He tugs his mouth to one side. “I’m pretty sure I got on Tom’s nerves at times.”
“Really?” The comment totally surprises Emma. “Well, I’ve heard nothing but praise from him.”
“Aw, thanks. Send him my regards, will you?”
“Will do.”
Scott accompanies her to the lobby, where they say a warm goodbye. Striding across the parking lot, she’s relieved by Scott’s reaction and fairly confident that she’ll be asked to do a second round of research.
And yet she’s also miffed about getting flustered during the presentation, allowing herself to be rattled by a twentysomething who was probably checking to see if her Saturday night hookup had finally texted her. She’s let this business with Derrick’s case affect not only her state of mind but her performance on the job.
Emma has just reached her car when her phone rings, and she sees that Dunne is calling.Finally, she thinks, at the same time her heart skips. After quickly unlocking the door, she slides into the front seat to pick up.
“Sorry for the delay, but I’ve been in court until now,” he says.
“Well, thanks for making the time. First, have you had a chance to connect with Detective Webster?”
“She left me a voice mail last night saying she’s off today but will try me tomorrow.”
“Huh. Could that be a good sign—that she doesn’t seem anxious to talk?”
“Could be, but I wouldn’t waste any time trying to interpret it.... So what’s this new development?”
Emma takes a deep breath, steadying herself. “Um, it’s the weirdest little thing actually. I found out yesterday that Tom and I attended the same event in Miami two years ago this past January, a dinner I was hired to speak at. We were never introduced, though, and Tom didn’t even get to hear my talk because he had a toothache and left early.”
An ominous silence follows.
“Not good,” Dunne says finally.
Her stomach clutches. But what was she expecting? That Dunne would tell her she had the plot for a charming rom-com on her hands?
“But you have to understand,” Emma tells him, and cringes at the pleading in her tone, “it’s all a crazy coincidence.”
“Unfortunately, the police don’t like coincidences any more than they like inconsistencies. The fact that you and Tom met before your husband’s death is going to be a red flag for them.”
“But wedidn’tmeet until July of that year.”
Dunne clears his throat. “Correction. That you were in the same room together.”
This is becoming... Kafkaesque: she and Tom having to defend themselves when all they’ve done wrong is attend the same event as total strangers.
“Okay. So what do I do about it?”
“There are two possible approaches. One is to try to ‘battleship’ it through—you remember the kids’ game? In other words, wait and see if they ask the question and if they do, answer truthfully. If they don’t, keep mum. The other is toget it on the table ourselves. In this instance, I would recommend the latter approach.”
“You mean I call up Webster and share this with her.”
God, won’tthatbe a fun conversation.
“No, no. But—um, I’m thinking that Tom could weave it in when Detective Webster makes contact with him. As in, ‘I was introduced to Emma on such and such day, but funnily enough, we recently discovered we came close to meeting a few months before then, though it never happened.’”
“Okay.”
“I trust you’ve told Tom he needs to have an attorney present and it can’t be his company attorney. It has to be someone who specializes in criminal law.”
Emma’s breath catches at the wordcriminal.
“Yes, I’ve told him.”