“I’ll bring them to your house.”
“You don’t-”
Donnell nodded. “Stanton ordered me to tell him if you came by.”
“Shit.” Julia ran a hand through her hair. “Fine, I’m here to get my address book. Tell him
“I will. Oh, and Frisco came by. He didn’t say why.”
Julia went into her office and looked in her top desk drawer. There was a file folder with Frisco’s small, perfect print.
Dillon learned from Bowen’s secretary that the doctor was having lunch at the La Jolla Country Club, but before he could head out there, his ex-brother-in-law Andrew Stanton called him.
“I need you in my office now.”
Dillon almost refused. “I’m heading out to an appointment. How about we meet-?”
“Dillon, you’ve crossed the line. You brought Connor into Emily Montgomery’s room knowing full well she’s a suspect in a murder investigation who is only being stopped from a police interview because of her physician’s order. You. And I can-and will-get a court order inside of an hour to have Emily Montgomery moved to the criminal psychiatric unit and put under another doctor’s care if you don’t explain yourself to me in person right now.”
Dillon’s hand hurt from clutching the phone so tight. “Don’t threaten me, Andrew. And don’t threaten my patient.”
“You’re playing a dangerous game.”
“It’s no game.”
Dillon felt the tension through the phone.
“Ten minutes,” Andrew finally said.
“In the rose garden.” Dillon wasn’t going to give Andrew the power to sit behind his desk. It was psychological, and Dillon wouldn’t be deterred by Andrew’s power play. Also, Andrew would be less forthcoming in his own office.
Dillon was already near the courthouse, so he parked on the street, fed the meter a couple quarters, and walked to the small rose garden outside the justice building.
Andrew approached at the same time, dressed impeccably, with the aura of importance befitting a man of his position. Dillon saw the pain behind his eyes. Maybe he was the only one who saw it, and maybe that’s why he was the only one in the Kincaid family who still had a relationship with his former brother-in-law. It wasn’t that Dillon’s parents and siblings doubted Andrew’s pain at the loss of his son, it was what had come out about Andrew’s life after Justin’s murder that had turned the family against him.
Dillon harbored a lot of pain from his nephew Justin’s murder-Andrew and Nell’s only son. It changed him in ways he was still discovering now, eleven years later. But unlike Connor, he couldn’t put all the blame on Andrew Stanton, however much he’d like to. The truth was no one was to blame. It was a brutal crime committed by a child predator who had most likely moved on to another city and state to minimize his chances of being caught.
Dillon regularly checked the FBI database for like crimes. He still hoped that, someday, justice would be served.
“I’m ready to deal,” Andrew said.
And Dillon knew then the case wasn’t solid.
“Deal what?”
“Plead her out.”
“I’m not her attorney.”
“You can get the message to Iris Jones.”
“Andrew, do you honestly think Emily is guilty?”
“Yes.”
“She couldn’t have acted alone.”
“She turns in her friends and we’ll be lenient.”
“She says she didn’t have anything to do with Victor’s murder.”
Andrew sighed. “I have evidence that she planned it. Premeditated murder. I will try her as an adult.”
“I know what you have and we can take it apart.”
Andrew’s jaw clenched. “Dillon, you don’t know what’s going on in my building.”
“I have an idea. Judge murdered. You want to nail someone outside the justice system. You don’t want your judges feeling the pressure of their actions, that a criminal, someone they put away, can get to them. What happened with Santos?”
“Detective Hooper is on his way to interview him. But it wasn’t him.”
“And you know this how?”
“Santos wouldn’t have left that girl alive upstairs.”
“If he knew she was in the house.”
Andrew opened and closed his mouth, proving to Dillon there was additional evidence that either discredited the Herman Santos theory, or pointed to Emily.
But a plea? That told Dillon that the police didn’t have a solid case against Emily, grandstanding notwithstanding. It had been less than forty-eight hours. Andrew was getting restless because it was a high-profile case. Pressure came from everywhere.
Dillon wondered whether Santos had in fact pulled off the judge’s murder. On the one hand, the brazenness of the murder suggested payback, and Santos was both brash and arrogant. He could pull it off. But on the other hand, two members of Wishlist had their tormentor killed. Dillon didn’t buy into that coincidence.
“I still have Emily for thirty hours. You’re not getting to her.”
“Dammit, Dillon, we’re on the same side!”
Dillon hadn’t yet trusted Andrew with the information that Victor had sexually abused Emily. The court would have the information soon enough, if the case got that far.
“Emily is innocent. I’m not giving her to you one minute before I have to.” Dillon stared at Andrew. “I’ll commit her myself if I have to, while the police work the case. There’s much, much more to this than a simple domestic violence.”
“Shit, Dillon.” Andrew stuffed his hands into his pockets and paced. “We have blood evidence that she was at the crime scene. Her fingerprints were on his desk. The weapon-pruning shears-was found on the grounds. I can make a case against her. I want her accomplices.”
“What if she’s telling the truth?”
“How would I know? You’ve kept her under medical wraps, we haven’t even been able to talk to her! You’re making this harder on everyone involved, particularly Julia.”
“Why did you put Julia Chandler on administrative leave?”
Andrew stopped walking. “She’s going through a difficult time. She’s getting paid. I just don’t-”
“It’s not because she hired an attorney for Emily. It’s because of Connor.”
At the mention of his name, Andrew reddened. “Connor is a loose cannon. You can’t trust him, even if he is your brother.”
Dillon took a step toward his former brother-in-law. They were the same height, so it was easy to get in his face.
He said in a low voice, “You hate Connor because he exposed your affair after Justin was killed. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“That has nothing to do with it.” But the punch was out of Andrew’s words.
Dillon nodded. “You were in bed with your mistress when your son was murdered, and you’ll live with that truth for the rest of your life. Now Julia is paying for your guilt because you feel better blaming Connor than looking into your own heart.”
Andrew’s mouth opened and closed.
Dillon softened his tone. He didn’t hate Andrew, and he didn’t want to hurt him. “Don’t be so blinded by the past that you jeopardize this investigation. I won’t let Emily be a pawn in your game.”
“In thirty hours, she’s ours.”
“Don’t push me, Andrew.”
