AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Hez turned and saw a pretty redhead walking toward him. “Cody is mine or I’m his, depending on how you look at it.” He nodded toward the dogs. “Yours is beautiful—is she a greyhound?”
“Saluki. And Cody is . . . ?”
“Mostly dog, I think.”
She let out a sunny laugh. “He’s adorable. I’m Dani, by the way.”
“I’m Hez. Nice to meet—” He was interrupted by his phone ringing. Fortunately, Cody was playing with the saluki and didn’t notice. He hated the way cell phones suddenly and randomly came to life, which he felt was deeply inappropriate behavior for an inanimate object.
Hez was about to send the call to voice mail, but he stopped when he saw who was calling. A hard knot formed in his gut. “I’m sorry. I need to take this.” He turned and walked to an empty grassy area as he answered the call. “Savannah?”
“I-I’m sorry to bother you, Hez.” Her voice trembled. “I didn’t know who else to call.”
The knot in his gut wound even tighter. What could be so bad that she felt she needed to call him two days after serving him divorce papers? “What is it?”
“There’s been a murder. I think the police suspect me.”
“What? Why? Who was killed?”
She told him about Abernathy’s death and Richards’s interrogation and request to come to the station. “Do you think I’m a suspect?”
“There’s no doubt they’ll be looking hard at you, Savannah. The police play good cop for a reason—they can get a suspect to relax and share things they shouldn’t. You just told her you didn’t like Abernathy and that you might have a motive because of the missing artifacts. You have a vested interest in the school and the artifacts because of your family connection.” He paused as a new thought hit him. “Hold on, where are you now?”
“On my way to the police station.”
“Are you under arrest?”
“I—I don’t think so.”
“You’d know if you were. Okay, the first thing you need to do is turn around. Don’t go to the station and don’t talk to the police anymore.”
“But won’t that make them think I’m guilty?”
“Tell them your lawyer told you to do it.”
“You’ll be my lawyer?” The hopeful note in her voice made him wince. He’d said that reflexively without thinking it through.
“I . . . Well, I guess I can represent you for right now,” he said lamely. “That will make our conversation privileged, so the police can’t ask you about it. Beyond that, I’ll need to think about it.”
“Oh, okay.” She was silent for a heartbeat. “I think there’s more going on than just Abernathy’s murder. A lot more. I . . . I need your help.”
The vulnerability in her voice struck a chord in his heart—and sent up a big red flag. The midday heat beat down on him, and a bead of sweat trickled down his neck into the collar of his oxford shirt. “Sure, give me a call tonight.”
“Could we discuss it in person? I’m sorry, I know I’m asking a lot.”
Three days ago, she couldn’t get away from him fast enough. What was going on? Conflicting emotions roiled in his chest. The ink was barely dry on her divorce complaint, and his Spidey-sense warned him to stay outside the blast radius of whatever this was—but he couldn’t bring himself to say no to her. And then he realized he had to.
“Actually, I can’t represent you. I have a conflict of interest because we’re, um, adverse parties in another matter.”
“I trust you, Hez. I don’t know what to do or who else to ask. And honestly, I’m sorry I even filed without talking to you first. I feel bad.”
Hez stood rooted to the ground, her words echoing in his mind. “I’m sorry I even filed.” Part of him had been aching to hear those words, but another part warned him not to get his hopes up. She needed him now and the divorce was getting in the way, so now she was “sorry.”
What would happen when she didn’t need him anymore? She hadn’t said that she felt bad for filing divorce papers, only that she hadn’t talked to him first. So when he was done helping her, would she refile but talk to him first? That seemed to be what she was implying.
A burst of motion caught his eye. He turned in time to see one of Birmingham’s resident peregrine falcons catch an unsuspecting pigeon, killing it instantly in a burst of feathers. Would Savannah be like that pigeon, caught by brutal forces she didn’t really understand? He knew the world of criminal justice and deadly conspiracies, but she didn’t. She’d somehow wandered into that world, and she could easily wind up in prison or even dead. Could he let that happen to her?
“Hez, are you there?”
