“Thank you, Mrs. Neilson,” Colin said softly. “No further questions.”
He turned toward the bench and inclined his head. “Your Honor.” Then he walked back to the Commonwealth’s table and sat down, his notes untouched.
He stared without seeing, the tremor of his reflection ghosting across the polished wood—shadowed eyes, clenched jaw, and beneath the surface calm, an inferno of rage: rage for men like Blaire, and for the father whose cruelty still haunted Joshua’s sleep. He’d promised his husband he’d leave the job at the courthouse door—or try to.But with cases like this, the promise was hard to keep.
At the end of Mrs. Neilson’s testimony, the defense attorney had asked for a recess, and when Judge Robinson granted his request, Colin returned to his office. As he passed, Norm called out from his desk: “How’d it go?”
Colin wandered in and flopped onto a chair. “She was a solid witness. I think I have a good chance of getting this kid into a foster care program and putting his fucking abusive father into a jail cell.”
“Is the mother involved?”
“She’s been charged. I made sure of that, but I doubt she’ll see any jail time. Her primary crime is letting that asshole get away with it.Sheshould have been the one calling the police, not the neighbor.”
“Yeah, well, you know how that goes.”
“Sadly, I do.”
Clayton got to his feet. “Well, holster your pistol, Wyatt. Esther wants us.”
Colin rose and followed Clayton down the hall. “Ineverholster my pistol!”
Clayton scoffed, then paused at the entrance to Esther Jackson’s office and tapped on the doorframe. “You wanted to see us?
Esther waved them in. “I do. Colin, close the door behind you.” She gestured to the two chairs in front of her desk. “We’ve had a couple of breaks in Hannibal’s case.”
Colin leaned forward. “Tell me!”
“First off, we received an anonymous tip—possibly from a friend of Hannibal’s who may have witnessed the murder. They provided us with a partial license plate number from what we believe to be the perp’s vehicle. When we ran it down, we came up with the name of one of Lexi Moreno’s enforcers whose bank account showed a…” She shrugged. “Well… a notable deposit a few days before Hannibal was killed.”
“Wow!” Colin exclaimed. “That’s really sloppy.”
“Who was it?” Clayton asked. “What’s his name?”
Esther consulted the papers lying before her. “Wayne De Luca.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard of him,” Colin grumbled. “But, Esther, this stuff is purely circumstantial. We’d need a lot more before a grand jury would indict.”
“We’re still combing through Lexi’s phone records. If we find any calls to De Luca, that could help tighten things up.”
“It would. We need a clear narrative that connects De Luca to the murder,” Colin said, his voice heavy. “And so far, we don’t have it. Good as this stuff is, it’s simply not enough.”
“The forensic investigation may change that,” Esther continued. “Fingerprints, trace evidence, ballistic evidence—they’re all in the works. One of them is bound to tie De Luca tothe murder.” She glanced up at Colin. “Don’t sound so gloomy! It’s only been a couple of days, and we already have a person of interest.”
She leaned toward him. “Plus—and you’ll love this—SWAT teams did two raids yesterday at businesses run by Elias Moreno. They confiscated records, computers, and several cell phones. We also have a team investigating Elias’s financial transactions, bank accounts, and business records.” She gave Colin a grim smile. “And believe me, Elias is not atallhappy about it.”
“He should rot in hell,” Colin grumbled.
“He probably will. But our goal at the moment is to pressure him into cooperating, both with our investigation of Hannibal’s murder and of Lexi’s threats against this office.”
“You mean againstme,” Colin responded.
“When one of us is threatened, we’reallthreatened,” Esther told him.
Colin ground out a low, unintelligible growl, and Clayton smothered a smile. “True enough, boss lady,” Colin griped. “But we’re notallbeing forced to live in a hotel room surrounded by armed guards while being deprived of my husband’s home-cooked meals.”
“Think of it as a vacation,” Esther told him. “Paid for by the city.” She gave him a long look. “How’s Josh?”
Colin gave a soft shrug and shook his head. “He’sscared, Esther. He went through a lot when I was shot a few years back. He’s just… scared.”
