“Come on,” I said to Blake. “We need to talk strategy. Because if Wolfe wants a war …” I rolled my shoulders, feeling the familiar pretrial tension settling into my bones. “Then I’m going to give him one he’ll never forget.”
The battle for Faith’s freedom had officially begun.
And I’d be damned if I let Bennett Wolfe win this one.
7
FAITH
The door exploded open like someone had just kicked it off its hinges.
A man in a suit that looked like it had lost a fight with a coffee machine stepped inside, his eyes doing that thing where they catalog everything in 0.3 seconds flat.
“Faith Morrison?” His voice could’ve etched glass. “I’m Detective Rodriguez. I need to ask you some questions.”
Ryker moved. Not stepped, not shifted.Moved. One second, he was beside me; the next, he was a wall of barely contained violence between me and the detective. The black cotton of his T-shirt stretched across his shoulders as every muscle coiled, ready to strike.
My heart forgot how to beat properly.
The way Rodriguez looked at me—like I was gum stuck to his shoe on a hot day—cracked open wounds I’d spent years pretending didn’t exist.
“I was very fucking clear with Wolfe that she’s not answering any questions right now.” Ryker’s voice could’ve frozen hell and made the Devil request a sweater. “You have some nerve, trying again.”
Rodriguez’s glare shifted. “You that hotshot defense attorney I’ve been hearing about?”
Ryker’s shoulders rolled back, and somehow, he got bigger. Physics shouldn’t work that way, but here we were. “I’m her defense counsel. As I stated, she won’t be answering questions.”
Sweet baby Jesus.Even facing down a hostile detective, this man radiated the kind of controlled power that made my brain short-circuit in the best possible way.
Rodriguez’s eyes found me again. “Already lawyered up, eh? You know that doesn’t look good for you, sweetheart.”
Sweetheart?
Oh. Hell. No.
“Every citizen should have legal counsel present when questioned by a homicide detective.” Ryker’s growl made my skin prickle in ways that were completely inappropriate, given the circumstances. “I’m surprised I have to remind a seasoned professional like yourself of basic constitutional law.”
“There’s a dead man in the woods. Maybe you should focus on getting justice for him instead of protecting the woman who killed him.”
My stomach twisted into origami.
Ryker’s jaw ticced. “Did I just hear you correctly? You’re assuming my client’s guilt before you’ve even processed the scene? That’s quite the expressway to reasonable doubt, Detective.”
Rodriguez went predatory. “You sure you want to stake your entire career on this one, Counselor? I heard about what happened with that Anderson case. Real shame how that turned out.”
Anderson case?
Ryker went so still, I thought time had stopped. “You will not question her. End of story. Now get the hell out of my client’s room.”
Rodriguez smiled like Christmas came early. “You don’t realize who the victim is, do you?”
Ice crawled down my spine.
“Police haven’t been able to identify the body yet.” Ryker used what had to be his courtroom voice. Careful. Calculated.
“Actually, we did.”
“And?”
