Page 49 of Set In Stone

My palms began to sweat from anxious nerves. I rubbed them against the material of my pantsuit as I made my way toward the DA’s office. His secretary, or at least I assumed she was, looked away from her computer screen when I arrived. She must have been new, because I didn’t recognize her from my previousvisits.

“Hello,” I said. “My name is Krystina Cole. I have a meeting with Mr. Green at twelve-thirty.”

She smiled politely and motioned to the door behindher.

“Yes, Miss Cole. Mr. Green is expecting you. You can go rightin.”

Summoning all the courage I could muster, I thanked her and pushed through the door that would lead me to ThomasGreen.

The room I entered wasn’t anything fancy, but simple. There were comfortable cushioned chairs surrounding a long wooden table. Cherry bookcases filled the walls, overflowing with a countless number of legal volumes. The setting was familiar, as Alexander and I had attended several meetings with the DA over the past two months. During that time, not only had we talked about my testimony, but Thomas often recanted stories about his six-year-old fraternal twins, Olivia and Tommy. The small bit of knowledge I had about his personal life might serve me well during thismeeting.

Thomas Green’s desk was at the far end of the room, but that wasn’t where he sat. Instead, he was at the polished wooden table pouring over manila folders full of documents upon my arrival. His wire rimmed glasses were pushed down near the tip of his nose. He looked up when he heard me come in and shoved the glasses to rest on top of his salt and pepperhair.

“Miss Cole,” he greeted. “Always apleasure.”

“Likewise, Mr. Green. Newsecretary?”

“Oh, no. She’s a temp. My secretary is out sick. It’s that time of year,” he stated sardonically. Despite the light attempt at sarcasm, his voice was tense and matched the tone he had when we spoke over the phone earlier that morning. When he pressed his lips together and frowned, I wondered if he was just as apprehensive as I was about thismeeting.

He stood and extended his hand to shake mine, but I shook myhead.

“Like you said, it’s that time of year. I’m fighting a bit of a head cold myself, so you probably don’t want to shake my hand. I’m sure your wife wouldn’t want you bringing it home to your kiddos,” I said lightly and smiled, hoping that I could ease some of the tension with the mention of his wife andchildren.

He quickly pulled his hand back and returned mysmile.

“You’re right. They just got through a bout with the flu. Rebecca would have my head if I introduced a new germ to Olivia or Tommy,” he laughed. He motioned to the chair in front of his desk. “Please have aseat.”

“Thank you. Other than the recent flu, how is your familydoing?”

As I sat down in the offered chair, Thomas walked around to his side of the desk. After he sat, we talked briefly about what his children were doing in school and about his wife’s latest endeavor to become an independent consultant for a new fad makeup company. After a while, he leaned back and looked at mecuriously.

“So, now that you’re up to speed on my family happenings, I’d like to talk about why you’re here. I’ve been a bit perplexed since your phone call this morning. So much so, that I managed to get out of court early and spent the last hour reviewing the case files,” he admitted and motioned to the table covered with manila folders. “What’s so pressing that you had to see metoday?”

Not wanting to beat around the bush, I gave it to him straight. Or, at least, as straight as I could without jeopardizing Alexander andJustine.

“It’s Charlie’s trialdate.”

“What aboutit?”

“I know it’s been moved up. I need you to move itback.”

His eyebrows raised insurprise.

“I can honestly say that I didn’t expect that to come from you, especially with the amount of pressure Mr. Stone has been exerting on everyone to proceed. The jury was selected a month ago and the presiding judge is anxious to move forward as well. I can’t change the date unless you can give me a significant reason as to why you need itmoved.”

I hesitated, choosing my next wordscarefully.

“Mr. Green, as you know, one of the charges Charlie Andrews faces is extortion. You should know that he’s up to his old tricks. A reporter was able to meet withhim.”

“What do you mean? He’s supposed to have a strict no visitor’s policy,” Thomas saiddisbelievingly.

“I’m aware. I think it had something to do with a rookie prison guard. I don’t know the details. Either way, I have reason to believe that Charlie is going to use the story to get Alex to back down on some of the charges. I need you to postpone the trial until I can kill thestory.”

“Miss Cole, that won’t be necessary. No matter what this supposed story is, I have no intention to drop charges or strike any sort of deal with CharlieAndrews.”

“I believe that. However, Charlie can’t knowthat.”

“I’m sorry?” he asked, seeming genuinelypuzzled.

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