Page 99 of Hard Heart

She wasn’t providing encouragement. She was making fun of me. Levi said she was tougher than the men, and now I understood exactly what he meant. I focused on Greyson. Pink unicorn boxers. Jerry probably wore a leather bikini and accessorised with a whip on her days off.

“We review past convictions for possible miscarriages of justice,” Raelene told him. “Coincidentally, one of the cases that came across our desk is that of your former roommate Levi Sykes. But you already know that, which is why you brought these guests along.”

“It’s difficult not to get curious when somebody tries framing an old friend for murder.”

“For clarity, which old friend are you talking about here: Levi Sykes or Justin Norquist?”

“Justin, clearly.”

“No, it isn’t clear. Two young women are dead, and only Mr. Norquist had the opportunity to kill both of them.”

“Have you spent any time looking at the so-called evidence in the Carlson case? Even five minutes? Because it’s entirely circumstantial, a story woven out of assumptions and misinformation.”

“And when you get down to it, that’s the basis of the Costello case as well. The media are reporting similarities in both deaths, so unless you’re going to suggest Mr. Sykes snuck out of a level four correctional facility to commit murder, there’s one obvious avenue of investigation.”

“Of course we’re not suggesting Levi snuck out of prison. We’re suggesting he hired someone to muddy the waters. It’s reasonable to assume he has those kinds of contacts now.”

“Oh, please.” I couldn’t stay quiet any longer. “You’d believe Levi hired a hitman to kill a woman in a twisted plot to vacate his conviction rather than accept the obvious explanation that Justin Norquist is, in fact, a sociopath? Haven’t you heard of Occam’s razor?”

“Yes, which is why it’s so easy to dismiss the mental gymnastics I’d have to perform in order to believe Justin killed Amie.”

Jerry spoke again, ticking off the points on her fingers. “Firstly, Justin had a sixteen-minute window for the murder itself. Amie Carlson’s body was left forty-five minutes away. A ninety-minute round trip. Placing it there would have meant hiding it at his home for almost two days, because Friday morning was the one time he was alone. And the only ‘evidence’ the police have in that respect is a missing plant.”

“A missing plant?”

“Early on the Friday after Amie disappeared, Justin visited Ruby’s grave and left a plant. An orchid. According to the police, the orchid is no longer there; therefore, they’ve concluded that he must have driven in the opposite direction to dump a body instead. It’s thin, don’t you agree?”

Yes, it was, if that was truly all they had. But the investigation was still ongoing, and Justin hadn’t been arrested for nothing. Had he?

They convicted Levi.

“Okay, fine, I’ll give you the plant thing. But perhaps he had help moving the body? That’s not as far-fetched as suggesting Levi orchestrated a murder from prison.”

Raelene kicked me under the table, and too late, I realised I’d said too much. Admitted too much.

“Why will you ‘give us the plant thing’?” Ari asked.

Fuck.

I looked to Raelene for help, and after several long seconds, she shrugged. “Our goal is to ensure justice.”

She thought I should tell them. I hated to defend Justin, but Raelene was right—if I obfuscated evidence, I’d be as bad as the people we spent our days fighting against. Besides, there had been other people in the cemetery that day—chances were, I wasn’t the only witness.

“There was an orchid on Ruby’s grave on that Friday morning. A pink one.”

“How do you know?”

“Levi asked me to leave flowers for her birthday. The orchid was already there, but I have no way of knowing whether Justin was responsible. Whoever left it didn’t include a card, and when I mentioned it to Levi, he guessed it came from Greyson’s PA.”

Everyone looked to Greyson, and he held up both hands. “I asked Ava to make an appropriate tribute.”

“Grey…” I didn’t mind Jerry’s irritation when it was directed at somebody else. “What was your ‘tribute’? Be specific.”

He tapped away on his phone. “Give Ava a minute.”

I couldn’t see Jerry’s eyes, but I was pretty sure she was rolling them.

“What time was this?” Ari asked.