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She turned and saw Erik Andersen standing in the doorway. “Professor Andersen, what can I do for you?”
Dressed in pressed slacks and a tight shirt that showed his biceps, he shut the door behind him and advanced into her office. “Aren’t you ever going to call me Erik again? Your sister and I broke up years ago. Don’t you think it’s about time you got over that? I’m a pretty nice guy, actually.” His mouth widened in a leer.
While Jess had gone on with her life after his betrayal, her inner light had gone out and had never returned. Savannah blamed Erik for snuffing it out.
When she didn’t answer, he sighed and came closer. “Any more ideas on who stole the artifacts? I hear Hez got hold of some video footage, and I thought maybe he had solved the case by now.”
His tone made her study his expression. Was that tension? Fear? Did he have something to do with it? “Oh, did he? If he found any evidence, I’m sure he turned it over to the police.”
“That’s good. I mean, whatever Abernathy was involved with, it was clearly dangerous. I wouldn’t want you getting in the way of danger too. Jess would never survive something happening to you.”
Savannah tensed. Was he warning her off? “Luckily, she’ll never have to face that.”
“I sure hope not.” He perched on the edge of her desk and picked up the snow globe on the desktop. “Pretty. Almost as mesmerizing as you.”
She resisted the urge to snatch it from his hand, and her fingers curled into her palms. Ella had loved it, and it was a reminder of the winter weekend they’d spent as a family in Michigan.
She rose and began stuffing papers into her briefcase. “Well, I don’t know anything about the videos. You could ask Hez directly.”
“Maybe I’ll do that. What do you say we go get some food and some drinks? You haven’t been out of the office all day, and you have to be starved. Maybe we could bury the hatchet. I’ve always liked you, Savannah.” His gaze fell on a picture of her and Hez with Ella, and he frowned. “Looks like you’re still carrying a torch for that loser. I’d like to show you I’m not such a bad guy.”
She straightened and stared him down. “Professor, I have no interest in a personal relationship with you, and your comments are offensive.” She snapped the latch on her briefcase and headed for the door. “I’ll lock the door behind you.”
He brushed past her a little too closely, as if intentionally invading her personal space. “It’s dark out there tonight, Savannah. Be careful walking home.”
Another veiled threat? She shuddered and locked the door once his footsteps faded down the hall.
* * *
Hez wasn’t wrestling with a question of life or death—but it was a question of life, so he needed to focus. Specifically, the question was how to defend Hernando Morales from a ridiculously overcharged complaint that could put him in federal prison for the rest of his life. Hez needed to be 100 percent mentally present while he and Ed prepared for the probable cause hearing—even though he was tired and there was somewhere else his mind very much wanted to go.
Hez suspected Don Hale was trying to scare Hernando into cooperating. Hez thought he could get the charges dropped down a long way—possibly even dismissed entirely—if Hernando was willing to play ball with the FBI. There were just two problems with that approach. First, Hez didn’t like giving in to bullies, and Hale was a bully. But Hez could have swallowed his pride and gone along with it if not for the second problem: Hernando was a lot more scared of the consequences of cooperating than not cooperating. But scared of whom?
Hez turned to Ed, who sat across a cluttered table in the empty office they were using as a war room. “Who do you think he’s working for?”
Ed gave him a blank stare. “Excuse me?”
“Hernando. Who do you think he’s working for? He was pretty tight-lipped about that when we interviewed him at the jail.”
Ed shrugged muscular shoulders. “He was pretty tight-lipped about everything.” He paused for a moment. “Maybe one of the big drug cartels?”
“Hale hinted that it was the Sinaloa cartel, but that didn’t seem quite right for some reason.” Hez snapped his fingers. “The file we got from the jail—where is it?”
Ed grabbed a neatly organized accordion folder from the top of a gun metal–gray credenza and handed it to Hez, who quickly found what he was searching for. “He’s in B block. There’s no way he’d be there if he had anything to do with Sinaloa.”
Ed stared at him in confusion.
Hez was too exhausted to explain. It was after seven o’clock, and he’d hardly slept the night before after seeing that addict watching Savannah. “It’ll make sense when we’re at the hearing. Trust me.” He yawned and handed the file back to Ed. “This goes on our exhibit list.”
Ed nodded. “I’ll make five copies and pre-mark them with exhibit stickers.”
Hez kicked himself for not having checked the jail records earlier. He’d gotten them shortly after he walked in on Savannah and Beckett at the warehouse, and he’d been too distracted to give them a close read. He needed to take Cody for a long walk to clear his head. And then he needed a good night’s sleep. “I’m going home. And you should too. You’ve been spending a lot of time on this case, and I don’t want your classwork to suffer.”
“Yes, Dad.” Ed grinned. “I’ll make the copies and then head over to the library.”
Two minutes later, Hez walked out the law school door and into the gathering night. The air wasn’t quite cool, but it no longer held the day’s heat as tightly as summer evenings did. The leaves hadn’t started to change colors yet, but that would come soon. He smelled woodsmoke—probably from one of the firepits so popular at the fraternity and sorority houses. A few students strolled in the twilight. A faint babble of conversation and laughter came from a party somewhere. A few early stars twinkled in the deep blue sky overhead.
Savannah used to love going for walks on evenings like this. So did Ella. They’d just started teaching her to count, and she’d ride on his shoulders and count the stars as they emerged, squealing with excitement every time she spotted a new one.
