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“You’ll tell me what?”
“There’s a little bit of a connection between her and Smith, which I sensed as well when he just picked her up. Royce is having him talk to her. Let’s see how that goes.”
“I don’t think she needs a man trying to influence her when a man got her into this,” Lori says. “I’m going with you to the meeting and I’m talking to her myself.”
I reach for her hand and kiss it. “Yes, my queen.”
She laughs. “If only that was how you replied to everything.”
A few hours later, Lori and I are about to leave for Walker Security when Reid calls. I wave for Lori to shut my door and place him on speaker phone. “Lori and I are both here, Reid.”
“Of course you are,” he says. “You’re like one person. I set the groundwork. The DA is ‘thinking’ about my offer and he wants to close. The sooner Lori goes there and convinces him that’s what she wants, the better. As in now.”
I glance at my watch. “It’s two o’clock. We have a meeting at five. We can do it now.”
“I need to talk to Ashley,” Lori insists.
“I’ll see if Royce can push back our meeting an hour,” I say. “We’ll try to work it out for this afternoon,” I then tell Reid. “Otherwise it will be morning. I’ll text you. Anything else I need to know?”
“No. Text me.” He hangs up.
I dial Royce and get the FBI meeting moved back an hour and then he works some kind of five-minute magic to confirm the DA is in his own office. “I want you to go first,” I tell Lori, right after texting Reid. “Take a taxi. I’ll arrive right after you. We need to make this look like you snuck out to see the DA and I found out. Then, of course, I charge in to save you from him.”
“That works,” she says. “I’ll head out now.”
“Make sure I’m in the building before you go in to see him.”
“Got it.”
“If we’re lucky, this is the beginning of the end of this for us. Then we let Royce and his team do their real magic and get rid of this DA before he hurts someone else.”
“The beginning of the end is a new beginning,” Lori says. “I like how that sounds.” She heads for the door, and those words replay in mind: The beginning of the end is a new beginning.
That statement works only if the end is the end of our choosing. For us and Ashley, we need to ensure that’s what happens. And we need to do it now, today.
Lori
I am remarkably calm as I step into the building where the District Attorney, Tom Milner, works. I text Cole before I work through the security process. By the time the security guard calls up to the DA’s office to announce my presence, Cole has confirmed he’s outside waiting for me to head upstairs before coming inside. I wait a full fifteen minutes before I’m cleared.
Nerves set in once I’m in the elevator, but I decide to use them in my favor. I want exactly what I’m going to say I want. I have no lie to tell this man. I tug on the jacket of my navy suit and smooth my skirt for no good reason. It’s just a thing I do when I prepare for a confrontation, though this doesn’t have to be that. The elevator dings and I exit to the lobby and the secretary is quick to greet me. “Mrs. Brooks, the District Attorney is waiting on you in his office.” She motions to a door.
“Thank you.” I quickly move forward and step inside a large office with heavy mahogany furnishings.
The man behind the desk is dark-haired, with a goatee and strong features, a spray of lines by his eyes. “Mrs. Brooks.”
“Lori,” I say. “And thank you for seeing me, Mr. District Attorney.”
“Shut the door. Have a seat.”
“Of course.” I shut the door and claim one of two visitors’ chairs in front of his desk.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“I’m sure it’s not a pleasure, but I do appreciate you indicating it as such. My husband is quite worried about me.”
“As expected.”
“He and my friends love me. I’ve had a bad few years. My father died. I dropped out of law school because my mother had a stroke. Life is good now and that means I have people who love me. That also makes them passionate about protecting me and attacking on my behalf. I need normal though. I just want to practice and fight the good fight. I’m asking them to back off.”
