Page 28 of Lorenzo

“Since Julian is the one who referred you, I assume he's been released.”

“Yes.”

Her gaze does not leave mine. “Has he been charged?”

“No.”

She leans back slightly in her chair and folds one leg over the other.

“What do the police have?”

“Hotel footage showing my son with the victim. More footage that shows him leaving after the estimated time of death.”

She studies me for a moment. “Well, Mr. Conti, if your son left the hotel after the woman was murdered, chances are pretty good that he's the one who did it.”

She's testing me. I know she is.

I don't rise to the bait.

“The footage has been doctored. The timestamps were faked.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“He is my son,” I say. The urge not to rise to the bait is getting harder.

“That evidence is inadmissible in court,” she says calmly. “What was the estimated time of death? What time does the footage show him leaving?”

“The estimated time of death is between 12:30 and 1:00. The hotel footage shows him leaving at 1:30,” I say. “He left shortly after midnight.”

Her fingers tap once against Mocha’s neck.

“So the altered timestamp puts him there exactly when the police need him to be.”

“Yes.”

“And you have something that supports his version?”

“Security footage from the house showing he was home before 1:00, plus his personal security’s statement. And the word of his brother.”

“That’s an alibi by his brother, security paid by your family, and footage controlled by your family.”

“Yes.” I hold her gaze. “That does not make it false.”

“No,” she says. “It makes it easy to attack.”

I look at the open boxes stacked around the office, the temporary sign taped to the window, the single lamp near the desk. Julian sent me to a private investigator who has not officially opened her doors, and within five minutes she has reached the same conclusion he did.

That is either reassuring or irritating.

Both, I decide.

Donna glances down at the business card I placed on her desk.

“So you think he's being set up?”

Another conclusion she's come to without my having to spell it out.

Julian was right to send me to her.