“You had excellent help.” Drew moved a large magnetic whiteboard on a stand in front of the corner fireplace and gave Brooke Sawyer, Molly’s new landlord, a silent high five.
“I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done for us. We hadn’t even met before today.” Molly smiled at Brooke and set a cloth shopping bag on the kitchen counter.
“I was a complete stranger to the Sawyers when I moved in here, looking for a temporary place to live.” Brooke placed several markers on top of the dry-erase whiteboard. “I’m still grateful that Dan’s father offered the place and brought me here. Rick claims he’s never met a stranger, only a future friend.”
“Future friend. I really like that.” How long had it been since Molly had a friend? A friend not from her firm. Someone to share more than the last cup of coffee from the break room with.
“You’re going to really like the entire Sawyer family.” Drew sounded positive.
“I’m sure I will.” Molly set several jars of baby food in one of the kitchen cabinets.
“You should know our son, Ben, plays soccer and basketball in the backyard all the time.” Brooke opened the shutters covering the front windows, allowing the afternoon sun to illuminate the space. “And we have two dogs and two cats as permanent residents at the main house.”
“Do you have temporary pets too?” Molly asked.
“Always. I’ve gone back to work as a mediator, but I haven’t stopped rescuing animals either.” Brooke lifted her hands. “I’ll try to keep them contained, but we do venture into the backyard quite often.”
“Hazel will like that, I think.” And Molly too. She’d never had a pet growing up. Only a memorable run-in with a dog. Her parents had claimed their apartments were too small. Pets were forbidden. Pets were too much work. Molly had simply craved a companion to grow up with. To fill the solitude. Things would be different for Hazel.
“What I would like to know is what we’re doing with this dry-erase board?” Brooke grinned and rubbed her hands together. Excitement streamed across her face. “This board is like the ones they use for solving murders on those TV crime shows.”
Drew laughed. “It’s nothing like TV.”
Molly wasn’t so sure. After Brooke had called to let Molly know the babyproofing had been completed, Molly had asked her if she would mind accepting a delivery. The delivery was the oversized whiteboard from the nearest office supply store that Molly planned to use for her discovery and research on Drew’s case. She tipped her head. “I suppose it is sort of like something on TV.”
Drew frowned at Molly.
She shrugged back. “I intend to make very good use of this board.”
“I know this isn’t like TV.” Brooke held out her hands “Dan says the same thing about the paramedics on the TV shows. Although, there’s a certain energy to your work as lawyers and to Dan’s being an EMT. Can’t you feel it?”
“That’s because there’s also an incredible pressure to get it right.” Drew crossed his arms over his chest.
“That’s the adrenaline rush. It’s what drives you.” Brooke touched her stomach. “Now what’s driving me is hunger pains. I must eat before going to The Pampered Pooch and my afternoon session to mediate for an extremely uncooperative couple. I’m picking up lunch from The Boot Pizza. Want anything?”
“We’ll take a pizza with olive oil sauce, extra tomatoes and fresh basil.” Drew looked at Molly. “Still your favorite?”
Surprise shifted through Molly. Good with babies and at recalling insignificant details about her. Molly swallowed her sigh. “Yes, it is.”
“Got it. I’ll be back.” Brooke walked out, but leaned in again. “By the way, if you need a mediator’s advice or assistance on this case or any others, look no further.”
Molly uncapped a dry-erase pen and pointed it at Brooke. “You’re already on my list.”
“Now I’m even more excited.” Brooke’s eyes sparkled. “You should know, Molly, I looked you up online after we talked last night. You seriously downplayed your success and your talent. You’re one of the best criminal defense attorneys in the state and you’re living here? With us?”
The apartment door clicked shut on Brooke’s cheer. Molly clicked into attorney mode and faced Drew. “It’s time to earn my reputation. You might as well get comfortable. I have a lot of questions.”
“Let’s get going.” Drew set his briefcase on the table and unzipped it. “Where do you want to start?”
“At the beginning of the Van Solis trial.” Molly wrote the name of the defendant at the top corner of the dry-erase board. “Walk me through the details of the charges and the DA’s case against him.”
Drew nodded and closed his eyes as if preparing to step back in time to two years prior. Then he began to relay to Molly the details of the shooting at the small grocery store, the death of the owner who was a pillar in the community, the arrest of Van Solis and explained every step of his trial preparation after Cory Vinson’s involvement. The soon-to-be district attorney at the time had asked Drew to take the lead on the case.
Molly listened, wrote notes on a legal pad and on the dry-erase board.
Drew finished with a description of Van Solis’s sentencing hearing that came ten months after the trial had concluded and the man’s reaction to the life sentence without parole. “Van kept claiming his innocence in the courtroom over and over.” Drew paused and cleared his throat. His voice remained distant. “Van never cried. Not one tear. Never shouted or cursed fate. Just kept his composure and repeated in a whisper, But I’m innocent.”
Anguish cut across Drew’s face. His voice drifted off into the silence as if he could hear Van’s words all over again. Molly set her pen on the legal pad. “Drew?”
“Van was tried as an adult. And I went on to get that innocent boy-almost-man convicted.” Torment tracked through his cloudy gaze.
“You secured a conviction on a man you believed
