Breaking Steele (Sarah Steele Legal Thriller)

Chapter 6

I SIPPED ON A glass of ice water as the courtroom started to clear out. I listened to the murmurs and whispers of the audience as they filed out to go print or publish the events of the day. They spoke of the defendant in strident terms. “Monster … heartless creep.” It was all good as far as I was concerned. But they also had their doubts, and more than a shadow of them. “With no DNA and an unclear witness statement, it’ll come down to the fingerprints, the cops finding him at the scene of the crime, and the defendant’s testimony.”

Dan stood and stuffed papers into his leather briefcase. His tall frame looked good in a suit, but he was currently wearing a large frown that ruined his features. “That was a debacle,” he said, glaring at me. “I thought you said we had a strong witness.”

Taking another sip of water, I hesitated. “You know as well as I do that you never know how good a witness is until after they’ve testified.” I tried to keep my voice calm, but underneath I was a jumble of fear and anger.

“We still have a strong case,” I said, hoping he’d keep it in my hands. “We have the police testimony of finding him on the scene with the murder weapon—it doesn’t get much more clear than that.”

Dan pursed his lips. “It was a lot clearer eight hours ago.”

Joshua, the intern, was caught in the fireworks between Dan and me. He looked like he wanted to disappear, which would be impossible considering his 300-lb. Samoan build. He had a shaved head, trendy black-framed glasses, and was fresh out of law school. He was born and raised in Hawaii, and despite what people say about the laid-back nature of the Samoans, he was as driven as they come. He’d logged in just as much time on this case as I had, worked tirelessly, and he had a vision and understanding about things that I respected. He watched the people file out of the room, but he was listening intently as I argued for our case.

I looked down at my case notes. They represented months of research and testimonies and long hours at the office. I not only knew everything I could about the murder, but I had also learned everything I could about Hank Williams and Tracy Mulligan.

“No one can handle this better than me,” I said quietly, with conviction.

Dan took in my statement. I stared back at him. After a moment, I saw acceptance wash across his face.

“What are you going to do about this?” he asked.

That was the thing I liked about Dan—he was direct. And I knew exactly what I was going to do.

“I’m going to go to the scene of the crime to wrap my head around what happened that night.” I took a breath. “And then I’m going to get an appointment with Williams’ daughter, Hannah, and see if I can’t get her to testify. I’m sure she knows more than what she’s let on. I couldn’t get an appointment with her before, and I didn’t pursue it since we had enough on Williams.”

Dan frowned. “Things have changed.”

“I know,” I said. “We need more on him.”

He nodded. His forehead was wrinkled—he looked stressed. “All right, then. Get on it.” He picked up his briefcase and turned to leave. “Meet you back at the office.” Joshua followed him.

I stayed seated. It had been a long day—I needed a moment.

Dan turned. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. His dark eyes glanced me over. “I’ll order dinner for us to share. My treat. And then you can sleep over at my place.”

That’s what I disliked about Dan—he was too direct. His “place” was an apartment above our office building. He was married, but it was known that he slept around. He had me on his list of subjects to bed. I pretended not to have any idea what a creep he was and blew him off.

“Can’t. Besides, your wife might like to have a nice family dinner with you every now and again.”

He winced and walked toward the door. I’d probably suffer one way or another for that slight to his ego—or he’d take it as a challenge. Either way, he wasn’t getting what he was after. I’d rather kiss a few more frogs than give in to him.

Looking over the empty courtroom, I noticed a marble statue of Lady Justice poised over the witness stand like an angel of hope. Her blindfold promised equality, but so many times it was nothing but a chance for those in front of her to try pulling tricks and playing games.

Come on, Miss Sentimental, time to get to work. As I hit the main lobby, I was bombarded by the media and their thousand questions. I pushed through them and got into a black Ford. It was a company car and most of the time we didn’t get them, but for this case I requested it because of the media pressure.

“Ninth and Idaho, please.”

The tanned, unshaven driver looked me over in the rearview mirror and nodded. He took a bite from a large red apple and then pulled onto the road. He said nothing more as we drove through traffic. I didn’t remember seeing this driver before, but they frequently changed.

I called Joshua and asked him to make an appointment with Hannah Williams, preferably by tomorrow morning, and told him he couldn’t take no for an answer.

I looked up and suddenly noticed The Pour House, a pub that was nowhere near the office. Where was the driver going? Alarm bells went off in my head. The driver wasn’t looking my way. I quietly grabbed my purse and retrieved my phone. With bated breath, I dialed 9-1-1 and looked up as I pressed the send button.

I stared down the barrel of a gun. “Give me your phone, Miss Steele.” The car jerked to a stop on the side of the road. I handed him the phone, and my heart sank when he disconnected the call.

“Time to sleep, Miss Steele.”

He fired. A dart plunged into my chest. A cold rush flowed through my body. I screamed, but only a whimper came out. The world started to spin. Reaching for the door handle, I yanked, but there was no strength behind my grip. I was blacking out and I knew it. My head slumped forward and I felt the back of the front seat smash into my jaw.

Then nothing.