“From what I was told, it’s more likely than not, considering the circumstances, that this could happen. Especially with the chief of police putting in a word on your grandmother’s behalf and public opinion already being in her favor. And with the victim’s mother willing to drop charges altogether...”
That option sounded so good. She wanted so badly for things to go the way he’d described. But getting Gram to plead guilty...to turn herself over to the DA and the judge without any of her peers hearing her side of things...
“Gram doesn’t trust the GGPD as a whole,” she told him. “She didn’t even before my arrest, and then, with the subsequent mishandling of things...”
Everleigh had kind of thought the same of the department, too. But she’d had no real evidence to back up any allegations of wrongdoing until now. “You all seem to, I don’t know, be unaware of how it feels to be on the other side of the law. Rightfully or wrongfully.”
“Are you aware that my aunt, Amanda Colton, was murdered in a robbery home invasion right here in Grave Gulch? Troy and Desiree were toddlers and home when it happened.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t know that.”
“I was ten at the time,” he continued, “and remember it all clearly. My parents’ horror, the way they watched over us kids so closely after. My dad constantly worrying about Mom. Our cousins stayed with us some, while Uncle Geoff dealt with his own grief. It shaped all of us, even the family members who came after. We all grew up with that murder as a central point in our family.”
Shocked, hurting for him, trying to imagine a ten-year-old boy, the oldest child, dealing with all of that, she asked, “Did they catch who did it?”
The slow shake of his head was telling. “They did not. And that’s why so many of us are in law enforcement—or some form of protection. A need for justice is ingrained in us all.”
And that kind of explained why he stood so staunchly by the need of the court system to be just. For Everleigh, when the police had failed. And in Gram’s case, too.
For her, it was new...having someone in her corner just because. Without asking for anything in return. He’d told her he didn’t even want her money. Who did that?
“Would you talk to my grandmother?” she blurted before the idea was fully formed. Or vetted at all. “Since you’re the one who proved my innocence, she’d like to meet you. And she’ll trust you some, too, even though you’re the police chief’s brother. Maybe you could convince her that she can trust your family and that she’d be safer making a deal with the DA than going to trial.”
He studied her for a long second, and she tingled under his gaze. “I have no problem giving it a try,” he said. And she smiled.
* * *
Half an hour later Clarke was still feeling the dizzying effects of the full force of Everleigh’s smile when he went out to the kitchen to find her making a lasagna for dinner. The woman was being hunted and she still made supper.
He liked the making-supper part...too much, and remembered why he was out there.
“Take a look at this photo,” he said, showing her an image of Brenda Nolton that Ellie had just sent over. She’d already told him that the alibis of the other two women had checked out. “Do you recognize her?”
She nodded, frowning. “She used to hang out at the health club. I’d see her there sometimes when I went in to work out. She was one of Fritz’s personal-training clients and fawned on him a lot. It was pretty obvious that she had a crush, but I never got any vibes from her that she’d act on it. It was more like a hero-worship kind of thing. Who is she?”
“Brenda Nolton.”
“The woman with the record for fraud?”
“And last night someone confirmed that she and Fritz had been lovers.”
She hardly blinked at the mention of her husband’s philandering that time. Life was toughening her up. He wished it didn’t have to do so. “Doesn’t mean they were,” she said, glancing at the picture again. “Someone could have assumed from the way she acted around him that they were.”
He couldn’t tell if she was wishful thinking or not. Didn
’t really seem like she was, but rather speaking her honest impression. But then, this was the woman who’d been married to a philanderer for years without knowing he was cheating on her. She’d seen what she’d expected to see.
He had to see what really was. And added another possible outing to their list of them for the day.
“Still, with Fritz’s history, it’s safe to assume he’d slept with her. At least once. If nothing else, I have one thing to be very thankful for through all of this.”
“What’s that?”
“My freedom. With all that’s happened, seeing him for who he was... I’m completely over him.”
Clarke put an immediate lid on the thrill that shot through him as he heard her words.
“You up for doing some spying of our own?”