Page 2 of Passionate Defense

He pushed the ignition button and the engine, a remarkable piece of German engineering, roared to life. He revved it twice and honked the horn—a warning to any idiots who might be foolish enough to get in his way—then pulled out. A few minutes later, they hit the streets of Boston.

As he drove, he didn’t question, only reached across the center console and took her hand, offering his strength and silent support. She gripped it tight, wondering not for the first time, how she would have endured without him.

“Not guilty,” she said at length, her voice cracking faintly with emotion she only allowed with him.

If Ethan didn’t know her so well, she doubted he would have noticed. His eyes shifted to her, and he squeezed her icy fingers, as she clung to him like a survivor cast adrift in a storm-swept sea and he, her only lifeline.

“I expected nothing less from you, Lanie. Now that you’re through with him, put it behind you.”

“It’s not that easy. What if—”

“Stop,” he ordered, the one softly spoken word issued with such authority it reverberated like a gunshot inside the plush interior. “In this country, everyone is entitled to a defense. You did your job, like it or not. Now you move on to the next case.”

“And if he strikes again?”

“We blame the shoddy police work that let him walk free, not the judge or the jury or the brilliant and beautiful defense attorney whose only fault is being damn good at her job. Got it?”

She hesitated then released the pent-up breath in her lungs. “Yeah. I got it.”

He brought their joined hands to his lips. “That’s my girl.”

Those words that the Ice Queen would find condescending and completely intolerable in any aspect of her professional life warmed Lanie inside. That’s the way it was between her and Ethan. She could let down her guard and her Ice Queen persona, and just be. With a long holiday weekend stretching out before them, that’s what she intended to do. She’d let her confident, capable, take-charge husband call the shots. After the year she just had, it was long past due.

***

THE ECHO OF HER FOOTSTEPSrebounded off the concrete beneath her feet and the high brick walls on either side of the dimly lit alley. A stench permeated the air, from the rotting trash overflowing the dumpsters, along with her fear as she quickly made her way through the maze of shifting shadows. It was the first night of the full moon, but she didn’t benefit from its brightness, not with the thick clouds keeping it hidden more often than not.

Lanie peered into the darkness, searching for the cross street up ahead. She didn’t expect the shortcut between the buildings to be so long. As she paused to catch her breath, a shiver raced up her spine. The echo of her footsteps should have stopped when she did, but they not only persisted, they seemed to grow louder by the second.

Hastily glancing behind her, she watched in horror as a figure appeared in a rare shaft of moonlight. His dark clothing blended with the shadows and a black hood obscured his face. Darkness engulfed him in the next instant as thunder rolled in the distance. Had she imagined him? Was it a trick of the light?

A flash of lightning illuminated the narrow alley, and the man reappeared, moving relentlessly forward. In that brief flash, his cold, menacing eyes locked on her. They were familiar and had haunted her sleep and nearly every waking hour for the past week, ever since the gavel came down with a crack of finality.

Morton Deevers tossed his head, and the hood fell back. His menacing laughter rebounded off the walls. His hand rose to his mouth to wipe the spittle he spewed in his mirth from his lips, which is when Lanie saw the gleaming blade he clutched.

“My fault,” she whispered as she wheeled and sprinted down the alley.“All my fault.”

But the harder and faster she ran, the longer the alley seemed to be. Lanie’s heart pounded, her legs felt heavy, as if they were trapped in quicksand. All the while, his breathing and the thud of his footsteps in pursuit grew closer.

Out of nowhere, her shoulder struck something unseen in her way. Knocked off-balance, she lurched forward. She didn’t dare stop but stumbled and went crashing to the damp, unforgiving ground. The killer’s laughter sent panic coursing through her. He sounded like he was right on top of her.

She refused to go down without a fight. Preparing to defend herself—how, against a knife when she was unarmed, she didn’t know—she turned.

He wasn’t bearing down on her as she believed. He’d stopped several yards back, no longer pursuing her. Another flash lit up the sky and the alley. Lanie gasped in horror. He stopped coming after her because he stood over a young woman sprawled on the concrete. Was that what, or rather who, she ran into? Had she, in her desperate attempt to flee, caused an innocent to fall at the feet of a murderer?

“My fault,” she whispered again then screamed along with the woman’s terrified shrieks as the killer’s blade descended. It sank into her chest with a sickening thud. The sight of blood spurting out with the beat of her heart and her throat when he stabbed her again, and again. In the background of the gruesome scene, she could hear Deevers’ cruel laughter.

The next instant, the only screams tearing through the night were her own.

Lanie shot upright, her body trembling uncontrollably, her eyes darting around in terror. Was she next?

It took a moment for her to realize she was no longer trapped in the nightmare or the alley. The room was shrouded in darkness, the only source of light coming from the faint glow of the moon filtering through the curtains. Despite that, it was clear. She was at home, in her own bed.

Overwhelmed with relief, Lanie covered her face with her hands and flopped back on her pillows. It had all been a figment of her sleep-deprived, tormented mind. Just like all the other times she’d awoken in the night since the trial ended. In a cold sweat sickened by the haunting images, unable to release the fear and the guilt gripping her.

The warm presence beside her stirred. Ethan’s strong, comforting arms slipped around her, pulling her into an embrace that offered solace and understanding.

He held her quietly until she stopped shaking and could breathe again.

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