“Why are you doing this? You at least owe me a real explanation.”
“I did what I had to do, Katy. I did what’s best for you. Yes. You hired me. You hired my firm. Jeanie was always part of that deal. This is literally what you signed up for. You know exactly why I was reluctant to even get involved. I told you my conditions.”
“You told me you were out if I told you one lie. I swear to God, I haven’t. I’ve told you the truth. I did not kill Tom. He was dead when I woke up. If Jenna hadn’t shown up when she did, it would have been me calling 911. The only thing I did wrong was pick up that knife. But you can’t tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing in my position. I wasn’t thinking about how not to incriminate myself. I was in shock that the man I loved was slaughtered next to me. That’s what you have to let me tell the jury myself.”
I could practically hear Quick’s cross-exam in my head.Didn’t you also tell another inmate that Joe was really the love of your life and you should have stayed with him? Did you also say maybe you did kill him but that you were sleepwalking?
“Katy,” I said. “You need to hang in there. You need to let Jeanie do her job. I would trust her with my life. I trust her with yours.”
“You lied to me,” she said. “You broke your promise to me. You …”
My head started to pound. I couldn’t go through another round of this with her. I didn’t know if Jeanie had told her about the Tallon Shipley development. We still weren’t sure if and how we could use it.
Katy sobbed on the other end of the phone. “You said … Cass, you said if either Joe or I lied to you, you were out. Has he been lying? Is that it? You’re protecting Joe?”
“Katy, I can’t talk about this.”
“Did he … do you think he killed Tom? He didn’t. He couldn’t have. He was never there. He …”
I heard another voice. Katy was told her time was up.
“No!” she cried. “I need another minute.”
“Katy,” I said. “We’ll talk soon. The best thing you can do is try to get some sleep tonight. Things will be better in court if you’re rested.”
She didn’t answer. The call ended. I knew inmates had a five-minute allotment for personal phone calls. In this instance, time had been my savior.
“You shouldn’t talk to her, Cass,” Eric said. “You need to decline her calls.”
“I know,” I said. “You’re right.”
“It’s after nine,” he said. “But I ordered pizza. I can bring you a slice.”
My stomach growled. Eric didn’t wait for me to give him a verbal answer. He went down and brought me two cold pieces of pepperoni. Then he climbed into bed and let me rest my head against his shoulder while I ate my dinner. As soon as I finished, I remembered to put my phone in sleep mode. I could think of no other emergencies that would need my attention until morning.
The next time,it felt like I’d only been asleep five minutes. Sunlight hit me full in the face. Stretching, I reached for my phone. I had seven missed notifications. Six from Joe. The other was an alert thatTallon of Justicehad just dropped another new episode. They were coming every twenty-four hours now.
Eric woke to the same notification. His phone was connected to the Bluetooth speaker on his nightstand. He hit play on the episode and turned up the volume. I could smell the coffee from my automatic brewer.
“I’ll be back,” I said. “I don’t think I can do this without serious caffeine.”
Eric gave me a thumbs-up, then held up two fingers, indicating he needed a cup as well. I heard Tallon’s voice fill the room as I hurried downstairs. I grabbed the whole pot and two mugs.
“Cass,” Eric said, his tone grim. “You aren’t going to like this.”
“So it occurred to me,” Tallon said. “Maybe the only way to really understand Katy Loomis’s relationship with her first husband is by talking to someone who had some inside knowledge of it.”
My blood heated as I poured our coffees and put a mug in Eric’s hand. Slowly I sank down on the bed beside him.
“The nexus here is Emma Leary,” Tallon continued. I wanted to vomit. “Katy Loomis considered her a daughter, but she was really a stepdaughter. I found Emma’s biological mother living just outside Delphi these days. And she was surprisingly willing to talk to me.”
I now understood why I had six missed calls from Joe.
“I don’t think I can listen to this,” Eric said.
“Shh! Turn it up!”
Shaking his head, he did.
