“Regret was never your style.”
“It’s not regret exactly,” she said. “It’s hard to explain.”
“It’s about considering if you’d taken a left turn instead of a right after graduation or at some turning point in your life...where would you be now?”
“Yeah.” She studied Drew’s profile. He’d been able to read her all those years ago and always understood what she’d been trying to say even while she’d often lacked the right words. All except for the most important thing she had to say: her true feelings for him. Those she’d kept well hidden. She disliked the what-if rolling through her now. Refused to let it haunt her. Her feelings for Drew were part of her past. Nothing real. Nothing to reconsider. “It’s exactly like that.”
“Is here so bad?” he asked.
“I’m a single mom without a steady source of income or a home.” She glanced over her seat at Hazel. The hum of the truck had put Hazel to sleep quickly. “It’s not exactly ideal.”
“It doesn’t have to be perfect to still be good.”
“I never knew you to be so philosophical.” Or to be so very comfortable with a baby.
“There’s quite a bit you don’t know about me,” he said.
And quite a bit Molly was learning about herself. Like the fact that she very much wanted to know more about Drew and the man he was now.
She had to stick to the truth though. Drew was a client.
Once his case was resolved, their relationship would be resolved too.
CHAPTER EIGHT
SUITCASES STORED IN the bedroom closet. Hazel sleeping soundly in her pack and play, temporarily positioned next to Molly’s four-poster bed. Molly quietly closed the bedroom door behind her and checked the time. “I can’t believe we did all that in less than an hour.”
“You had excellent help.” Drew moved a large magnetic whiteboard on a stand in front of the corner fireplace and gave Brooke Sawyer, Molly’s new landlord, a silent high five.
“I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done for us. We hadn’t even met before today.” Molly smiled at Brooke and set a cloth shopping bag on the kitchen counter.
“I was a complete stranger to the Sawyers when I moved in here, looking for a temporary place to live.” Brooke placed several markers on top of the dry-erase whiteboard. “I’m still grateful that Dan’s father offered the place and brought me here. Rick claims he’s never met a stranger, only a future friend.”
“Future friend. I really like that.” How long had it been since Molly had a friend? A friend not from her firm. Someone to share more than the last cup of coffee from the break room with.
“You’re going to really like the entire Sawyer family.” Drew sounded positive.
“I’m sure I will.” Molly set several jars of baby food in one of the kitchen cabinets.
“You should know our son, Ben, plays soccer and basketball in the backyard all the time.” Brooke opened the shutters covering the front windows, allowing the afternoon sun to illuminate the space. “And we have two dogs and two cats as permanent residents at the main house.”
“Do you have temporary pets too?” Molly asked.
“Always. I’ve gone back to work as a mediator, but I haven’t stopped rescuing animals either.” Brooke lifted her hands. “I’ll try to keep them contained, but we do venture into the backyard quite often.”
“Hazel will like that, I think.” And Molly too. She’d never had a pet growing up. Only a memorable run-in with a dog. Her parents had claimed their apartments were too small. Pets were forbidden. Pets were too much work. Molly had simply craved a companion to grow up with. To fill the solitude. Things would be different for Hazel.
“What I would like to know is what we’re doing with this dry-erase board?” Brooke grinned and rubbed her hands together. Excitement streamed across her face. “This board is like the ones they use for solving murders on those TV crime shows.”
Drew laughed. “It’s nothing like TV.”
Molly wasn’t so sure. After Brooke had called to let Molly know the babyproofing had been completed, Molly had asked her if she would mind accepting a delivery. The delivery was the oversized whiteboard from the nearest office supply store that Molly planned to use for her discovery and research on Drew’s case. She tipped her head. “I suppose it is sort of like something on TV.”
Drew frowned at Molly.
She shrugged back. “I intend to make very good use of this board.”
“I know this isn’t like TV.” Brooke held out her hands “Dan says the same thing about the paramedics on the TV shows. Although, there’s a certain energy to your work as lawyers and to Dan’s being an EMT. Can’t you feel it?”
“That’s because there’s also an incredible pressure to get it right.” Drew crossed his arms over his chest.
“That’s the adrenaline rush. It’s what drives you.” Brooke touched her stomach. “Now what’s driving me is hunger pains. I must eat before going to The Pampered Pooch and my afternoon session to mediate for an extremely uncooperative couple. I’m picking up lunch from The Boot Pizza. Want anything?”
“We’ll take a pizza with olive oil sauce, extra tomatoes and fresh basil.” Drew looked at Molly. “Still your favorite?”
Surprise shifted through Molly. Good with babies and at recalling insignificant details about her. Molly swallowed her sigh. “Yes, it is.”
“Got it. I’ll be back.” Brooke walked out, but leaned in again. “By the way, if you need a mediator’s advice or assistance on this case or any others, look no further.”
Molly uncapped a dry-erase pen and pointed it at Brooke. “You’re already on my list.”
“Now I’m even more excited.” Brooke’s eyes sparkled. “You should know, Molly, I looked you up online after we talked last night. You seriously downplayed your success and your talent. You’re one of the best criminal defense attorneys in the state and you’re living here? With us?”
The apartment door clicked shut on Brooke’s cheer. Molly clicked into attorney mode and faced Drew. “It’s time to earn my reputation. You might as well get comfortable. I have a lot of questions.”
“Let’s get going.” Drew set his briefcase on the table and unzipped it. “Where do you want to start?”
“At the beginning of the Van Solis trial.” Molly wrote the name of the defendant at the top corner of the dry-erase board. “Walk me through the details of the charges and the DA’s case against him.”
Drew nodded and closed his eyes as if preparing to step back in time to two years prior. Then he began to relay to Molly the details of the shooting at the small grocery store, the death of the owner who was a pillar in the community, the arrest of Van Solis and explained every step of his trial preparation after Cory Vinson’s involvement. The soon-to-be district attorney at the time had asked Drew to take the lead on the case.
Molly listened, wrote notes on a legal pad and on the dry-erase board.
Drew finished with a description of Van Solis’s sentencing hearing that came ten months after the trial had concluded and the man’s reaction to the life sentence without parole. “Van kept claiming his innocence in the courtroom over and over.” Drew paused and cleared his throat. His voice remained distant. “Van never cried. Not one tear. Never shouted or cursed fate. Just kept his composure and repeated in a whisper, But I’m innocent.”
Anguish cut across Drew’s face. His voice drifted off into the silence as if he could hear Van’s words all over again. Molly set her pen on the legal pad. “Drew?”
“Van was tried as an adult. And I went on to get that innocent boy-almost-man convicted.” Torment tracked through his cloudy gaze.
“You secured a conviction on a man you believed was guilty. All the evidence pointed that Van Solis was guilty of murder.” Molly walked to Drew and grabbed his hands. “You did your job.”
&n
bsp; “No. I ruined a man’s life.” Drew’s fingers curved around hers as if he sought her touch. Sought her strength.
Like so many of her clients before him. Yet Drew’s touch was different. Never before had she considered how right someone’s hands felt in hers. Molly tightened her focus. “We’re going to get Van’s life back and yours.”
“Now that the key eyewitness has recanted his testimony given at the trial, we know witness tampering did occur. I’m sure it was the original prosecutor on the case who pressured the man. Cory Vinson needs to answer some serious questions.” Drew squeezed his eyes closed. “But I have no evidence, only suspicion that the district attorney is guilty.”
Molly tugged on his hands and pulled his gaze back to hers. “Trust me to find the evidence we need.”
Drew released her to run a hand through his hair and paced away. “I don’t know where to look for the proof.”
“You’re too close to it.” Molly picked up her legal pad and studied her notes. “There were no rumors about Cory before or after he was elected district attorney. After all, he won after Van Solis’s conviction.”
“I was deep into Van’s trial during most of the campaign. If it was related to the case, I listened. If not, I tuned the chatter out.” Drew strode from the kitchen to the couch and back. “After that trial, I moved into a robbery and forgery case.”
“But before Van Solis’s trial, no rumors of anything unusual circled around the offices about Cory,” Molly pressed. “What about your paralegal?”
“Elena.” Drew shook his head. “She made a point not to gossip or to feed those who did. One of the reasons I hired her.”
“Still, she had to have heard something around the ol’ watercooler.” Molly tapped her legal pad. “I want to talk to her.”
“It has to be offline,” Drew said. “As far as I know, Elena hasn’t left the DA’s office. She hasn’t returned one of my calls or emails.”
“I’ll work it out.” Molly dropped the legal pad on the table, set her hands on her hips and looked at the dry-erase board. No office was without gossip. And the assistants always knew more than anyone. “If Cory Vinson isn’t as perfect as the outside world believes, somebody in that office building knows it. People share the scandals. Always. As if the juicier the gossip, the more they are compelled to pass it along.”
“Cory is likeable and friendly. A seemingly good guy. I never had an issue with him.” Drew dropped onto the couch and leaned his head back into the cushion. “But Cory was originally the lead on the Van Solis case.”
“Was there anything out of the ordinary that happened in the office when you stepped into the lead on Van’s trial?” Molly asked.
“Nothing really. Employee turnover, but that was fairly common.”
“Employee turnovers or firings?” Molly stared at Drew.
Drew rubbed his forehead. “One paralegal was reassigned from Van’s case to another assistant DA. He was one of the more experienced paralegals, so I noticed his absence during the trial preparation.”
“Were there others who’d gone, as well?”
“There were several who’d been hired as temporary staff and were reassigned.” Drew scratched his jaw. “Also, Elena was upset when Gina, that’s Cory’s administrative assistant, left suddenly.”
“How suddenly?” The back of Molly’s neck tingled. And that feeling Brooke had referred to earlier skimmed over her. That rush of energy Molly never ignored. Never dismissed.
“Overnight, according to Elena.” Drew waved his hand as if skipping to the next slide in the deck. “But Cory shuffled through administrative assistants regularly, ever since he started in the DA’s office. It wasn’t unusual.”
“You know there is no detail too trivial or too insignificant in any case.” Molly sat on the couch and shifted to face Drew. “Why was Gina’s leaving different?”
“Elena liked Gina. According to Elena, Gina was more focused on her schoolwork then finding a boyfriend. The same as Elena was. They were walking buddies during their breaks at work.” He was silent for a moment. His fingers restless, tapping on the couch. “Elena even helped Gina with her homework. Gina was getting her degree in paralegal studies from Bay College.”
“Did Gina get another job?” Molly reached for her legal pad and flipped to a new page.
“No idea.” Drew stared at the ceiling. His eyebrows pulled together. “Elena was upset Gina never mentioned anything about leaving to her.”
“Gina wasn’t part of the temporary staff?”
“No. She was full-time and putting herself through school.”
“Then Gina needed her job.”
“Or a job.” Drew sat up and rested his elbows on his knees. “She could’ve simply gotten a better offer that paid more at a private firm.”
Molly set her pen on top of her notepad and frowned, searching for that rush of a lead. “I have to talk to her and Elena. What was Gina’s last name?”
“Her first name was Gina...” He rubbed his chin. His voice was thoughtful. “Her last name was Vaughn? Or maybe Hern. That doesn’t sound right. Maybe Gina Horn.”
“Horn,” Molly repeated.
“A face and a first name I don’t forget. I could even draw you a picture of Gina if I had the skill.” Drew pushed himself off the couch and walked into the kitchen. He took a bottle of water from the refrigerator. “But last names have always escaped me.”
Molly tracked his movements. His gaze never fixed on one point, simply skipped around the room as if he translated something she couldn’t see. No doubt he’d worn a path in his office carpet. He’d always processed facts the best when in motion during college. And she’d bet anything he paced and planned his opening statements, rebuttals and closing arguments for each and every case in the same meandering, circular pattern.
Finally he slowed, sipped his water before glancing at her. “Knowing first names matters. People like to be greeted by their first names. It’s a well-known fact.”
“It shows you care enough to remember them.” It showed Drew cared. And that made another one of those sighs attempt to surface inside her.
“Exactly.” The plastic water bottle crinkled in his grip. “But I’m still at a loss for Gina’s last name.”
“We’ll figure it out.” Molly went over to him and touched his arm to reassure him. “It’s good to know you haven’t lost who you are because of this.”
He set his hand over hers. His intense gaze searched her face. “What keeps you from losing who you are?”
The warmth from his hand instantly soothed her. The vulnerability in his open gaze caught her completely. One tiny shift, one half step and she’d be against his chest. If he curved his arms around her. If he held her close. Then she’d remember. Remember the power of an embrace.
And, in his embrace, she could give in return. Help him remember too.
She tugged her hands free and retreated. There was only one reminder of good she needed in her life. “Hazel. She’s my reason for everything.”
CHAPTER NINE
THE NEXT MORNING, Drew pulled into the Sawyers’ driveway, dropped the visor on his windshield to block the sun and waited for Molly to close the garden gate to Dan and Brooke’s backyard and her new apartment.
Molly gripped Hazel’s baby-seat carrier in one hand and a sleek leather briefcase in the other. Her crisp black pants, white blouse and pink heels belonged on the thirtieth floor of a high-rise in the financial district. The unicorn-print diaper bag hanging on her shoulder belonged in a lively baby playgroup.
She combined both roles effortlessly. Then again Molly had always been more than capable of handling everything seamlessly. He appreciated her business attire, although he preferred her with her hair twisted in a confused sort of bun, no makeup and looking very approachable like she’d been yesterday.
But yesterday’s moment was a on
etime event and the woman approaching his truck now was the one he’d hired to prove his innocence. The relaxed, dedicated mother might have fit into his world before. He might have welcomed her there. But that was then. Now he acknowledged that only facts, not emotions, could restore his life and his future as an attorney.
Molly secured Hazel’s baby carrier, got in the front seat and tugged her phone from her briefcase pocket. “One call and we’ll have the legal assistant’s full name and a place to start our morning.”
Drew played a quick round of peekaboo with Hazel, continuing the game until he earned the little girl’s delightful squeal.
“Gina Hahn.” Molly tapped on her phone screen to end the call and beamed at Drew. “Cory’s former administrative assistant and Elena’s friend is Gina Hahn.”
“I can’t believe you found that out so quickly.” Drew rubbed his eyes and started the truck.
“Connections, Drew. As your dear sweet mama said, it’s all about connections. Having friends in every corner.” Molly nudged his shoulder. “You were close when you suggested Horn yesterday.”
“I won’t forget her name anytime soon.” He reached forward to press the phone button on the truck’s touchscreen and called his brother.
Brad answered on the first ring. “Bad time. Can’t talk.”
A scratching sound grated across the speaker.
Drew leaned forward and listened. In the background a woman shouted, “Over there.” Another voice yelled, “Dad.”
Drew backed his truck out of the driveway. “Where are you?”
More static interfered with Brad’s voice. “Alley behind Tally’s Corner Market on Bayview Street at Vine Avenue.”
“On my way.” Drew quit the call and made a quick right turn.
“Isn’t your brother a private investigator?” Molly scrolled through her emails. “Should we be disrupting his work in an alley?”
“Brad owns and manages a private investigation and security company. He locates cyber criminals, corporate embezzlers and money launderers within the US and globally. If he’s working, he could be doing anything from a recon operation to sitting in on a debriefing from a high-level government official. And he wouldn’t answer his phone.” Drew slowed to a stop at a red light and glanced at her. “Right now, Brad is rescuing either a dog or a cat. He’ll welcome our help.”
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