Jez spoke again, ticking off the points on her fingers.“Firstly, Justin had a sixteen-minute window for the murder itself.Amie Carlson’s body was left forty-five minutes away.A ninety-minute round trip.Placing it there would have meant hiding it at his home for almost two days, because Friday morning was the one time he was alone.And the only ‘evidence’ the police have in that respect is a missing plant.”
“A missing plant?”
Serafina didn’t know about the plant?Because she was a terrible liar, and it was clear she had no idea what Jez meant.
“Early on the Friday after Amie disappeared, Justin visited Ruby’s grave and left a plant.An orchid.According to the police, the orchid is no longer there; therefore, they’ve concluded that he must have driven in the opposite direction to dump a body instead.It’s thin, don’t you agree?”
“Okay, fine, I’ll give you the plant thing.But perhaps he had help moving the body?That’s not as far-fetched as suggesting Levi orchestrated a murder from prison.”
She’d give them the plant thing?No argument?Ari picked up on that too.
“Why will you ‘give us the plant thing’?”she asked.
Serafina went full deer-in-headlights and looked to Holtz for help, but the older woman only shrugged.
“Our goal is to ensure justice,” Holtz said.
They waited in silence.Let the lawyers experience a little discomfort.
“There was an orchid on Ruby’s grave on that Friday morning,” Serafina said finally.“A pink one.”
It took a lot to surprise Jez these days, but she felt her eyes widen involuntarily behind her shades.Serafina had seen the orchid at the cemetery?And she was just admitting to it?As Echo would say, what a dumbass.
“How do you know?”Ari asked.
“Levi asked me to leave flowers for her birthday.The orchid was already there, but I have no way of knowing whether Justin was responsible.Whoever left it didn’t include a card, and when I mentioned it to Levi, he guessed it came from Greyson’s PA.”
Everyone looked to Grey, and he held up both hands.“I asked Ava to make an appropriate tribute.”
“Grey…” Jez said.“What was your ‘tribute’?Be specific.”
He tapped away on his phone.“Give Ava a minute.”
Jez rolled her eyes because delegating compassion was just so fucking typical of him.
“What time was this?”Ari asked Serafina.
“Before work.Maybe eight thirty?”
“So,” Jez said.“You visited the cemetery after Justin, which means you had the perfect opportunity to remove the orchid.”
“Why on earth would I do that?”
“To break his alibi.To help Levi.”
Serafina bristled and copied Jez’s finger-ticking move from earlier.“Firstly, I didn’t know Justin brought the plant.Secondly, I had no idea Amie Carlson was missing at that point.And thirdly, are you out of your freaking mind?I’m a lawyer.I swore an oath to uphold the law, not to break it for a client.”
“You’re not a lawyer in Virginia.”Jez settled back in her seat.Serafina was getting so delightfully riled.“And tell me, do all your clients call you from prison each day?Do you visit other convicted murderers on the weekends?”
“You’ve…you’ve been spying on me?”
Duh, of course.
“What, you expected us to turn a blind eye to your games with Levi?You’ve been spending time with him at the prison.There are four members of the Diamondback Devils incarcerated in Redding’s Hill, and two more downstairs in your parking lot.”They were trying to keep a low profile today, but Jez had spotted them lurking behind the trash cans.“Did he give the brief for Amie, or did you?Because you fucked up.A pentagram has five points, not six.”
Jez anticipated venom from Serafina, but it was Holtz who jumped to her feet as Serafina gripped the arms of her chair.
“How dare you come in here and accuse my staff of a crime?”
