Total pages in book: 179
Estimated words: 173733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 869(@200wpm)___ 695(@250wpm)___ 579(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 173733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 869(@200wpm)___ 695(@250wpm)___ 579(@300wpm)
I refocus on the journal and add an entry about seeing the pregnant woman and all of my thoughts. I’m about to start working on my column for tomorrow, to the best that I can this early in the day’s events, but I find myself glancing toward the woman to find her gone and for some reason, this bothers me as much as when she was here. I’m losing my mind.
Reese
A secret.
I walk into the courthouse again, with those two words on my mind. I’d known there was something going on with Cat, but hearing she has a birthday surprise she considers a secret makes sense. She’s huge on trust. Thanks to her father, she’s nursing betrayal issues that I don’t know if we will ever fully defeat, but I’m damn sure going to spend every day of the rest of my life trying.
The minute I enter the building, Royce Walker greets me. “The boyfriend is in a private room. He wants to talk to you.”
“Me?” I query, but I don’t expect an answer. “Interesting.”
“I thought so,” he says, motioning me forward, and as we walk he adds, “We’re looking for a way to connect him to the gun.”
“I’ll take anyone you can connect that is not my client,” I say.
“Understood,” he says, and we turn down a hallway to find a guard by a door.
“He’s all yours,” Royce says, but as I’m about to enter the room, my phone buzzes with a message. I grab my phone to check the message to find a text from Richard: Dana is flipping out. We need you NOW.
I grimace and glance at the guard. “I need ten minutes.” I look at Royce. “Don’t let him leave.”
He nods, and I head down the hallway. I’m just about to turn down the hallway that leads to our private rooms when something pulls my attention toward the doors of the courthouse. A pregnant woman in a pink dress catches my eye. She glances in my direction, and I grimace with the sight of a familiar face I really never wanted to see again. What the hell is she doing here?
I dismiss her out of desire and necessity and head down the hallway toward my client, and the current crisis, on hand. Dana’s freak out.
Chapter fifty
Reese
Ichange my mind about dismissing Debbie Miller on the walk toward the conference room where my team waits. She’s crazy and she’s here. I don’t believe that’s a coincidence which means I need to talk to Cat, and quickly. Richard steps into the hallway and pulls the door shut, starting to walk toward me. “Dana is losing her shit. Big time.”
I grab my phone. “I’ll be right there. I need two minutes.”
“We don’t have—”
“I need two minutes. Alone.”
His lips purse but he nods and heads back to the room. I dial Cat. “How are things?” Cat asks, obviously referencing my rush here to solve what feels like a dozen problems.
“I need to see you in between talking to Dana and her boyfriend. Can you come to me?”
“Yes. Of course. I’m almost back to the courthouse now.”
“I’ll meet you in the hallway.” I disconnect and walk toward Richard, who’s lurking by the conference room door.
“What do I need to know?” I ask, stopping in front of him.
“Apparently the boyfriend, Reginald, has been trying to call her and she won’t talk to him. She freaked out that he was here, and started screaming and crying. Now she’s sitting on the floor, in a corner with her knees to her chest.”
I inhale sharply. “On the floor,” I repeat.
“Yes. On the floor.”
“I need the doctor who did her mental health evaluation here now.”
“Elsa just talked to her. She’s testifying in another case today, in Chicago. She recommended another doctor. Elsa wants to know if you want to get her in here.”
“Yes, but after hours. I can’t risk a new name and face making this worse while I’m about to walk into court.”
I step around him and enter the conference room to find Dana now on her feet on the opposite side of the rectangular shaped conference table, hugging herself, her black dress making her look like she’s at her own funeral; her mascara staining her cheeks adding to the effect. “My team is concerned,” I say. “They wanted to call in a doctor.”
“I don’t need a doctor,” she says tightly. “I’m fine. I melted down, but it’s over.”
“Why did you freak out?” I ask, moving to stand across from her, my fingers pressed to the cheap wood of the desk.
“Come on, Reese. Who else but Reginald could have released that audio? He was the one on the call. He must have recorded me.”
“You said your father recorded you.”
“I said I suspected it, but I just didn’t want to believe Reginald would do that. Why would he do that?”