“Hell if I know,” Nick muttered. “Wouldn’t be surprised if the asshole stole it. The knife was a good one.”
Wonderful. Just great. I kept back a sigh. “All right. Run me through the entire night and the rest of that weekend. Each of you.”
I was in way over my head.
Chapter10
Iwalked back into my office, wishing I had worn my snow boots instead of pumps, although considering most of the sidewalk had been shoveled, my feet weren’t too cold. Oliver was on the phone, so I gave him a nod and turned into Clark’s office.
“Hey,” I said.
He looked up from a stack of papers, and his eyes focused. “How did court go?”
I shut the door.
“That well, huh?” He sat back in his chair and rolled his shoulders.
“That well,” I confirmed, walking forward and dropping into one of his two leather guest chairs. He’d found them at a garage sale in Spokane, and they were very comfortable and looked new, even though they were more of a 1970s style.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
I took a deep breath and studied my law partner. He was as new as I was but probably had more trial experience. Plus, he was smart, logical, and rational. Today, he wore a white button-down shirt with jeans and looked smart, capable, and oddly relaxed. His brown eyes shone with intelligence. He’d shaved his head, leaving it bald, which made him look a little tougher than usual. His skin was dark and contrasted nicely with the shirt.
“Nick Basanelli might be charged with murder,” I said without preamble.
Clark stilled. “Whoa. What?”
I gave him the entire story. When I wound down, Clark remained quiet for a moment. “Do you think he or his brothers did it?”
It wasn’t a question lawyers normally asked, but we were within the law firm, and, of course, Clark was curious.
“I really don’t,” I said. “I haven’t talked to their mother yet, but I don’t think Nick would lie. He’s a lawyer and understands that we need to know everything about the case.”
Clark dropped his pen onto the pile of papers. “Do you think Detective Pierce has more information than he gave?”
“Definitely. Pierce was fishing while also trying to give Nick somewhat of a heads-up.” I had no doubt Pierce would toss Nick and his brothers’ asses in jail within a second if he thought they’d truly killed their father, but at the moment, he was just gathering evidence.
Clark whistled. “They did a good job of keeping this quiet for nearly a week. I would’ve thought that impossible in this town.”
I nodded. “Hence, sending the bodies to Boise for the autopsies.”
“That was a smart move,” Clark admitted. “What’s your first step?”
“Our first step,” I corrected. “We’ll need two on this. Do you mind second-chairing?”
“Not at all,” Clark said. “Although my docket’s a little full right now.”
I’d need him in trial if it got that far. “That’s all right. We’re a ways away from any trial situation. I’ll do the preliminary interviews and see what I can dig up, but I just wanted you on alert that this was happening.”
“Does the news media have it yet?”
I shook my head. “No, but this is Timber City, so it shouldn’t take long.”
He sighed. “What else do you have going on?”
I gave him a rundown of my current cases and then told him about Violet.
He scratched his chin. “That’s odd. Sometimes, believing things can work out when they haven’t for you before is hard.”
