Page 128 of Hard Heart

“Basic DNA analysis is fast, but he said building up a family tree and pinpointing a match in an old case is a long, labour-intensive process. If you could narrow down the suspect list, it might be faster.”

“We have possible initials for two of the subjects.”

“Good. Send the file over.”

They didn’t have a year. They might not even have a week. It felt as if Jez and her former roommates were in a fight to the death with Eight or whoever he worked for, and the blows just kept on coming. Amie, Levi, Justin, Jessalyn… They’d hit all of them in the past several weeks. The Choir had to be ready when they tried for Sera.

Because they would.

She was the next logical target, and she wasn’t trained for this.

But the small piece of good news? The Choir would punch back twice as hard.

CHAPTER 38

SERAFINA

Good Friday?

Well, that was debatable.

My world had got much smaller—basically just the office and my apartment. Jerry didn’t want me going anywhere unnecessarily, so groceries and anything else I needed were being delivered to the Diamondback Devils’ clubhouse, and one of the bikers brought them over at shift change. Heidi was being escorted to work, although last night, Jester had sat glowering by the stage at Jackson’s and bought every private dance before dropping her home with a scowl. When I went to bed, she’d still been sitting at the dining table with a dazed look on her face and a glass of wine in her hand.

The worst part?

I hadn’t yet been through the details with Levi. Jerry said we shouldn’t speak freely, even if Raelene used a designated attorney phone line that wasn’t supposed to be monitored. These people weren’t playing by the rules. Driving to Wise would introduce extra risk, not only from the journey itself, but because an unscheduled visit would arouse suspicion. By now, Eight’s people were surely aware we’d discovered the camera, but they didn’t know what else we’d found.

Instead of giving Levi the full story, we’d told him there had been some developments, but we had to wait for tests to be done. It wasn’t a lie. And a part of me didn’t want to get his hopes up because even with the new discoveries, we were facing an uphill battle.

A writ of actual innocence depended on new evidence being discovered, evidence that couldn’t have been discovered earlier with proper due diligence. Think another suspect confessing to the crime, or DNA collected before the technology to analyse it was available. Our problem was that the video had been available at the time of the trial. If the police or the defence had been on the ball, they could have spotted Eight’s Tyvek-clad arse and avoided all this heartache.

We could try to argue police negligence, but we were well past the filing deadline for state habeas corpus, and we’d also missed the window to file a motion for a new trial. Which basically left us with clemency, and for that, we’d be dependent on the goodwill of the Governor of Virginia.

We’d reviewed the governor’s record, and he rarely granted pardons, period, let alone an absolute pardon that would declare a person innocent. The best we could hope for was a conditional pardon, where Levi might be released, but in the eyes of the law he’d always be guilty of murder.

There was one more option. We could wait and see what the DNA analysis brought, but Jerry said that might take a year if a detailed familial investigation was needed. Could I live like this for a year? Could Levi? After much discussion, we’d decided to give it two weeks. That would get Flora’s visit out of the way and give us some breathing space.

Ah, Flora’s visit…

I’d wanted to cancel, but there was a small technical hitch—I hadn’t yet mentioned the whole “dating a felon” thing to my parents. Flora was so excited to come, and if I put her off with a lame excuse, they’d want to know the real reason. And if I told them the real reason, Mum and Dad would lose their minds and send someone to kidnap me. Think I was exaggerating? One of Dad’s tennis partners was a child recovery specialist, and although I was technically an adult, the guy had always struck me as a little shady, and he’d probably make an exception.

Our apartment building risked becoming a war zone.

And then there was the Rudd problem. No, I did not want to “clear the air.” I wanted to drop-kick him off the Empire State Building. But then I’d be reunited with Levi in an entirely more unpleasant way, and it was easier just to block Rudd’s new number. Which I’d done. So then he’d played dirty and deployed his secret weapon: his mum. And Rhoda had always been good to me, plus she had a friend who donated to the Justice Project, so I’d done the sensible thing and sent an email.

Dear Rhoda,

It’s wonderful to hear from you—I hope you’re doing well. Thank you so much for the kind invitation; it truly means a lot to me, and I wish the timing worked out better.

Unfortunately, Flora’s visit to Virginia will be very short, and we already have a full itinerary planned since we don’t get much time together. She’ll also be arriving quite jet-lagged and needs to head back to England quickly to prepare for exams, so we’re trying to keep things as simple and restful as possible while she’s here.

Please know how much I appreciate the thought, and I hope we can find another opportunity to see each other before too long. Until then, sending my love and very best wishes.

Warmly,

Sera

Warmly? Think hotter. I was clearly going to hell, but I didn’t have the fortitude to deal with the fallout of an outright “no” at the moment. Rhoda would call. Mum would call. Dad would call. The kicker? According to Heidi—who was spending most of her spare time on BuzzHub since her ankle was still feeling fragile and she didn’t have much else to do this week—Zara Michaels had been spotted canoodling with a man who wasn’t Rudd. I just knew there was a reason behind his messaging, and it wasn’t simply that he missed me. Moron.