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“Probably both.” I grimace and lean back in my chair.
“There is one thing. It could be nothing, but…”
“Speak.”
Pavel hesitates. “It’s a note from the stenographer. The one who sat in at Tolya’s trial when Clara testified.” I can hear him shuffling around on his desk. “She passed it to the judge, but nothing came of it. Which is why I’m not sure?—”
“Just tell me what the note said, man.”
Another pause. “The stenographer noticed fresh cuts and bruises on Clara’s face and arms. Fresh, as in, they weren’t there when she did the walkthrough with the lawyer the day before.”
“How would they?—”
“There were repairs being done to the machine. The stenographer happened to be there returning the machine in preparation for the trial and bumped into Clara, the prosecutor, and Greg Everett.”
I swallow. I don’t like where this is going. It confirms a suspicion I’ve long held about Clara and her father…
And it makes me want to do terrible, terrible things on her behalf.
“Any medical reports?”
“None.”
Of course there wouldn’t be. Greg Everett couldn’t risk his precious arrest record or career with suspicion cast over him and his star witness. “Forget Greg for now. What about the mother?”
A nervous laugh comes from Pavel’s end. “Oh, you’re gonna love this. Jane Everett was, as far as we can tell, unemployed and a stay-at-home wife and mother. And, as far as we can tell, she committed suicide right before Clara graduated high school.”
I frown. “Define ‘as far as you can tell.’”
“Listen, Dem… Something doesn’t smell right. At all. With anything. You know I’m a bloodhound when it comes to digging up dirt on people, but there’s a suspicious lack of definitive answers when it comes to the Everett family.”
“We were able to get the reports from Clara’s teachers, though.”
“Yeah, after alotof bribing and promises of security. And now, they won’t talk at all. Something has them spooked into silence.”
“Or someone,” I growl.
“My thoughts exactly. I’m gonna be honest—there’s a pattern here.” He sighs. “And I know you’ve been counting on Clara’s testimony to recant, this is all her fault, she owes you and Tolya her life…”
I pinch my eyes shut. I really don’t like where he’s sounding like he’s heading. “But…?”
“But the pattern is pointing arrows in a different direction.” Pavel sucks in a deep breath. “The more I look into this, the less I believe Clara is to blame for anything.”
The only reason why I don’t slam the phone down is because I can’t fault Pavel for doing exactly what I ordered him to. Do some digging, report the information, give me an analysis. That’s his job.
He can’t control how that analysis makes my fucking pulse race.
“Head back in,” I tell him. “I’m going to need you to man the fort while I’m gone.”
“Road trip?”
“Something like that.” I toss a pen into the air, wishing it would stick to the ceiling just for the satisfaction of stabbing something. “I’m thinking it’s time to pay someone a visit.”
I wait until Willow’s down for her mid-afternoon nap. With the scare I gave Clara this morning, she’s been glued to the kid’s side. It’s easier to pry her away when no one needs their nose blown or lunch made or alphabet sung.
In theory, at least.
The reality is less smooth.
