Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 104448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
I glanced at Susanna, who appeared to agree with him. “But that’s why we got a second set of samples,” I said. “Right? I mean, how could he have interfered with both labs when one was reporting directly to you?”
Susanna let out a breath. “I don’t know. But I’ve heard of two of his cases where similar stuff has happened. So I was thinking… Is there a way you could ask Orris?”
“What, just ask if he knows if Brock Lois, the guy he probably recommended to the Scotts, is a criminal co-conspirator? In what world would he admit it to me if he did?”
Tomas shook his head. “You’d have to be sneakier than that.”
We talked through how that kind of mix-up could possibly happen when it involved two different labs, and it was Susanna who finally said, “What if it was the witness?”
I remembered the quiet man in the brown suit. A young member of Brock’s team who’d been allowed to witness the sample collection. He’d been in the room, standing unobtrusively in the corner.
“But there’s no way…” I was getting ready to say he hadn’t gotten anywhere near the samples, had only stepped forward to view the signatures on the form, watch the sample collection, and sign the witness forms afterward.
But then I remembered there’d been that moment when Lellie had tried to escape into the hall. I was pretty sure that had happened after the sample collection but before the samples had been sealed. For two critical seconds, Susanna had been out of the room, and Dev and I had been distracted. The lab tech must’ve been distracted, too, since he’d gotten a lollipop for Lellie from somewhere.
Could the witness have switched the samples? How the hell was that possible? Would he have created a distraction if Lellie hadn’t provided one? Would the Scotts truly sink to that level?
Maybe. But Brock Lois definitely would.
“Okay…” I said, trying to figure out how to get the truth out of a complete stranger who definitely wouldn’t want to lose his job. I attempted a lame joke. “Which one of us is going to try and seduce the third-party witness?”
Tomas was a criminal defense attorney. He was known as a shark. When he made eye contact with me, all traces of my flirty friend were gone, and only the sharp-toothed predator remained.
“If you really want to get to the bottom of this… you’re going to lie to your boss.”
After stopping at the gym to sweat out my anger and frustration, I let myself into the cool air-conditioning of my apartment. It was quiet and clean. The modern furniture was sleek and minimalist, the way I’d always liked it.
There were no sticky handprints on my coffee table or diaper supplies stashed in several convenient locations, and there were zero brightly colored plastic objects in sight.
And it was so sterile it felt like an operating room in the world’s most boring hospital.
I wandered through the empty apartment, aching for the silence to be broken by a sudden squawk of discontent that the green beans that were so good yesterday were completely unacceptable today. Or the low hum of Lellie’s white noise machine. Or the periodic whickers and whinnies of horses outside the window.
Tomas’s suggestion had been bold. Stupid, too. He wanted me to initiate a conversation with my boss in which I confessed to seeing the witness switching the samples. “Tell Orris you were secretly relieved that the DNA results took it out of your hands.”
In other words, blatantly lie to my boss… and risk losing my job in a way that would virtually guarantee no other respectable firm would hire me.
It was ludicrous. Something I would never consider doing.
Under normal circumstances.
But the more I thought about it, the more my gut churned with unease when I considered the possibility that my boss, my very own firm, could be complicit in something so unfair and fraudulent.
And the very fact I was suspecting them told me a lot about how much trust I’d lost with the firm since seeing their reaction to Katie’s will.
I walked over to peer down at the view I had of a small city park. The heat had tapered off temporarily, so the park was full of people enjoying a Sunday afternoon.
Families with kids on scooters, in strollers, and racing ahead of their parents on the sidewalk. Couples hand in hand, holding dog leashes with their other hand. A woman in a backward ball cap, covering her mouth while she giggled at her phone.
I’d loved living here in the city. I’d imagined a full life here in Dallas with interesting friends, sexy men, and a fulfilling career.
But now, my closest friend was gone. The sexiest man I knew lived a thousand miles away. And my career felt like a promissory note written on counterfeit paper.