Chapter Twenty-Two
Bethany
"You haven't eaten. You're assistant told me." Annie marched into my office and put a boxed dinner on my desk. "Stop what you are doing and eat that. Now."
I looked up at my friend and had to smile. She stood over me with her fists on her hips. Annie was petite but fierce, and I was forced to open the to-go box.
"Lasagna. You're the best," I said.
"I'm hoping that last part was to me, not the food," Annie laughed. She plopped down in one of my office chairs and prepared to make sure I ate every last bite.
I couldn't answer because my mouth was full, but my best friend understood my grateful grunts. When I finally swallowed, I said, "Thank you. I've been so focused on the case."
"Yeah, about that." Annie sat forward. "Is there anything you want to talk about? I mean, I get that you are busy and focused but you're a little too focused. You know what I mean?"
I tried to deny it. "This is the biggest case I've ever worked. That's the only difference."
Annie shook her head. "Sorry, but you seem to have forgotten I did the exact same thing when Sam dumped me. I obsessed over that vehicular manslaughter case until I got kicked out of court. I screwed it up by using it to distract me from what was really bothering me."
"I remember," I said. My shoulders slumped.
I had been the one on the opposite side of the desk then. Annie had been so determined to put her heartbreak behind her that she let things fester. It exploded in a huge scene at the courthouse, and I had been there to drive her home when the bailiff kicked her out.
I concentrated on my lasagna for a moment and was doubly grateful that Annie gave me time to think. It wasn't easy admitting that my true focus wasn't on the case. I had spent most of my life holding my career above everything else, even above my own needs, that it seemed insane to have it take second place now.
"I can't stop thinking about Dylan," I confessed. "It's insane. He's the top of the suspect list and yet he's the only man in years I've actually felt something for."
Annie nodded in sympathy. "You slept with him again, didn't you?"
I put down the lasagna, my appetite gone. If only I could say the same for my hunger for Dylan. Even the mere mention of it sent licks of passion through my veins. Why did he have to make me lose my carefully constructed control?
"What if I've compromised the case?" I whispered.
The real horror was that didn't strike deadly fear into my heart. I would have thought destroying a career-making case over my own uncontrolled passion would make me ice-cold with fright. Everything I had worked for could be gone in an instant. Why did I still care more about Dylan than my job?
"What have you told Dylan?" Annie asked.
"About the case?" I gasped. "Nothing really."
She shook her head. "No, I mean about you two."
I bit my lip. "Nothing."
It was Annie's turn to gasp. "You mean he knows you're investigating him?"
My voice quavered. "He knows I don't believe him. I mean, how can I, Annie? Everything points to him being the one calling the shots. How can I ignore that?"
"Oh, Bethany. You're assuming the worst because you don't want to get hurt. If he's guilty then you don't have to worry about him not feeling the same way about you," Annie said.
"I know," I cried. I crumpled on my desk and didn't move even when I heard my office door swing open.
"You're not asleep, are you, Durham?" The DA marched in, nodded to Annie, and then stood over me.
"Just a quick lunch break. Thank you, Annie," I said, trying to recover.
Annie retreated out my office door and Taylor, my assistant, shut the door behind her. The DA paced back and forth while I smoothed back my hair and put away the half-eaten lasagna.
"So." She stopped in front of me again. "Dylan Wylde was here on the premises and you didn't bring him in for questioning? We have enough to hold him now, don't you think?"
The question was edged with irritation. I stood up and laced my fingers together, hoping I looked repentant. "He was across the street actually, still in his car. There was no way I could convince him to come inside. I didn't want to jump the gun and make him run."
The DA arched an eyebrow at me. "There's a ticking clock on this case, Durham. You with me on that?"
I nodded, still eager to prove to both her and myself that this job was more important than my unexplainable feelings for Dylan. "I'm with you. What can I do?"
It hurt but I couldn't turn my back on my job, my career, now. It was the only stable thing I had in my life, and I didn't know what I'd be or do if I lost it. All I could do was hope that the facts I uncovered could prove Dylan was innocent.
"You need to prove a working relationship between Dylan and that blonde. More than just timing coincidences, we need financial transactions, coded communications, anything to prove she's in his employ," the DA said.
I nodded while feeling sick inside. "I'll go over his financials again and see what I can dig up on hers. There might not be much there."
"Then dig deep. Find her. Follow him. Take a camera. If you can do it, you'll save this case budget the steep cost of hiring that private investigator again," the DA pointed out.
I swallowed hard. The private investigator she mentioned was nicknamed the Poker. He was notorious for his ability to create situations that showed a person's true nature. It was slightly underhanded, nearing on entrapment, but he had provided many irrefutable photographs that convinced juries. He was often thought of as a dirty and last-ditch effort but that was how much this case was worth.
The DA was up for re-election and this case could potentially save city insurance-payers thousands. How could I forget it wasn't just my career on the line?
"Don't worry, I'm on it," I said.
She nodded. "I'm counting on you, Durham. You're too close to this case but I still think that makes you my best shot. Just watch your step."
I spent the rest of the evening up to my eyeballs in financial reports and receipts. If there was an unmarked withdrawal from Dylan's account, I had to reconcile it with his movements. Even if it stung like when I traced one payment to our room at the inn.
I was still smarting over that when my assistant called in. He uncharacteristically whispered into the phone, "Ms. Durham? I think you might want to hear the buzz out here."
I slipped to my office door and only opened it an inch before Taylor signaled me to stop. The conference room was full of police officers and the DA was authorizing some major move. Two of my colleagues watched, standing right in front of Taylor's desk.
"I guess the mayor's on her about how long this is taking. The people want answers about that carjacking," one said.
The other shrugged. "Hope they don't screw up our only chance to catch bigger fish by busting his shop too soon."
I raced back to my desk and grabbed an armful of files at random. Then I nudged open my office door and swung out to Taylor's desk with the precarious bunch. He jumped up to help me and that kept my back to the conference room. My colleagues backed off Taylor's desk and watched as I hustled my assistant to the copy room while supposedly missing all the action behind me.
"Cover for me," I said to Taylor.
He nodded, assuming I was heading to Annie's office for a quick break. He knew she was my unofficial sounding board, so he thought nothing more about it.
I ran down the stairwell while calling Annie. "I need your car," I said.
She met me in the underground parking ramp. "I'm assuming you're doing the right thing."
I nodded as I jumped into her car. "I might not be able to prove Dylan's innocence, but I know for sure he's our best lead. If they hole him up for questioning, we might never be able to find the thread that connects him to the chop shop ring."
Annie frowned. "You're going to warn Dylan just because he's your best lead?"
I looked at Annie and didn't have to say anything. She knew that wasn't true; I had to warn Dylan because I cared about him. I just couldn't say anything out loud because the case had me in a stranglehold.
I didn't even have to tell Annie that this was a last-ditch effort. The buzz for days had been nothing but Dylan's name. Colleagues even toasted his name and celebrated, thinking that he was the criminal we were about to topple. Dylan hadn't secured his own council, and it was rapidly becoming obvious he had no one else in his corner.
Except me.
I thought with a cringe how he had called me in as his lawyer. Dylan had asked for my help, but I had taken a different side to the case just to further my own career.
I drove too fast in Annie's little car but still didn't make it in time. I ended up parking three blocks away, just after I spotted the first unmarked car. My phone could be traced so I slipped into a bodega and begged to use the phone. The clerk hesitated as he handed over the receiver.
"What's going on?" he asked with narrowing eyes.
"Nothing. I just want to prank a friend." I panicked, remembering that my voice would later be heard, recorded by the phone taps. "Actually, it'd be funnier if you did it."
"Did what?"
I waved a twenty-dollar bill. "Just ask for Dylan and then tell him his pizza's ready."
The clerk snatched the cash out of my hands, and I took a pack of gum just to make it a transaction and not a bribe. He delivered my message and then crossed his arms, ready for me to leave his shop.
I snagged a pair of big-brimmed sunglasses out of the dollar bin on my way out and headed directly to the pizza joint. There I sat in the back but kept my eyes glued to the wide front windows. Police lights were flashing, and the raid began. I just hoped Dylan got my message in time.
Dylan slipped into the shop through the back and peered out through the kitchen. The pizza chef and his son ignored their neighbor as they watched the swarm of police outside. Then Dylan saw me, and his jaw dropped.
"What are you doing?" he asked, joining me at my small table. "This is career-suicide, isn't it?"
I shook my head. "Not if my conclusions are right."
Dylan scoffed. "You mean a hunch? And here I thought you were all about the facts."
"I am, Dylan, and the facts just don't add up. That's why I'm counting on you being honest with me. Can you find out who's behind all this?" I asked.
Dylan gritted his teeth and swore as another wave of police officers went by. "I left Joey in the shop. He's not going to be happy."
That almost made me smile. Suddenly, the idea of my colleagues trying to interview Dylan's brash and brutally stubborn partner was very funny. My burst of smothered laughter was followed by an escaped sob.
Dylan stood up and pulled me to my feet. "You stuck your neck out for me, Bethany. More than once. I'll never forget. And I won't let you down, I promise."
I pushed him back to the kitchen where he would be out of sight and then headed for the pizza shop door. Before I marched out into the chaos, I turned to him one more time.
"Dylan?" I waited until he reappeared. "I believe you."
Then I turned on my heels and marched out into the buzzing street. The police had Dylan's shop doors wide open and a full team of forensics specialists were already combing through the parts. Joey bellowed at them about the compromised parts Dylan had already discovered even as the police struggled to secure a pair of handcuffs over his strong wrists.
"You could have just asked, you assholes!" Joey yelled. "If this is your idea of asking for cooperation then you've got a big problem."
He shook off the officers and laughed, then sauntered over to the squad car himself. I had to hide my smile behind my fist. Joey was going to be just fine.
"Durham, I didn't think you'd come. Hard core." The DA appeared at my shoulder. "We've got 'em now, right?"
"Where's Dylan?" I asked.
The DA shrugged. "He got away. For now."
I turned to head back to the office, hoping that now was all Dylan was going to need. I wasn't sure how much more I could do.