Page 105 of The Wrong Side of the Law

Chapter Thirty-Three

Emily

When Gabriel returns from the State Attorney’s office, I’m staring vacantly at my computer screen, with the bucket between my knees just in case.

Gabriel doesn’t quite slam the door shut, but it hit the frame hard enough to catch my attention. He walks wordlessly to his desk, and I turn to look at him. He’s looking out the window, resting his forehead against the glass.

“You’re going to leave a smudge,” I say.

His shoulders slump at the sound of my voice, but he says nothing.

“What’s wrong?” I ask. “Are you okay? What did Whitehall want?”

I stand up, intending to go to him, but he turns at the sound of my chair. His face is an expressionless mask, as hard and lifeless as any piece of carved wood, freezing me in my tracks.

“What happened?” I say, but my mouth is suddenly so dry that it comes out as a whisper. “Did something happen with Frank’s case?”

Something flashes in his eyes at my question, but it passes so quickly I can’t tell if it was anger or worry or some other feeling entirely.

“Paul Cove happened,” he finally says. “Whitehall knows, now, that I’m prosecuting your brother and keeping you on the payroll as my assistant.”

“Oh my God! Are you okay?”

“I’m just fine,” he says, but there’s a sardonic edge to it. “I explained all that away. I told him that I’ve been protectinghimwith this. Keeping your connection secret? That insulatedhimfrom any fallout if other employees started giving you shit about your family issues. It insulatedhimfrom the inevitable fallout over getting sued for firing you over it.”

Gabriel chuckles, but the sound is harsh and grating.

“In fact,” he continues, “it looks like I’m now Whitehall’s favorite, somehow. I’ve proved that I’m notactuallya threat to him, because I’ve been protecting him. Or something.” Gabriel shakes his head. “What an arrogant bastard.”

“So… what’s wrong, then?” I reach out to him, but he takes a step back out of my reach, leaving my hand hanging in the air until I slowly retract it.

“While he appreciates the lengths to which I went in protecting his office and reputation, he finds them to be unnecessary,” Gabriel says, his voice flat and dead. “And that you are a liability to the State Attorney’s Office. Too much of a liability to continue working here.”

“I’m… no.No!He can’t do this!” I’m in freefall. The room is spinning. This can’t be happening, not now. “I need this job, Gabriel. How can he- How can you let him do this?”

I back up toward my desk, feeling behind me for my chair. I need to sit down, before I fall down.

“I wish I could fight for you on it, Emily,” he says sadly, emotion finally starting to crack through the mask. “But I can’t. You took that out of my hands.”

“I don’t know… what are you talking about?”

“What did you do, Emily? At the evidence locker.”

And there it is.

It’s what I’ve been afraid of, it’s why I’ve been so stressed that I’ve been puking for the past twenty-four hours. I didn’t think I’d get caught. Not this soon, at least.

“I did what I had to do,” I whisper, tears welling up in my eyes.

“What was it?” he asks. He’s looking at… his desk, the door, the forehead print on the window. He’s looking everywhere except at me. “Whatexactlydid youhaveto do?”

“You said that the best we could hope for was tomaybeget a mistrial,” I answer, hating the way my voice quivers. “I just… I made sure of it.”

“You signed the log. You signed out the pills for two minutes. What. Did. You.Do!?!”

“I wasn’t thinking straight,” I answer. “I couldn’t… I just. I had to dosomething, Gabriel.”

For a long time, he doesn’t say anything, but eventually he looks at me. His eyes are filled with… I can’t tell if it’s sadness? Loathing? Something in between?

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