag held in front of them, smiling with their arms thrown around each other’s shoulders.
Kelsi turned to the last frame, but before she could get a good look at it, Dylan picked it up and shoved it inside the top drawer on his desk. She thought she saw him in the frame with his arm around someone ...a girl maybe?
Too late, she realized she had been blatantly snooping and took a large step away from the desk.
He cleared his throat, the sound a little strangled, and grabbed a chair, dragging it around so it was next to his own. He sat in his chair, sticking his left leg out straight and massaging his thigh an inch above his knee for a few seconds. She frowned at his leg and mentally cursed herself again for caring.
“Sit, please.” He jerked his chin at the empty chair.
Kelsi sat slowly. He’d put the chair so close to his that their thighs brushed. She tried to subtly shift away but couldn’t get far enough to escape him.
“How long have you been working here? It has to have been at least a while to have everything set up already.”
He glanced over at her sharp tone and arched a brow. “I’ve been working here for a few weeks now.”
Weeks?He’d been working here for weeks and nobody told her? Not her mom, who had to have known, not Banksy, who damn well knew, and certainly not Dylan.
“I didn’t even know you were back in town.” She flinched at how icy her voice sounded, even to her own ears.
“You wouldn’t have come home if you did.” He said it so softly that she half thought she imagined his melancholic words.He looked away at the law school diploma hanging on his wall. “If you need help hanging anything in your office, I’d be happy to.”
