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“I’ll tell you everything after we make sure Ed doesn’t make a deal.”
“That’s a yes. Or no. No and no. You are not doing this.”
“We can argue the merit of my actions over lunch after we leave. Right now, you just did your part to check the mistake Ed was about to make. Now it’s time for me to do mine.” I release her and when I would step around her, she catches my arm.
“Wait. Did you hear my conversation with Ed?” She gapes. “Did you wire the DA’s office?”
“Savage did yesterday. He had a bad feeling about Ed.”
“Oh. God. So do I. And?”
“And not much yet, but his sudden need to make a deal doesn’t feel right.”
“No, it doesn’t. I tried to stop him.”
“I know and that was pretty freaking badass, sweetheart. I’m just going to help you finish the job.” I motion to the door. “Let’s make that happen.”
“How?”
“Trust me,” I say.
She considers me a moment and then nods, and I can almost feel her concerns about Ed solidify with action. She turns, opens Ed’s door, and enters.
“I hope this means you came to your senses,” Ed spouts off to her, but I’m on her heels, right there behind her, shutting Ed’s door.
His gaze rockets to me and he pops to his feet. “Who the fuck are you?”
“Adrian Mack, your star witness again Waters.”
Ed’s a good-looking guy who drips arrogance, and at some point, he had a backbone. But then Waters can scare the piss out of a rock. He glances between us, intelligent eyes reading the room before he narrows his stare on Pri. “You knew he was here and you didn’t tell me?”
Pri doesn’t even think about denial. She, as I expect of her, is right to the point. “He didn’t trust you,” she says. “Now, I’m not so sure that wasn’t without reason.”
By the time he turns his attention back to me, I’m in front of his desk. I lean over it, hands on the wooden surface, crowding him. He could back away, but he doesn’t. He plays the tough, stubborn guy role and well. “What is this?” he demands.
“If you make a deal with Waters, he’ll hunt me and anyone I love. And then I’ll hunt you down and you’ll be easier to find.”
“Is that a threat?” he demands.
My lips quirk. “It’s just me stating a fact.”
Now, he leans back just a bit, obviously fighting the urge to put space between me and him. “Twenty years is not an easy deal.”
“He won’t take that,” I say, straightening. “Obviously Savage wasn’t clear on the cost to you, so I will be. Waters will kill you before he signs the deal and uses everyone he offered up to you as a suspect that offers him cover. After all, he’s in jail.”
“You don’t know that,” he argues. “You’re jaded from your time with him.”
“You’re right. I am. But I know him. I know him well. Exactly why I’m your star witness. Are you willing to risk your life on me being wrong?”
His lip thin. “What do you want?”
“For him to go to trial.”
“Bodies are dropping,” he argues, his voice spiking. “I’m trying to stop the bloodshed.”
“Including your own?” Pri challenges. “Because if you think this deal saves you, Adrian already told you it doesn’t.”
“And we can solve that problem anyway. We’re going to catch the assassin. I’m going to go with Pri to see Waters. I’m going to tell him there will be no deal.” I glance at Pri. “I’d leave you out of this, Pri, but you’re already on Waters’ radar and I don’t trust Ed to face Waters and not wet himself.”
“That’s uncalled for,” Ed growls.
“I’m not here to bolster your ego,” I say. “I’m here to save your life, and most likely your career. You’re going to back-up our claim of no deal.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I disappear again. And you don’t want that to happen.”
“I’m not feeling convinced of that,” Ed snaps.
“Well then, let me change your mind. Without me, coming at you is his best chance of walking free. With me in the picture, it’s not enough to end the trial and you. Another DA might or might not take the case. I will always step up to testify or to kill him, whichever comes first. If I’m here, he has to focus on me, not you. Convinced you need me yet?”
His jaw tics. “What keeps him from going after both of us?”
“He could,” I say, “and will, but he’ll focus on me first. Savage will remain your keeper until this is over.” I lean back on the desk. “Let me be crystal clear. If I find out you made a dirty deal with Waters, I’ll come for you. And I will make you pay.”
“Are you threatening my life?”
“No,” I say. “I think you being in jail and enjoying the benefit of so many new, close friends, would be a better punishment.” I turn and motion Pri to the door, opening it for her before I turn back to Ed and say, “Waters told me a joke once, the only joke he ever told. How are an apple and a lawyer alike?”
