by Lola Gabriel
The cop took him to the two seats at the furthest side of the table and told him to sit down. Mitchell complied. At least this cop was treating him like a human being instead of a piece of meat.
“Do I need to cuff you, or are you going to behave?” the cop asked.
Well, that depends entirely on Detective Burns’ attitude, Mitchell thought.
“I’ll behave,” he said.
The cop nodded and left the room. Mitchell had no time to gather his thoughts before Detective Burns and the other officer from the house came in. Detective Burns was carrying a tripod with a camera attached. He placed it in one corner and pressed a button. Mitchell saw a red light appear on the camera, and he knew the interview was being recorded. That was something, at least. Detective Burns would have to be reasonable, which was good, because Mitchell didn’t know how long he could keep his dragon down if he kept acting like a pompous jerk.
“July first. Ten-oh-three a.m. First interview with Mitchell Cole. Present is the suspect, Mitchell Cole, myself, Detective Luke Burns, and Officer Steven Dumont.”
Detective Burns and Officer Dumont sat down in the two vacant chairs opposite Mitchell. Detective Burns turned to him and launched straight into his questions, with no small talk.
“Why did you do it?” he asked.
“Do what?” Mitchell replied. “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Detective Burns sighed. “We’re going to do this the hard way? Fine. Where were you yesterday between the hours of two and three p.m.?”
Fighting a demon to save an innocent girl from being sold to the highest bidder and forced to become a breeding machine for a shifter.
“I was at home. I finished work at twelve, went straight home, and that’s where I was until this morning when you showed up.”
“And you can prove that?” Detective Burns asked. His smirk told Mitchell he already knew he couldn’t. How could anyone prove they were home alone? If they had a witness, that meant they weren’t alone.
“I can prove the time I left work, but after that, I was alone,” Mitchell said.
“Convenient.”
“Not really. Convenient would have been me being in a crowded building with CCTV, where you could immediately prove that I didn’t do whatever the hell you seem to think I’ve done,” Mitchell countered, feeling his dragon stirring again. He swallowed it down immediately, telling himself he had to stay calm.
“It’s kind of hard to be in two places at once, though, isn’t it, Mr. Cole? And you couldn’t be in a crowded building with CCTV, because you were in Lisa Malone’s home, murdering her, weren’t you?”
Mitchell felt his head spin, and he reached out to grab the edge of the desk. He saw Detective Burns and Officer Dumont flinch when his hands shot out, but they relaxed again when they saw him holding the edge of the desk to steady himself. Detective Burns was smirking again, enjoying watching Mitchell’s reaction. He was lucky Mitchell was still reeling from the news, or he wouldn’t have been able to stop himself from reaching across the desk and punching the man in his smug little mouth.
“Lisa… Lisa’s dead?” Mitchell finally managed to say.
Detective Burns nodded. “Yes. You can drop the act, Mitchell. We know you killed her, and we know why you killed her.”
Mitchell’s heart sank. This was suddenly a whole lot more serious than he had allowed himself to believe. If Lisa was dead, murdered, then he could see why he was a suspect. He had been in a relationship with her for almost three years before he had found out that she was cheating on him. That had been two weeks ago. It gave him a good motive for murder.
The thing was, Mitchell hadn’t been that upset. He was a little angry that she’d lied to him for a few months before finally admitting it and ending their relationship, but they had been casual. He had known from the start he and Lisa couldn’t be together properly. He was immortal, she wasn’t, and he didn’t feel strongly enough about her to think she had ever been meant to be his mate.
He hadn’t even bothered telling her what he really was or making any effort to find out if she carried Sanmere in her blood, a protein that, if present, allowed a woman to be safely turned into a shifter. He hadn’t needed to, because he had known all along that she wasn’t the woman he was destined to be with. She was just a casual fling, the relationship a bit of fun. Of course he couldn’t tell the police that, just like he couldn’t give them his alibi.
“Okay,” Mitchell said, nodding his head as he thought everything through. Alibi or no alibi, they couldn’t prove that he had killed someone when he hadn’t. “Lisa and I were dating, but we broke up two weeks ago, and I haven’t seen her since.”
“But you must have been angry when you learned she was cheating on you. Hurt. You wasted almost three years of your life on her,” Detective Burns said.
Mitchell almost laughed, but he stopped himself just in time. Three years was nothing to an immortal. It was like saying you would murder someone because you had a ten-minute chat with them and then found out they weren’t your type of person.
“I was a little angry, yes, but our relationship was pretty casual,” Mitchell said carefully.
“I find that hard to believe after you two had been together so long,” Detective Burns replied.
Mitchell shrugged. There was really nothing to say to that. He couldn’t force the detective to believe him, and he felt like if he protested too hard, it would make him look guilty.
“You went home and thought about it, didn’t you? You spent two weeks picturing her with someone else. Him touching her. Them laughing at you. And finally, you snapped. You went to her home, maybe just to have it out, maybe with the intention of scaring her a little. Or maybe you even wanted to try and win her back. But it all got out of hand, the anger consumed you, and you killed her, didn’t you?”
“No,” Mitchell insisted. “I told you. I haven’t so much as spoken to her since we broke up.”
Detective Burns shook his head, a fake look of sadness on his face. “You know this would bode better for you if you just told us the truth. We’re human too, Mr. Cole. We understand the pain you were feeling, the anger. We understand how it got out of hand. If you’re honest with us, we can help you. But if you keep lying to us, then we’re going to get a little angry.”
“I am telling you the truth,” Mitchell said. “There’s not much I can do about it if you choose not to believe me.”
“Then how do you explain that your fingerprints were found on the broken door jamb at Miss Malone’s home? And that your DNA was found on the murder weapon?” Detective Burns asked. His smug smile was back on his face now he had dropped this bombshell.
Mitchell had no idea how his prints and DNA could be at the scene. He had never been there. He was being framed. Was it possible this was Joshua’s revenge? In one sense, it seemed to be the most likely explanation, but it didn’t feel like a shifter’s style. Shifters didn’t call the cops. They dealt with their own messes. One thing he did know was that he needed an attorney after all. A damned good one who could cut through all of this noise and find a way to prove he had been set up.
“I think I’d like to get that attorney now,” Mitchell said.
Detective Burns looked at him for a second. It seemed that he was going to ignore Mitchell’s request and keep questioning him, but he glanced over his shoulder at the camera. He would follow procedure.
Now Mitchell had learned of the so-called evidence against him, he felt as though he understood the detective a little better. He wasn’t just acting on a power trip for no apparent reason. He genuinely believed Mitchell had killed someone. And Mitchell had to admit he wouldn’t be in a rush to be nice to someone in his situation if the roles were reversed.
Detective Burns stood up and announced to the camera that the interview would be paused until an attorney could be brought in for Mitchell. He turned off the camera.
“Do you need a state attorney?” he as
ked.
Mitchell shook his head. “No. I have money to pay for my own attorney. I would like to make the phone call I’m entitled to so I can arrange representation.”
Detective Burns nodded his head and then turned to Officer Dumont.
“See that Mr. Cole is given his phone call. Come and find me the second his attorney arrives. I plan on finishing this interview today.” He swanned out of the room, and Officer Dumont stood up and gestured to Mitchell to follow him. He led him to a bank of phones set in a wall and nodded to him.
“You have one call. Make it count,” he said.
Mitchell nodded and stepped up to one of the phones. He didn’t have an attorney. It wasn’t something he had ever needed before. He thought for a second, and then he dialed Samuel’s number, one of the few numbers he knew by heart. As his beta, Samuel was someone Mitchell found himself calling a lot, and he had never let him down before. Samuel answered quickly.
“Samuel? It’s Mitchell. I’ve been arrested.”
“What?” Samuel demanded.
“Never mind. I’ll explain everything later, once this whole mess is sorted out. I need you to get me the best criminal defense attorney money can buy. Do you understand me?”
“I… yes,” Samuel said.
Mitchell could hear the unasked questions in his voice, questions Mitchell had no real answers for right now. He could answer the main one, though, the one he knew Samuel didn’t even need to ask, but he felt he should answer anyway.
“Don’t worry, Samuel. I haven’t done anything wrong. I just need a good attorney to make the police see that.”
“I’m on it,” Samuel said.
“Thank you.” Mitchell ended the call and turned to Officer Dumont. “What happens now?” he asked.
“You wait in a holding cell until your attorney shows up,” the officer said. “You’ll be given some time to talk to them privately, and then we’ll continue the interview.”
Mitchell nodded his head and followed Officer Dumont back past the interview room and towards the holding cells.
God, Samuel, hurry up. I don’t want to spend a minute longer than I have to here.
2
Lexi Lord looked up from the closing argument she was drafting to see her associate standing in the doorway.
“What is it, Alex?” she asked.
“Mr. Hughes wants to see you in his office. He’s got a new case he wants you to take on,” Alex told her.
“I haven’t finished this one yet,” Lexi sighed.
“That’s what I told him, but he insisted,” Alex said. “He said you’ve only got another hour or two in court for this, and he’s confident you can do both.”
Lexi sighed again, but she knew it was fruitless to argue the point with Alex. She was just the messenger. She stood up and handed Alex the document she was working on.
“Finish this up for me and leave it on my desk when you’re done,” she instructed.
“You’re trusting me to finish your closing argument?” Alex’s eyebrows were raised, but she was smiling. Lexi smiled back to her.
“Sure. You’ve been my associate for long enough to know the kind of closing argument I give, and you know the details of the case as well as I do.”
Alex took the document and nodded her head.
“I won’t let you down.” She hurried away, and Lexi left her office, heading down the hallway to her boss’s office. The thick blue carpet felt soft beneath her feet, but she barely noticed it anymore.
When she had first started here, she had noticed everything. The thick carpets, the expensive art, the opulent décor. Now she was too focused on looking beneath the surface of everything and seeing what the average person missed, like the fact that there was a smear on the glass door of one of the conference rooms. Like Michael’s slightly wonky tie when he passed her in the hallway and nodded hello. Her boss said that was what made her such a good lawyer.
Lexi reached Jared’s office and looked at the sign for a moment; Jared Hughes, Managing Partner. She dreamed of the day it would be her name on this door. She was already on track to make named partner. She had made senior partner two years ago, one of the youngest lawyers ever at Hughes and Watson to do so. Jared had always championed her, and although she was a little wary of two cases overlapping like this, she knew Jared would never have done it if he didn’t think she could pull it off. And he was right about her original case. All that was left to do was complete the closing arguments and wait for the jury to make their decision. It was a couple of hours’ work max, and the time she had to wait while the jury was out was time she could spend on the new case she was being given.
She knocked on Jared’s office door. She waited until he called out for her to come in, and then she ran her hands over her navy-blue dress to smooth it out. She opened the office door and stepped inside.
Jared sat behind his large mahogany desk. A big window behind him gave Lexi a view of Seattle in all its glory. Jared smiled at her and gestured for her to take a seat. Lexi had never noticed it before, but he was starting to look old. He had slightly greying hairs at his temples, and she could see small worry lines forming around his eyes and his mouth. He was only in his late forties, but he could easily have been mistaken for ten or fifteen years older than that, if you were judging his age solely by his appearance. The joys of the job, Lexi thought to herself. She sat down, and Jared pushed a thick brown file towards her.
“Mitchell Cole. Murdered his ex-girlfriend after he found out she was cheating on him,” Jared said.
“You mean he allegedly killed his ex-girlfriend after finding out she was cheating on him,” Lexi corrected him.
Jared shook his head. “He killed her, Lexi. He has no alibi, there’s a solid motive, and his DNA and fingerprints were found at the scene. An eyewitness saw someone who matches his description near the property just before the time of the murder.”
Lexi frowned, a little confused. “If it’s so cut and dry, then why are you giving it to me?”
“Because the guy said he wanted the best defense attorney money can buy.”
“Don’t try to flatter me into taking this. Why are you giving me it?” she asked again with a laugh.
“Because it’s not quite as cut and dry as you think. The guy has money, a good job. He’s a model citizen. And the DA wants to throw the book at him and show the state that he isn’t just interested in locking up the lower classes and uneducated people. If this thing goes to court, our client will be looking at life with no parole. That’s where you come in. I need you to get him a good deal and convince him to take it.”
“You don’t think he’d be interested in making a deal?” Lexi asked, reading between the lines.
“I know he wouldn’t,” Jared said. “I’ve already met with him a few times and secured his bail. He claims he’s innocent. I think once it’s made clear to him what life with no parole means versus a lesser sentence, he might change his mind.”
“Got it,” Lexi said. “I’m in court tomorrow, but I think we’ll be done by lunchtime. I’ll meet with him tomorrow afternoon.”
“Actually, he’s coming in at two o’clock today,” Jared said.
“Two o’clock today?” Lexi repeated, irritation crossing her face. “Are you for real? That will barely give me time to read over his case file.”
“I suggest you get started instead of sitting here arguing with me, then.” Jared smiled.
Lexi rolled her eyes and stood up, the file in one hand.
“Remember, Lexi, it’s not just the glory cases that get you noticed by the people that count. Sometimes a case like this gets you noticed. If you can get an almost guaranteed life sentence reduced, that can make waves, too, you know,” Jared told her.
She nodded her head. He was right; it just didn’t feel that way. And if she was honest with herself, she didn’t want this kind of case. She always did best when she had a client she could root for, who she believed in. And she didn’t think Mitchell Cole was going to
be that guy. It didn’t matter, though. It was her job to represent every client to the best of her ability, even the guilty ones.
As she reached the door, Jared called after her again. “Oh, and by the way, the client is expecting me. I’ll let you explain why you’re now his attorney.”
“Because you have better things to do with your time, so you passed it on to your lowly assistant,” Lexi said, grinning.
“Sure, tell him that,” Jared laughed.
Lexi hurried back to her office and closed the door behind her. She didn’t have long to go over everything, and she didn’t want any distractions. She sat down, opened the file, and began paging through it. She read over it, and by the time she had finished reading it all, she agreed with Jared. The guy was guilty.
She made a few notes on a fresh legal pad and began thinking about what she could do for the client. She doodled absently as she thought. She was confident that she could get his life sentence down to twenty years, maybe even fifteen if she really pushed it. His crime was a crime of passion. It wasn’t like he had gunned down a bus full of people in cold blood. She thought she could argue that he wasn’t a danger to the public, and if she could convince the DA she could get the same kind of sentence in open court, she might just get him to bite.
As much as the case file left her feeling cold inside, Lexi didn’t think it was entirely fair of the DA to use the guy as an example. He was meant to be there to keep the streets safe, to get justice, not to make a political statement about his own intentions.
She looked at her watch and cursed when she saw it was just after two. She grabbed the file and her notes and hurried out of her office to the conference room. She paused at the glass wall, looking at the man who stood with his back to her, staring out of the window at the city.
He was tall, probably just short of six feet, and his shoulders were broad. She could see his body was toned. She didn’t feel fear or revulsion when she looked at him, though. He held himself with confidence, but he didn’t seem to have that air of danger that the murderers she’d encountered in her job so far always had. His tailored suit looked expensive, and Lexi remembered Jared saying this guy had money.