Why was he so stubborn about Kyle? She didn’t understand his unwillingness to give the boy the benefit of the doubt... unless it had more to do with him than with Kyle.
After taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she asked, “Were you in court when your wife died?”
She didn’t mention the boys because that was too painful to even think about.
Skylar’s jaw set. “Who was shooting off their mouth? Was it my mother or my sister?”
“They meant well. I think they’re just worried about you.”
“Dammit!” He thumped the steering wheel. “Getting engaged to you was supposed to get them off my back, not give me yet another person I have to defend myself to.”
“At least our charade got you the job. You’re the boss now.”
His anger cooled a bit. “Does that mean I can order you to drop the subject and stay out of my business?”
“It’s my business if it affects how you perceive my client.” She sat silent for a few minutes, giving him time to settle down. Then she added, “I told you stuff last night I never shared with anyone. I told you about the worst experience of my life, the thing that nearly killed me.”
Tears flooded her eyes again, and he noticed.
He reached for her with one hand, rubbed the side of her head. “You’re right. I owe you a story.”
She shook her head and scowled at him. “That isn’t what I’m saying. I don’t want you to talk to me because we’re showing off our wounds to each other. This isn’t a tit-for-tat situation. I just thought...”
When she didn’t finish her sentence, he prodded her. “You just thought what? Come on. Don’t stop now. Tell me what’s on your mind.”
“I just thought we were getting closer, you know, becoming friends.”
For a while, neither of them spoke. She wanted to recall her words and trade them for silly small-talk. They had hours to go before they reached her home. Driving in awkward silence for that long would have her wishing she hadn’t taken her allergy medication. At least sneezing and hives would take her mind off the fact Skylar didn’t trust her enough to tell her stuff she could probably look up on her own. What was the big secret?
“I was in court when Clare and the boys died,” he said. His voice came out flat, without a trace of emotion. “I was using a blunder by the policeman that worked the case to get the punk off even though I knew he was guilty. Wasn’t my problem. I blamed the prosecutor for not doing a better job.”
She started to say she was sorry, but he cut her off with a swipe of his hand.
He went on. “Did my mom or Becca happen to mention the mall shooter was supposed to be in jail? An attorney with a bag of tricks got him off just a few weeks earlier. He shouldn’t have even been on the street.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“I was freeing someone who should have spent the rest of his life behind bars while another scumbag was killing my family. Call it irony. Karma. Poetic justice. Doesn’t matter. It all points back to me.” Bitter male laughter filled the car’s interior. “Oh, and get this. The man I got off on a technicality, he murdered three people later that month.”
Anna understood now why he didn’t want her to save Kyle Jensen. He didn’t want her to have to live with the guilt if Kyle killed people later on. Her heart broke for Skylar because she knew exactly what he was feeling. She also felt responsible for her family dying.
“You don’t have to get involved with the Jensen case.”
Grim expression, Skylar said, “Don’t try to talk me out of it. I am definitely looking over his file and visiting him in jail. I want him to look me in the eye and deny everything. I’ll know if he’s guilty.”
Did playing professional poker give him the ability to tell when someone was lying or had he already been capable of it? She was afraid to ask. Emotionally exhausted, she settled back in her seat and closed her eyes. She needed some rest before delving further into the mystery that was Skylar Griffin.