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“Mr. Kensington, did you murder Laura Conwell?”
“Were you lovers?”
Cole stumbled, appalled at the question.
“Was she blackmailing you?”
“Cole, don’t.” His lawyer’s words were firm and probably wise, but Cole couldn’t ignore it.
He held up his hand to silence the torrent of questions.
“I’ll be giving a longer formal statement later. For now, I’ll say this.” He looked squarely into one of the cameras trained on him. “I had nothing to do with the death of Laura Conwell. I’m hurting at the loss of my dear friend, and my heart breaks for her husband and children, all of whom I know personally. Please know that any implication that Laura was involved with something unsavory is unequivocally false. I will fight in court to maintain my innocence, and I will do everything in my power to make sure the real killer is brought to justice.”
With that, he ignored the additional questions yelled at him and strode toward Jared, who was waiting for him at the car. Bankston climbed in after him.
The door closed and Bankston chuckled. “I forget what it’s like to have clients who know what to say and how to say it. You nailed that.”
Cole waved a hand. “It was the truth. I couldn’t let them say those things about Laura. She was innocent in all this.”
As much as Cole wanted to go directly to BTS Headquarters to see Joey, he knew he had some things to take care of first. After dropping Bankston off at his office, he called her instead.
“Hey, beautiful.” He couldn’t fight the grin on his face and the light tone of his words.
“Oh, I’m so glad to hear your voice!” she said by way of greeting.
“I guess you heard the news?”
“I was listening,” she said.
“What?” he laughed. “How?”
“Well, Iran intoMr. Bankston this morning at the courthouse and left a little something to give me ears inside the courtroom. He’s very good at his job, I’d say.”
Cole smiled and settled into the seat. “And you are very good at yours, Miss Rodriguez.” That was the understatement of the century. She was scary talented. At least she used her powers for good.
“I miss you. Are you coming here?” Her words filled him with longing to hold her again, mixed with a bit of satisfaction that she was so eager to do the same.
He sighed. “I will. I want to, but I really need to show my face at the office and run some damage control.”
She didn’t answer for a moment. Cole wished he had a listening device that let him listen to her thoughts as easily as she listened to court this morning.
“Joey?”
“I’m here. Yeah, I totally understand.” She sounded distracted and a bit sad. “I’ll be here when you get here.”
“Any nibbles on our trap?”
“Nothing yet,” she said.
“Okay. Keep me posted.”
He hung up, slightly dissatisfied about the way the call ended. Everything in him ached to go see Joey and celebrate his freedom—however temporary it might be. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he wanted to put something ahead of his company. He still had to go to Zia right now, but it was kind of a big deal that he actually wished he could do something else.
He’d put his company ahead of relationships before. But he’d never felt regret or disappointment because of having to make that choice.
It was just another indication that something was different about Joey and his feelings for her.
He had a sneaking suspicion that even if he lost everything and ended up in prison, he’d still be okay if Joey would stay by his side. Which was crazy, because what woman would stand beside a convicted murderer, even if she knew he was innocent?
