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Slice frowned. “I’m a mechanic, man. I never even finished high school. Got my GED when I turned eighteen, and now I work on cars. That’s how we met. Lindsey brought her car into Zippy Lube a few months ago, and we hit it off. I knew she was out of my league, but she was cute, and she flirted with me and...” He trailed off, his eyes glittering with emotion. “At first, we just had fun together. I never expected it to go anywhere. A guy like me doesn’t get to keep a girl like her.”
“What do you mean?” Cora asked.
“Lindsey was too good for me,” he said simply. “She was going places, and I knew it wasn’t going to last. But she was always down to party, and the Booze Dogs throw the best ragers. So I started taking her with me to parties, and it became a regular thing.Webecame a regular thing. She was one of those good girls who’d been wound up a little too tight, and she just wanted to let loose. Her parents were crazy strict, and she’d always had to be perfect growing up. So I told her anytime she wanted to go wild, I was her guy. She liked that. I may not have known any of that fancy college crap, but she liked that I had no expectations, and I didn’t judge her. I just wanted to be with her, that’s all.” He glanced down at his hands. “I never expected to fall for her, but you can’t force your heart not to love someone, can you? You can’t tell yourself how to feel.” He searched their faces for a flicker of understanding.
“Aye, and that’s the hell of it,” Liam said in a soft, rough voice. His Irish accent became more pronounced. “The heart’s a bullheaded mule when it comes to taking orders.”
Cora wondered if he was thinking of his former lover Margaret again. Sometimes, in quiet moments when Cora caught him unawares, he got this achingly sad, faraway look on his face that made him appear so lonely. Cora felt as if she’d never be able to reach him, even if she tried for a hundred years.
“Anyway, that’s why Lindsey and I didn’t talk about her school life,” Slice continued. “It wasn’t a part of us. She was with me to get away from all that pressure, and I cared enough about her to give her that.”
The room fell into silence while Cora wrote down a few more notes.
Liam straightened in his chair and finally said, “It’s a lovely story, Mr. Biddlesworth. Very moving. But you still haven’t answered the question. Where were you on the night of July third between the hours of ten and midnight?”
Slice sighed. “I was hanging out with friends.”
“What friends?” Liam asked.
He gnawed the insides of his cheeks and glanced at the exit door. “Just a couple of guys from the club.”
Liam slid the notebook and pen over to him. “Names.”
Slice reluctantly picked up the pen and scribbled down names.
“Can you tell us what you were doing?” Cora asked.
“Nothing much.” He fidgeted with the pen, unable to meet her eyes. “We just went for a drive. Kind of a lot’s happened since then, so I don’t really remember all the details.”
“Well, now, that’s a crying shame,” Liam drawled. “Maybe a few more days in a holding cell will help jog your memory.”
“That won’t be necessary,” a deep voice said from the doorway.
Cora’s gaze flew to the broad-shouldered man standing at the threshold like a crusader in an Armani suit, and her mouth opened in surprise.
8
Finn Walsh swept into the room with the easy grace and confidence of a man in his element. He looked the same as he usually did, from his neatly styled hair to the crisp lines of his collared shirt and silk tie, but his cool, professional mask eclipsed any warmth Cora was used to seeing on his handsome face. He gave a perfunctory nod to her and Liam, then introduced himself as Slice’s attorney.
Slice looked confused. “But I don’t have a lawyer.”
“You do now.” Finn took a chair from the corner of the room and slid it to the table, seating himself beside Slice.
“I can’t really afford—”
“Don’t worry about that,” Finn assured him, setting his briefcase on the table. “It’s all taken care of.”
“So, what? You’re my court-appointed guy? Like on TV?” He took in Finn’s bespoke pinstripe suit, his Italian leather briefcase and the Rolex Submariner on his wrist. “Dang. Business must be hopping.”
Finn gave Slice a warm smile, and for a moment Cora saw a glimmer of the easygoing man she knew. “No, Mr. Biddlesworth. I’m an attorney with Johnston & Knight, but sometimes I do pro-bono work. Today’s your lucky day.”
Slice perked up a little. “Jackpot, me. How did you know I was here?”
“We have a mutual acquaintance, but that’s not important right now. Let’s focus on getting you out of here, shall we?” Finn turned to address Cora and Liam, his professional mask back in place.
Cora blinked at the sudden change. It was weird to see Finn in “power attorney” mode. This was the man who sometimes met her for drinks with her friends after work. The man who’d just taken her to the annual charity ball a few weeks ago and made her laugh. They’d danced. They’d shared stories. But now, for the first time since she’d known him, Finn Walsh was kind of...ignoringher. Cora felt an odd prickle of something. Whatever it was, she didn’t care to examine it. Finn was a great attorney with a rock-solid reputation, and he took his work very seriously. Cora admired him for it. That was the important thing here.
“For the record, I’m submitting evidence in the form of video footage proving my client was not with Lindsey Albright at the time of her murder.”
