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It slowly dawns on me that Jed does believe me. He must, after all. Why would he be here?
“Do you really think that Jason framed me?” I ask in a low voice. “Do you really think I’m innocent?”
Jed chuckles. “You know I only signed on at first because of your money,” he replies. “After all, that’s what lawyers do. But do you really think I would have stuck around this long if I didn’t believe that you’re innocent? It’s been years, Dane. I could have deserted you and let this turn into a cold case. So why do you think I’m here, if not for the truth?”
I don’t reply. His words have given me a lot to think about.
“I know it’s been a long time since you’ve been out in the world,” Jed says. This time, his voice is gentler. “But Dane, it’s time you took your life back. We’ve been searching for this for years and I wasn’t ever sure that we’d find anything. This is huge, though.”
“And you really think a judge would overturn my conviction? How can you be so sure?”
Jed shrugs and gives me his trademark shit-eating lawyer grin. “I’m not sure at all,” he replies. “But we won’t know until we try, and why not? You’re wasting away out here.”
A dangerous ray of hope fills my chest and for a moment, I can’t breathe. I wonder what it would be like to go back into the world. I could do anything. Like Jed says, I could build a big house and resume my normal life. Vindicate my name and hold my head up high among the crowd.
But the bubble of hope bursts before I can even start to taste it. There’s no way I can return to the world. Not now. When I was first released from prison, I tried it. I thought that I’d be able to get right back out there and resume being Dane Lowe, billionaire playboy extraordinaire. But nothing works out like you plan.
“Dane? What do you think?” Jed asks cautiously. “Do you think it’s something you want me to pursue? Because if so, I can file the appeal paperwork on Monday and get this whole thing started. It shouldn’t take longer than a month or two at the most.”
I swallow bitterly. “You know, the first day I was released from prison, I had a cab take me to the Four Seasons. I booked the penthouse for myself, and ordered room service.”
“That sounds like it was a fun night,” Jed replies. “Did you order a call girl?”
Ignoring him, I turn so that I’m staring into the fire. “No. I ordered everything on the hotel menu, though. Steak tartare, a cheese platter the size of the bed, even a couple bottles of champagne. I was going to get blackout drunk and celebrate in style.”
Jed is silent and I shift in my chair, crossing my legs at the knee.
“And I had a great time,” I continue on. “I drank all the liquor until I felt like my head was bursting with the alcohol. I gorged myself on steak until I was sick.”
“And then what?” Jed frowns.
I swallow hard. “In the morning, as you can well imagine, I had the hangover of a lifetime. I got up and walked outside with my sunglasses on and my head thumping. Hell, I think I was probably still drunk. But I felt great. I was going to walk to a real estate broker and have someone pick out a fully furnished penthouse for me. It didn’t matter that I no longer had assets. I was going to get everything on credit, and get my life back together.”
“And you settled for this?” Jed jokes as he gestures around my log cabin. “I can’t say I see the appeal, man, but you do you.”
“No,” I say firmly. “That’s not what happened. I was standing outside the real estate office when I saw someone point their finger right at me and scream, ‘That’s Dane Lowe! He was in prison!’”
“Jesus, man,” Jed says. He shakes his head. “What the fuck are the odds of that even happening?”
“I don’t know, but they did,” I growl. “And that ruined it for me. I knew that I’d never be able to go anywhere in town again without someone recognizing me. They might not point at me and laugh or stare, but they’d know. Every time, someone would point and laugh with disgust, thinking that I’d betrayed my best friend and embezzled money from our company.”
“Except that’s not what happened,” Jed replies. “You’re innocent, Dane. I know that you are.”
“Yeah. You and who else?”
Jed is silent. He gets to his feet and shakes his head before collecting his sheaf of paperwork from my lap. “Look,” he says. “I know it’s rough. And you’ve done a really good job of dealing with this. But things will be different now – no one is going to look at you and think you’re a criminal.”
