Page 85 of Objection to Love

Larry turned toward her lazily, with one brow raised. Every part of him screamedgotcha.

“He—” Em cut off. She could have screamed. There was nothing to say.

Judge Smith cleared his throat, holding the paper out to the bailiff. “Once we have set a foundation for this new information, we will admit this into evidence and take an hour recess for the prosecution’s team to determine their next course of action. Today will likely be a late day—please plan accordingly.”

Em couldn’t move for a full ten seconds. She was frozen to the floor of the courtroom, every possible response to this new information flitting through her mind. None of the scenarios turned out particularly well. Grasping for an option, she walked without seeing to a back room of the courthouse that her team had been using during various recesses.

A tap on her shoulder brought her back to life. She met the eyes of Mr. Standson and nodded, already knowing what he would say. “Let’s verify the information and then plan our next move,” she said.

Mr. Standson shook his head. “I sent Jim to verify the minute the judge mentioned the insurance policy. It’s correct. We need to plan how we will nail Mr. Clayton for the lesser sentence.”

“I think we can still get him for first-degree murder. The insurance policy was not the only evidence against Clayton.”

“It was the evidence we built our case around, Ms. Miller. Everything else is circumstantial. This is not up for debate—the higher sentence is not going to work. We’re dropping to manslaughter, this appears to be no more than a crime of passion. It’s terrible, and Mr. Clayton still killed his wife, but it doesn’t appear premeditated.”

As much as it made her want to stomp her foot like an angry toddler, this was her boss. And unfortunately, this mess-up was on her—one hundred percent on her. That was the worst part—the fact that she’d convinced Mr. Standson to charge Mr. Clayton with first-degree murder, all based on faulty evidence.

Which was a mistake she hadn’t made since law school. Frankly, Em wasn’t sure she’d even made this bad a mistake then.

Trying to ignore the looks from her colleagues and focus on the task at hand, she planned her cross-examination of the defense’s new witness and outlined her new closing statement. It was grueling work, especially being on a time crunch, and it didn’t help that her phone kept pinging. But eventually, she just turned it off, assuming anyone who wasn’t currently at the courthouse with her could wait.

By the time they re-entered the courtroom, she felt, if notgood, then at least confident in their new stance.

Chapter 29

Em

Emattemptednottodrag her feet as she walked out of the courthouse while powering on her phone. She was mentally and physically exhausted, and all she could think about was getting home. Maybe seeing Garrett. Maybe finally having a frank conversation if she could emotionally manage it with her one-legged, half-broken brain right now.

Maybe just cuddling up next to him and ignoring everything for a while.

The second her phone turned on, several notifications started pinging. She had half a dozen missed phone calls and even more texts. Apprehension twisted her gut when she saw that several were from April. Something tickled the back of her mind—some reason her sister would have called so many times during the workday.

It dawned on her half a second before her finger pressed the icon next to April’s name. The ultrasound.Oh, no—theultrasound!

April: What time do you think you’ll be off? Want to carpool? I can pick you up.

April: I haven’t heard from you, so I’m assuming you’re still in court. I’ll see you there.

April: I’m in the waiting room. Far left corner.

April: Em? Please don’t tell me you forgot.

April: They just called me back. If by chance you get here soon, just tell them my name, and they’ll bring you to my room.

The horrible, hot feeling that slowly spread across each of Em’s limbs had nothing to do with the summer sun beating down on her as she stood outside her car. Quickly, she checked the time. 5:13. Two hours and thirteen minutes after she had promised her sister she would be at the doctor’s office. Her heart beat faster as she thought of April sitting there alone.

Em was the worst sister in the world. She’d never been anything near as amazing as April was, but she’d officially slid down the totem pole to last place. In fact, she was pretty sure she’d bypassed the pole completely and dug a hole twenty feet deep.

Skipping the voicemail from April, Em went straight to calling her. The phone rang enough times that when the rings stopped, Em thought she was getting April’s answering machine. But instead, she heard a shaky “Hi,” on the other end.

Em’s already heavy heart dropped to somewhere near her toes at April’s tone.

“April, I amsosorry. I’m terrible and horrible, and I can’t believe I forgot the appointment. I made a huge mistake at work, we had to work late, and I didn’t even pay attention to the time. And I turned off my phone after lunch so I never got your messages. I just now got off. I’m so sorry. I owe you big time.”

“Oh, it’s okay, Em. What happened at work?”

“I had faulty evidence that our whole case hinged on and—” she cut off when something registered. April didn’t sound like herself. She sounded… subdued. And… wet. Something in her voice sounded like tears. “April? Is everything okay?”

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