Page 105 of Liar's Point

“I don’t, no.”

He sighed. “Okay. Fine, then. Let’s both stop pretending.”

He stared at her, and something in his look made her squirm in her chair.

Her phone vibrated with a text message, and she pulled it from her pocket. “That’s Miranda. They’re waiting for me in the lab.”

David pushed his chair back and stood up. He came around the desk as she collected her crutches. “You need a hand?”

“Thanks. I’ve got it.” She managed to get to her feet and glanced up at him.

He looked peeved, which wasn’t what she’d expected. She’d thought he’d be disappointed, maybe even hurt.

The phone on his desk rang, and he glanced at it but didn’t move to pick it up. He checked his watch.

“I’ve got a procedure starting.”

She moved for the door. “I’ll get out of your way.”

He reached around her and opened the door. “So, I assume you’re here for the Danielle Ward case?”

She stopped in the doorway. “I thought it was the Aubrey Lambert case. The other thing was a seizure, right?”

“Did you get my report?” he asked. “I sent it over this morning.”

“I haven’t seen it yet. Why? What happened?”

“No evidence of seizure, heart attack, stroke, or anything else that would have caused her to lose consciousness.”

“Wait.” Nicole stared up at him. “Are you telling me Danielle Ward wasn’t an accidental death?”

“I’m telling you I wasn’t able to find an underlying cause for her to lose control of her car and crash into a utility pole. That’s why I flagged it for the crime lab, so they could take a closer look at the vehicle.”

A ball of dread formed in Nicole’s stomach as his words started to sink in. “But... if she didn’t have a seizure or something, then what caused her accident?”

“You’re assuming it was an accident.”

“You’re saying it wasn’t?”

“I’m saying, go talk to the crime lab.”

CHAPTER

NINETEEN

Here you are.”

Emmet glanced up to see Adam in the doorway of the conference room. “Hey, Adam, what’s up?” he asked, flipping through the police report from Nicole’s incident.

“I got a lead.”

“What’s that?”

“A lead. With the Lambert case.”

Emmet shoved the report aside and grabbed his notepad from the witness interviews. All four witnesses agreed the vehicle involved was a black SUV with tinted windows and silver hubcaps. But accounts differed on the model of the vehicle. The three Emmet had talked to said it was a black Chevy Tahoe, while the witness Adam had interviewed said it was a black Suburban.

“Don’t you want to hear this?”

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