And it was all thanks to the man currently ordering them dinner from his phone.
Three hours—andone new security system later—she and Archer were alone in her house once again. They’d eaten and talked. She’d talked more than she ate. And as promised, Cassie had gone over every minute of that fateful night.
Twice.
From her flight home from the conference to her choice to make tea instead of the glass of wine she usually drankbefore bed, to the moment she began CPR…and everything that followed after.
There was no detail left unspoken. No fact omitted, accidentally or otherwise. Cassie knew this with utter certainty because the events from that night were forever etched so deep inside her brain that they were a part of her now.
It was a night she wished she could forget but knew she never would. No matter how much she wanted to. No matter how hard she tried.
Ending the life of another human being was something that changed a person. Good or bad. Intentional or not. She didn’t see how anyone could take someone’s life without it changing the very core of who they were.
Despite wanting to more than anything else in the world, Cassie knew there’d be no going back. She couldn’t change what happened. A person’s past was carved in a permanent, unreadable stone.
All she could do now was use every resource available to her—namely Archer and his team—to do whatever she could to uncover the truth. Because the truth was out there, somewhere.
And so was a killer.
6
Two days later…
“'Wetherefore commit this body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life.”
Archer stood by Cassie’s side near Russell Montgomery’s grave as the priest began wrapping up the decedent’s committal service. He could feel several sets of eyes burning into his back…from both the uppity rich crowd who’d come to pay their last respects and the reporters and paparazzi forced to stand across the lawn on the other side of the parking lot.
Those lenses of theirs would snap a million pictures of Cassie by the time the service was brought to an end. They’d zoom in nice and tight, making it seem as if the assholes behind the cameras were standing mere feet from the subject of their smear campaigns, rather than behind the barricade put in place to protect those who’d come to mourn.
The rags the photogs sold their intrusive images to were no better. Archer seethed inside knowing they’d spin a compellingand sordid story for their readers. Ones filled with money, power, murder, and scandal.
Hell, when they’d first arrived at the church an hour earlier, reporters had pushed and shoved against one another in an effort to get Cassie to answer their shouted questions. She’d ignored them, of course. As had he when those questions turned his way…
What’s your name?
How do you know the accused
Did you know she was going to kill her husband?
Did you help her come up with the plan?
Are you sleeping with The Black Widow Lawyer?
Like Cassie, Archer had shut them all out. Staying focused on the job he was hired to do, he kept his head on a swivel and his focus on protecting his client.
As for the dickheads trying to use a family’s grief to pad their bank accounts, he couldn’t care less what they thought or wrote about him. His concern was for the incredible woman standing inches to his right.
Archer slid a hidden glance in her direction, his gaze hidden from her and those around them by the dark lenses of his blacked-out tactical sunglasses. Spine straight, shoulders back, and chin up, Cassie possessed the same confident composure she had all morning.
From the outside, she appeared strong. Uncaring of the obvious stares and not-so-hushed whispers that had been swirling around her throughout the entire service. But Archer’s chest tightened because he saw what the others couldn’t…
A woman who was hurting. Who’d lost a person she’d once loved. A man she’d once planned a life with. A future.
Russell Montgomery was a bastard who’d shit on Cassie and the vows they’d taken by lying and sleeping around. He doesn’t deserve anyone’s sympathy, let alone hers.
Archer gave their surroundings another indiscernible glance before bringing Cassie back into his peripheral. When she’d gone through everything that had happened the night the man died, she’d also taken him through the timeline of their short, three-year marriage. Assuring him any romantic feelings she’d felt toward Russell Montgomery were long,longgone, he knew today still brought sadness to her heart.
Sadness. Embarrassment. Fear. Determination.