“We all have a dark side, Cassie.” Those eyes became fixed on hers. “Given the right circumstance, everyone’s capable of murder.”
“Not me.”
“For your sake, I hope that’s true.”
She held his stare a beat longer before reminding him, “You never answered my question.”
Not pretending to misunderstand, the former SEAL gave her another slow, assessing glance. Sitting back up, he gave her an understandable, “I don’t know you well enough yet to make that determination.”
That shouldn’t have stung like it did, but damn. For some reason, Cassie really,reallyneeded this man to believe her.
“At least you’re honest,” she answered softly. “Which is more than I can say for the media.”
“You know what they say… If it bleeds?—”
“It leads…” Her shoulders shook with a slightly humored huff. “Unfortunately I’m learning the reality of that more and more every day. I am grateful that you’re at least willing to hear me out.” She offered him a hint of a smile. “Aside from my best friend and my lawyer, you’re about the only other person who has.”
“I never run off assumptions, Cassie. Neither do any of the guys on my team.”
“That’s good, because all the evidence points to me being the killer,” she stated bluntly. “If I were the District Attorney and someone came to me with this case, I’d think I was guilty as sin, too. There’s only one problem with the nice, neat bow the D.A.’s all but tied this thing up with.” She kept her hold on his gaze steady. “It wasn’t me.”
“Then we need to get to work figuring out who did.”
Hope began to seep into her veins. “Great. Where do we start?”
“With you.” His dark gaze didn’t so much as twitch. “Cassie, I meant it when I said my team and I can keep you safe. And we will do everything in our power to find the person who slipped that poison into your wine. But you should know, we run a very thorough background check on all our potential clients.Verythorough.” That stare of his intensified. “Anything you try to keep from us, we’ll find it. And if at any point during our investigation we uncover anything that supports the D.A.’s case against you, my team and I have a moral and ethical obligation to hand it over to the authorities.”
Was any of this supposed to scare her? After three days dressed in an orange jumpsuit and peeing and showering in front of seven other women awaiting their fate, there was very little this man could say or do that would intimidate her.
“I’ve been charged with murder one, Mr. Nash.” She kept her voice low. “I’m fairly certain you won’t find a bigger skeleton in my closet than that. As for any secrets you think I may be harboring, I have none. And trust me when I say, I understand the importance of being one hundred percent honest in a situation like this.”
“For your sake, I hope that’s true.”
“It’s like I tell my clients…I can’t help them if they don’t trust me. As you pointed out, we don’t know anything about each other. But I do trust my lawyer. And despite how new Eagle’s Nest Securities is, Ellie trusts the reputation of your firm. Since I don’t have the luxury of spending a lot of time shopping around for someone to help keep me alive and out of prison, I figured you’re as good a shot as any I’ve got.”
As far as recommendations went, Cassie knew hers wasn’t the most glowing. But he wanted her to be honest, so…
“You decide what you want?” The cheery young waitress who’d brought them their drinks a few minutes before returned. With her trusty notepad and pen in her hands, she looked back at them expectantly.
“I’ll take the single smash burger with fries, please.”
“One single smash with fries…” The girl scribbled the order down before turning to Archer. “And for you, sir?”
“I’ll have the same but make mine a double.”
“Two smash burgers with fries, one single one double. Anything else I can get for you? The fried pickles here are to die for.”
Archer looked to Cassie, but she shook her head, knowing the burger would be more than enough. “I’m good, but if you want something?—”
“I think that’s all for now.” He handed the waitress his menu. “Thanks.”
“My pleasure. I’ll get your order to the kitchen now. Should only be a few minutes.”
“Thank you.” Cassie handed the girl her menu.
Fifteen minutes—and several more questions—later, she was enjoying one of the most deliciously greasy cheeseburgers she’d ever consumed.
“Ohmygod,” the words ran together as she covered her half-filled mouth.