“I cannot believe that bastard has the balls to work in the same company as you!” Sin exclaimed later that evening when Kelly told her about Spencer’s presence at Chambers & Quinn. “I feel heated just thinking about it.”
“To be fair, he owns the firm,” Kelly said wearily. She was lying on their bed, her eyes closed, fighting a headache. This is what happened when one spent the whole day thinking about Spencer Chambers. She sighed. “I think I’ll have to quit. That town ain’t big enough for the both of us.”
“What?” Sin’s voice crackled with unrestrained anger. “Bullshit! He’s the one who should quit.”
“Like I said - his firm.”
“Oh yeah. Forgot that.” With a frustrated sigh, Sin plopped down next to Kelly. The ladies were quiet for quite some time, each lost in their own thoughts, before Sin spoke again. “Don’t quit.”
Kelly opened her eyes into thin slits and turned her head to look at her friend. “I have to.”
“No, you don’t have to.” Sin shifted on the bed to lie on her side facing Kelly. “There are so many reasons why you shouldn’t.”
“Like?”
“One – he owes you,” Sin explained. “Look, I hate the guy as much as you do and I’d be the last one to suggest that you let your issues with him go – that’s A.J’s thing, but -” She paused to give Kelly a pointed look. “- he tanked your career. It’s only fair that he be the one to fix it. In fact you should be asking for a pay-raise to make up for the fact that the state won’t even compensate you for wrongfully sending you to jail, not quitting.”
“Maybe,” Kelly reluctantly agreed. “But if I don’t quit, I’ll have to see his face day-in-day out. It will be a living hell.”
“Then make his life a living hell too. But you know… do it sneakily.” Sin’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “Behind closed doors when no one’s looking. He’ll probably feel too guilty to fire you, but if he does at least you can say that you went out with a bang. Not that you crawled out with your tail between your legs like this.”
Kelly winced at the image of the cowardly exit. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Of course I’m right.” Her friend guffawed. “And if that isn’t enough to convince you to stay at that law-firm then here’s reason two; you need a job and money.”
Kelly sighed. “Can’t argue with that one.”
“Exactly. And Spencer wants to give you both. It would be a crime not to take them.”
Kelly had to laugh. “You’re crazy.”
“Just a little.” Sin grinned. Perhaps sensing that Kelly was still on the fence, she added, “Also you need to consider reason three before you decide what your next step is going to be.”
Kelly’s eyebrows shot up. “There’s a reason three?”
Sin nodded. “Number three; I already bought you a congratulatory suit. I don’t think that store does refunds so you better get your ass back to Chambers & Quinn so you can wear it.”
Kelly smiled. “You bought me a suit?”
“I did.” With a grin, Sin bounced off the bed and skipped to the closet. A second later, she pulled out a red skirt-suit. “Ta-da.”
“Why am I not surprised that it’s red?” Kelly said with a smile even as she got off the bed to close the distance between her and Sin.
“Red for sexy.” Sin rushed to add, “But the skirt is just as stupidly long as you like them to be.”
“Oh wow, Sin.” Kelly took the suit then drew her friend into an embrace. “This is really, really nice of you. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Sin patted her back.
Kelly pulled back from the embrace to test the fabric with her fingers. “The fabric’s excellent. It must’ve been really expensive.”
“You know me.” Sin shrugged. “I go big.”
“Where did you get the money?” Kelly asked. As far as she knew, Sin was as broke as her, maybe even broker since the lady thought of ‘budget’ and ‘saving ‘ as the two dirtiest words in the English language.
“I borrowed Teddy’s credit card.”
Kelly narrowed her eyes. “Does Teddy know you borrowed his credit card?”
“Weeeeeell….”
“Oh my God.” Kelly slapped her palm over her eyes. Sin just laughed.
* * * * *
RELIEVED WASN’T BIG enough a word to describe the emotion that swept through Spencer when Kelly turned up to work the following day. Even now, it was hard to hide his smile every time their eyes met across the conference table, so he did everything not to look her directly in the eye.
“Tan Greenfield murdered Edna Sommerset,” Angelina said as her gaze swept over the other four people seated around the table – Spencer, Kelly, Russell and Duke. Angelina added, “There’s no doubt about that; a neighbor saw him and he’s even confessed. That confession is our problem. He claims that it was a murder-for-hire, and that our client, Paul was the one who ordered the hit.”
“So it’s his word against ours?” Spencer frowned. “We can just refute his confession.”
“That’s going to be a little hard to do.” Angelina turned to Duke. “Did you make copies of the crime-scene photos?”
Duke nodded then passed around the copies to everyone else at the table. Spencer snatched a glance at Kelly only to catch her wincing and rearing back from the images. Obviously, she wasn’t used to seeing murder in all its gory glory.
Once everyone had copies of the photos, Angelina said, “Look at those pictures.”
The moment Spencer saw the images he realized what the problem was. “It was an execution.”
“Yup!” Angelina agreed. When she realized that everyone else at the table, including Kelly, seemed confused by the hypothesis, she added, “Look at the house completely untouched; nothing stolen. Look at the victim, bullet straight to the forehead, no signs of a struggle. He came there to kill her.”
“Ah!” Kelly gasped, finally getting it. When she looked up and realized that she’d unwittingly drawn everyone else’s attention, she offered them an embarrassed smile. “Sorry.”
“Please tell me Tan had some kind of relationship with Edna.” Spencer yanked everyone else’s attention back to their meeting.
Russell shook his head. “None at all.”
“Are you sure?” Spencer asked the investigator.
“If there was, I would’ve found it,” Russell said, confidence oozing in his firm tone. “Everything I’ve found so far tells me the two had never met before he shot Edna. Unfortunately for us, Paul and Edna butted heads often and publicly over that strip of land between their ranches. Worse, there’s plenty of evidence that Tan and Paul knew each other. And if I found it, the prosecution will probably find it too.”
“Crap!” Spencer rubbed the bridge of his nose. The guilt was so obvious in this one, he was surprised it wasn’t wearing glittery clothes and waving a red cape like a torero.
“That’s not even the worst part,” Angelina said.
Spencer’s jaw dropped. “There’s worse?”
“Yup.” Angelina winced and nodded. “Paul’s bank records show that he withdrew ten thousand dollars from his account on the very same day that Tan claims he paid him ten thousand dollars to kill Edna. Fortunately, there’s no proof that Paul actually gave Tan that money.”
“Fortunately,” Spencer said, a note of sarcasm in his voice. When he was an A.D.A., a case like this would’ve been a walk in the park for him. The circumstantial evidence was so strong that a skilled prosecutor could get the book thrown at this Paul guy.
“So do you want it?” Angelina asked, holding out Paul’s file.
“Yeah, like I would touch that with a ten-foot pole?” Spencer guffawed as he waved away the file. “I’ll take the arson. You deal with Paul.”
“If you take the arson, then you’ll have to take Conrad Doherty too.”
“Not Conrad Doherty.” Spencer groaned.
Conrad was the son of one of their richest clients. He’d come in a couple of days ago because of a bullying incident that had left his classmate fighting for his life after attempting suicide.
As a trust-fund kid himself, Spencer knew Conrad’s type all too well; entitled assholes who came from homes with too much money and had been brought up to believe that the world should kneel before them. Kids like Conrad were a guaranteed pain in the ass because they often treated their lawyers like lowly servants whose only job was to shut up, take their money and make their crimes disappear.
“It’s either Conrad or Paul.” Grinning, Angelina held out the two files. “Choose.”
Spencer eyed the two files for quite some time before sighing. “Conrad.”
Annoyance swept through him as he plucked Conrad’s file from Angelina’s grip. This is what he’d come to; defending murderers and bratty rich kids. How ironic was that? Barely half a year ago, he’d been the guy who made these hooligans pay for their crimes. Now, it was his job to help them get away with murder. Wincing, he thumbed through Conrad’s file.
Talk about switching sides.
Right then, Kelly whispered something to Russell, drawing Spencer’s attention to her. As Spencer stared at her, he couldn’t help acknowledging that maybe it wasn’t that black and white. Being a defense attorney wasn’t just about helping clients get away with murder. It was about making sure that the system didn’t railroad both the innocent and the not-so innocent. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but it was better than being the guy who sent innocent people to prison.
Almost as if she could feel his stare, Kelly looked his way. Their eyes met, and not for the first time, Spencer was awed by how beautiful her eyes were. How he longed for that day when those eyes wouldn’t hold anger and hatred whenever they met his. With an internal sigh, he looked away from her.
“Since both Spencer and Kelly are new, Kelly, you’re with me,” Angelina said. “Spencer, Duke will help you out. He knows a lot about both cases so he should be a big help. If you need any investigating done, Russell’s your man. Just make sure you get to him before Civil Lit. finds something else for him to do.”
“Got it.” Spencer nodded even as unexpected disappointment speared through him. He wanted to work with Kelly, he realized. He wanted to spend more time with her and get to know her. Given Kelly’s barely veiled hatred of him, that counted as being suicidal, right?
I must be a masochist.
The meeting ended a few minutes later and everyone dispersed to their respective offices. Spencer had just settled behind his desk when there was a sharp rap on his door. A moment later, the door flew open and Kelly walked in.
She didn’t waste time with pleasantries. “Where’s my resignation letter?”
A fist immediately closed around Spencer’s lungs. As far as he could see, there was only one reason she’d want that letter – so that she could take it to HR herself. Instinctively, he opened his mouth to scold her then he changed his mind. As much as he wanted to help her out, there was only so much he could without outright interfering with her life. If this was what she wanted to do, then so be it. He’d done his best.
He opened his desk’s top drawer and retrieved the letter. When he held it out, Kelly immediately plucked it from his fingers.
“Good.” She unfolded and quickly scanned the document it as if to make sure that it was her letter and not some random piece of paper. “At least now I know you won’t take it to HR behind my back.”
Did that mean that she wasn’t leaving? The tightness in Spencer’s chest eased a little, but just to make sure his guess was correct, he asked, “Does that mean that you’re staying?”
She scowled. “I came to work, didn’t I?”
Good. He almost smiled but the cautious voice in his head told him Kelly wouldn’t appreciate his celebrating her surrender. Hiding his relief, he said, “Now that you’ve decided that you’ll be working with me-”
“Not with, just around you,” Kelly retorted immediately.
Spencer didn’t bother correcting her. “I think it’s important that we keep things between us professional.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”
“I mean that we need to set up some rules of conduct.”
“Rules of conduct?” Kelly frowned. “We don’t need to do that. I already got the memo from HR.”
“I don’t mean the firm’s standard rules,” Spencer explained. “I mean between us. I don’t think we should let the antagonism in our relationship spill over into our work.”
Kelly stared at him like she was about to bite his head off. “Are you saying that I’m antagonistic?”
What Spencer really wanted to say was that she needed to start treating him like her superior, not the enemy. However, a glance at her stormy expression and he realized that there was no way to express that without starting World War III.
He backed off. “Never mind.”
Kelly looked like she wanted to push him harder, demand he explain himself. Fortunately, all she did was glare at him before turning on her heels. Spencer let out a relieved breath when the door finally closed behind her.
Was he ever going to be able to talk to Kelly without walking on egg-shells? He wasn’t even looking for forgiveness anymore; he just wished that they could get along.
Could it happen? He wasn’t holding his breath, but a man could dream.