Page 40 of Phoenix

“Glad you think so.” He grinned at Jule. “This looks really good. Let’s eat and then I can spend the rest of the night demonstrating that I feel the same way about you.”

Chapter 12 – Age 28

Jule walked out of the courtroom to find Detective Marcie Wyble waiting for him. “Well done,” she said.

His client froze beside him and looked warily at the police officer.

“Don’t worry. I’m not here for you,” she said.

Rolling his eyes at her, Jule turned toward his client. “I’m going to hang back and talk with Detective Wyble. You have a ride?”

He nodded. “Thanks again, Julian. I owe you.”

“You can pay me back by staying out of my office.” He reached for his client’s hand and shook it.

“I’ll do my best.” He winked and then hurried away.

“Need something, Marcie?”

“Don’t know how you got that guy off.”

“Your colleagues need to be more careful about contaminating crime scenes.”

“You’re an asshole,” she said, but there wasn’t heat behind it. The two of them got along remarkably well considering they were almost always on opposite sides.

“I hear that daily.” Jule pulled his phone out of his pocket. He had been in court all afternoon and he could only imagine the number of emails that had piled up during that time. “I know you’re not here to congratulate me. What’s up?”

“We got permission to walk the DeLeroy scene, but we need to go now.”

He jerked his gaze away from his phone. “Why now? I’ve had a long fucking day.”

“Because the shithead who owns the building says he doesn’t want us there during business hours disrupting his income stream.”

“If Franks didn’t want problems in his workplace, he shouldn’t have let his son have free use of the warehouse knowing he’s a piece of shit,” Jule said.

Marcie shrugged and they both walked toward the exit.

“Why are you here? Isn’t Ariel the lead on this case?”

“Not anymore. Commander Jeffries asked me to step in.”

“Why?” Jule frowned. He didn’t like Detective Ariel. The guy was a smarmy, arrogant dick, but it was unusual to take someone off an investigation that was so far along.

“Not sure, but it’s fine. I don’t mind,” Marcie said.

“Did you call Tommy?”

Tommy Breuger was his client and the star witness in a case against four of his friends who drugged and raped an eighteen-year-old during a party. Jule didn’t think he was better than the rest of the assholes because he had also participated, but he was the only one willing to turn state’s evidence in exchange for immunity. It was a case of the lesser of two evils.

“He’s your client.” Marcie smirked. “Isn’t that your job?”

He looked down at his phone again and scrolled through it to find Tommy’s number. “Battery’s almost dead.”

“Yours or your phone’s?” she joked.

“Both.” He pressed the call button and held the phone to his ear. “Do you have a charger?”

She shook her head.