“Exactly!” Hope began to seep into Archer’s veins. That was the exact fucking point he’d been trying to get across this whole time. But then…
“It’s also easy,” Knox destroyed that hope with a single blow. “Like I said, crying ignorance isn’t a strong defense, yet I’ve heard it on the job more times than I could even begin to count. I’ve also seen criminals hold onto that lie despite hard, undisputable proof that they were guilty staring them back in the face. And since the poor, distraught widow claimed she had no idea how the poison got into the wine, she had no choice but to presume the cyanide was meant for her. Only Cassandra Montgomery isn’t a poor widow at all, is she? In fact, thanks to the ten-million-dollar life insurance policy Russell Montgomery had at the time of his death, your client is now a very, very rich woman.”
Archer stood patiently and waited, refusing to give the man any sort of reaction. None of what he’d said was newinformation. Cassie had already told him about the hefty life insurance policy.
As a matter of fact, most of his time the last couple of days had been spent sitting, listening, and taking notes while Cassie told him all about her marriage to Russ. The forthcoming woman had recounted happy times, as well as sharing every sordid detail of their nasty divorce.
She’d shown him the copy of the papers Russ had brought over the night he’d died and had even volunteered the part about the impressive payout she still could receive. But that would only happen if the charges against Cassie were dropped, or she was acquitted at trial.
Archer didn’t care about the money. He cared about saving an innocent woman from losing her freedom. Or worse, her life.
Thankfully—so far—everything Cassie had told him checked out, and the background Lucky ran on her yielded nothing nefarious or illegal. In fact, the woman’s one and only run-in with the law was when she unknowingly killed her soon-to-be-ex.
Russ’s background faired very similarly, as well. With the exception of a few parking tickets, and one careless and imprudent driving infraction that was ultimately dropped down to faulty equipment, on paper, the guy looked like a saint.
Minus the two affairs he’d had during his and Cassie’s marriage.
Which reminded him…
“What about the affairs?”
“Affairs?” Knox’s brows rose with a set of widening eyes. “You telling me your client slept around on the deceased?”
“Not Cassie, dickhead,” Archer growled through a set of clenched teeth. “Russ. The guy had at least two separate affairs before they split. From what Russ told Cassie the night he died, he’d just broken the most recent one off the day that very day.Now I don’t know about you, but a jilted lover sure sounds plausible to me.”
“There was mention about Montgomery’s extra-marital activities, but if he was cheating, the guy kept that part of his life zipped tight. Not even his business partner…Eddie Yates? Yeah, evenheclaims to have no knowledge of the affairs. And the guy was Montgomery’s best friend since college.”
“So either Russ really didn’t want Cassie finding out who he was fucking, or Yates is lying,” Archer stated bluntly. “Either way, you and your people have a duty to look into every angle of a case. No matter how much pressure the mayor is putting on the D.A. for a conviction.”
A flash of recognition lit up the other man’s eyes, but he stepped in Archer’s personal space until the two men were damn near nose-to-nose.
“You telling me how to do my job, Nash?”
“Somebody sure as hell needs to.”
A stretch of intense silence passed through them. From his peripheral, Archer could see his teammates watching the interaction very, very closely. But just when he thought Detective Knox was about to clock him?—
“The District Attorney believes we’ve caught our killer. So does my sergeant. You know, the man I have to answer to?” The man’s gaze shifted like he was checking for nearby ears before he leaned in with a lowered, “The Mayor is also personal friends with the dead guy’s parents.”
“And?”
“And, that means the pressure to close this one is coming all the way from the top.”
“So you’re choosing politics over justice? Huh…” Archer pretended to huff a casual breath as he watched Knox’s reaction carefully. “I just kinda figured a man who’d fought like hell to getinto the service the way you did would have more scruples than to let politics overshadow the truth.”
Because something else Lucky had turned up—this man had done everything he could to get Uncle Sam to deem him fit for duty. Unfortunately for Knox, a previously undetected heart murmur nixed his eligibility with the U.S. military.
So he’d done the next closest thing and became a cop. A damn good one, by all accounts.
“I see you’ve been reading up on me, too.” Knox seemed less than happy about that.
“Did you honestly think I wouldn’t?”
Everyone involved in Cassie’s case got a deep dive into their personal, professional, and financial lives. Every. One.
The fact that Knox—a decorated detective with a record-setting close rate since transferring to the S.P.D. two years prior—was willing to look the other way on this one…that he was willing to let an innocent woman go on trial for a murder she didn’t commit…
Just like everything else in this case, it doesn’t make any damn sense.