Dallas watched Melissa’s eyes widen with shock as Gabby stoically explained the news. The three of them were crammed in a tiny closet-sized office stacked high with papers and files in every corner.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Melissa uttered in disbelief. “I mean, excuse my language.” Her tiny hand, half covered by a slightly too long business coat flew to her mouth. “I shouldn’t have said that, but seriously?”

“You’ve been doing this a while,” Dallas said. “Is this a first for you?”

“Is it a first for me that a client has an airtight, irrefutable alibi to free him from jail, and he chooses not to divulge it? Yes, that’s new to me. To me and any other reasonable person in the world.”

“I can see you’re upset,” Gabby offered, but it sounded hollow.

“Upset?” Melissa asked, standing abruptly and shoving her chair back. “Do you know how many hours I’ve dedicated to this case? For free at that. I’ve passed up dozens of opportunities, I’ve lost sleep. That son of a bitch.” Uncharacteristically loud, Melissa kept her tirade going. “You have got to be kidding me with this. You didn’t for a minute think you, for his sake or for the sake of a real killer being on the loose, should come tell the truth?”

“Of course I did,” Gabby whined. “I changed my mind a thousand times a day. But I had hope that he’d get out because of some loophole or your hard work. That’s what he had wanted.”

“What do we do now?” Dallas asked, trying to force the derailed train back on the tracks. “How do get him out of there now that we know?”

“We just walk in and tell the judge this and they unlock his cell and he walks out,” Melissa quipped sarcastically. “Because all these rules I’ve been hammering you with for the last six months aren’t real. You just do what you want with the law.” Melissa drew in a deep breath and glared at them both.

“I just found out this morning,” Dallas defended. “I didn’t know. I swear it.”

“Oh, I believe you. There’s no way you’d have been such a pain in the ass all this time if you had a solution this easy.” Her hand went up to her forehead as she tried to put her thoughts in order. “We need to request an emergency hearing. This will have to be vetted, a forensic analysis of your phone and the photographs will need to be conducted. You’ll need to make a statement to the police on record. This is a huge revelation, but there’s still a process we follow. He’ll get out, but it’ll be at the pace the court can move.”

“I can live with that,” Dallas nodded. “Just tell me what I can do to help.”

“Go home.” She pointed at the door. “I need you as far away from this as possible. Don’t try to find the real killer. Don’t meet with Tim. You are the scorned lover of Tim’s alibi. I need this to be clean. I can handle it from here.”

“I’m no one’s scorned lover,” Dallas chuckled, having found peace with the truth remarkably fast. If Tim and Gabby had told him, he was honest enough with himself to know he’d have blown up at the time. These circumstances, however, the time that had passed, all that was on the line, made it easy to move past any kind of anger.

“How you feel doesn’t matter,” Melissa corrected. “It’s about perception. Motivation. Conflict of interest. Just do me a favor and walk away from this. You do that, and I’ve got the best shot of getting your friend out of prison.”

“And what about the real killer?” Gabby asked, the reality of her role in the other person’s freedom finally sinking in.

“This will return to being an unsolved murder and the police will have to reopen the case.” Melissa jotted down a few frantic notes.

“It was Larry,” Dallas interjected. “He was at least involved in some way.”

Melissa was still unwavering in her annoyance. “He’s the person that led the police to the body. I’m sure whether or not you stick your nose in this, they’ll be able to piece that together.”

“They didn’t the first time,” Dallas snipped back, memories of the lack of justice flooding him.

“Go somewhere,” Melissa ordered. “Hop a plane. Hit the beach. Do something. But give me time to work this out.”

“Fine,” Dallas grunted, hardly meaning it.

“If there is something concrete to report, I’ll contact you right away. You, on the other hand,” Melissa said, pointing accusingly at Gabby, “you might want to grab a snack. You’re going to be here for a while.”

Dallas stood and extended his hand to Melissa. “Thank you for standing by him. I know how much you put into this. We would not have made it this far without you.”

“I guess the same should be said about you. I don’t know if you can tell, but I make it a point not to have friends,” Melissa said coolly. “It’s a messy business, caring for people. But if I ever changed my mind and decided to be weak and make a friend, you’d be the kind I want.”

“Umm . . . thanks,” Dallas said quizzically. “I think.”