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“Make nice when they’re suing him?” Cat asks. “Is that possible with this man?”
“I can do it,” Lori says, and we all look at her.
“What does that even mean?” I ask.
“I’ll play the victim who needs his help, of course,” she says. “I’ll tell him this case has touched my heart but scared me too, and I just need it behind me. I’ll plead with him for a way to do that and praise his record.”
“If he knows we’re going after him,” Cat says, “that won’t work.”
“It will if I tell him how much those close to me have freaked out, and how I’m pulling them back, too. I need everyone to just put this behind us. I’ll make him believe that for my sanity, everyone has agreed. I’ll do it right. I’ll cry. I’ll convince him. I’ll even offer to do a press conference with him.”
“I do not want you putting yourself on the line with this man,” I say. “No. Absolutely not.”
“Actually,” Royce says. “It might protect her and everyone else in this room. Why would he reject a press conference and positive press when he wants reelection?”
Lori turns to me and grabs my arms. “I’ll close him. I can do this.”
I look skyward and force myself to be reasonable. She’s right. Royce is right. “I’ll go with you. He needs to hear from me that I’m backing off.”
“No,” she says. “I’ll close. I’m not his adversary. You are. I can do this. I need to do this alone.”
Chapter seventy-eight
Cole
She wants to go to see the DA on her own.
That’s not going to happen, but I’m not having that battle with my wife at Cat and Reese’s house, with them standing across the island from us and Royce Walker staring at us. I focus on him now. “If we back out of this, we need to know you’re really bringing this man down.”
“A DA looking out for himself and hurting innocent people in the process is not someone that sits well with my team. All of my people have, and do, risk their lives to save innocent people. He’s devious, but I have people on my team that have taken down warlords that would make that man cry. We’ll get him, but the idea here is to do it without him taking down you and your team first.”
“That would be a plan I approve of,” Reese says, glancing at Cat. “Keep the book you’re writing about the murders that started this off the grid.”
“Whatever you need,” Royce says. “Tell me.”
“I’d like to go to North Carolina where the real killer was arrested and interview people down there,” Cat says. “Is there any reason I can’t do that?”
“As long as you focus on the killer and the process of catching him and leave this DA out of the picture,” Royce says, “you should be fine.”
Cat glances at Lori. “Want to go to North Carolina with me?”
“After I know Ashley is safe,” Lori says. “If she ends up in some sort of witness protection, Cole will need me here.”
Cole will need me here, I repeat in my mind. I always fucking need her, and the closer the better, which is just another reason she and I need to talk about the DA.
“Is that where this is headed?” Lori asks, directing her attention to Royce. “To Ashley landing in witness protection?”
“I can’t answer that question,” he replies. “Not because I don’t want to or have been silenced, but because the Feds aren’t talking right now. They want to hear her story first. And yes, they said that.”
“Do they think she’s guilty of something?” Cat asks.
“My read is that they think she knows something they need to know,” he says. “That doesn’t spell guilt. She may not even know she knows it. Or maybe she does and she’s protecting him.”
“I don’t get that read,” Lori says. “She’s angry, hurt and confused.”
“I’ll talk to her tomorrow,” I say. “I’ll make sure she’s not holding back, under client-attorney privilege, which I’ll formalize.”
Royce’s phone buzzes with a text message and he glances at it and us. “I need to run, but let me return to the DA for a moment. I believe Reid Maxwell can be an asset. The financial backers behind this DA are at the root of his power. Reid manages the kind of corporate power that can make or break a man. I’m going to be talking with him in detail.”
