Page 75 of Dead Man's Alibi

Or was it more than that?Had Jake Hayes really orchestrated this whole thing?Even knowing Cal and Sam were leaning in that direction, Nate couldn’t fully accept it.

He heard the door to the other room open, then Cal appeared.Cal lowered himself onto the chair in the room opposite Nate.Nate studied his brother through the divider that separated them and knew there was nothing positive to be gleaned from this meeting.

“So, what’s the news?”Nate asked before Cal could speak.“Not good, I take it.”If he started with that, maybe Cal wouldn’t beat around the bush.

“You got bad news just from me sitting down?”

“You look tired.”

Cal rubbed a hand over his chin.“Yeah, well.”He let out a long,tiredbreath.“Discovery has been pushed back until next week, so I’m still working in the dark.That being said, we did… find out a piece of evidence they’re using against you.According to Hayes, one of the Bennet pocketknives was found at the scene of the murder.”

Nate sat up straight, despite the pain that shot down his leg.“I have mine.It’s at the house.I—”

“Yeah, Sam told… the police that.So far it hasn’t budged them any.”

Nate slumped back in his uncomfortable chair.So much for hope.

“Be that as it may, and as disappointing as it might be for the time being, it’s still a big deal.Especially since the only pocketknife we know of that isn’t with its owner is the one the police fished out of the creek last year.”

Nate frowned, trying to make sense of that.“But no one ever claimed it.Did they?”

Cal shook his head slowly.“No, no one did.So, as far as we know, the knife has been in police custody since last year.”

“Police custody.”The police… “So, you’re telling me anything you find keeps pointing at Hayes being a bigger and bigger part of this?”

“It’s certainly not exonerating him from any suspicion.”Cal said that in his careful, lawyer way, which made Nate think there was more Cal wasn’t telling him.

But he was so stuck on Jake Hayes, he couldn’t focus on that just yet.

“I never did anything to the fucking guy,” he said earnestly.“What the hell could this possibly even be about?”

“We’re still looking for a connection between Jules Hyatt and Hayes.There are still a lot of unknowns, which is annoying, but at some point, they’ll have to be known.The prosecution can’t put off discovery forever, and Hayes can’t hide who the responding officer was, nor will he be able to refuse the witness stand.And if we can find a way to prove the knife was missing from police custodybeforethey recovered it at the scene, that’s something.”

Nate didn’t say anything, but the fact Cal was talking about atrialmeant he was looking at… months in this jail cell.At best.

He tried to accept that.Life itself was a trial.Why couldn’t he stand to suffer for a few months?Sure, he’d been through e-damn-nough, but when did the universe concern itself with such things?

Besides,hedidn’t matter.What mattered was that Sam was okay.He inhaled.

Focusing on Sam was like an anchor.“Has Sam been approved for visits yet?”He knew she’d want to visit, but maybe he could convince her not to come.

But, God, he wanted to see her.Just sit here and talk for five minutes about nothing at all.Which was selfish.

“No.She was going to come rattle some cages today, but…” Cal trailed off.

Concern and worry had Nate leaning closer to the plexiglass.“But what?”

“She’s got a lead to follow.Nothing for you to worry about.”

Nate laughed bitterly.“When it comes to Sam, I’m fucking worried, Cal.”

“Yeah, well…” Cal shook his head.“Hell, you probably should be.But there’s no talking her out of anything, so you’re just going to have to deal with it.”

Which would be fine if he weren’tstuck here.“Cal.If she’s up to something stupid, you have to stop her.You can talk her out of something.You just have to find the right angle.Use those lawyer tricks.Don’t let her get herself into trouble over this.”

“She’s just investigating,” Cal said, not doing a good job of hiding how tired he still sounded.Or how frustrated he clearly was with Sam.“She’s just doing what we’re all doing.”

“Which is?”