Page 63 of Legal Passion
She understood why his father had chosen to go to prison for him. Kenneth Mueller wouldn’t make it there. He wasn’t mature or strong enough.
And his father loved him.
“He’ll be fine.”
But instead of reassuring him, her words had him sobbing harder again. She needed to book the kid. She glanced at the time on her phone. It was probably too late to get him in front of a judge for a bail hearing, anyway. He would have to spend the night at the Tombs. But he needed to have his lawyer present to officially take down the statement he’d just given her.
She reached for her cell phone and pressed in the contact for Stone. But it wasn’t his deep voice that answered her call. She couldn’t be sure who it was, though, for all the background noise. But she suspected it was one of his partners.
“I need to speak to Stone,” she said.
“What? You want to gloat?” the man asked her. “You going to rub your victory in his face?”
“No. But I need to see him,” she said.
The man snorted derisively. “Well, he’s a little busy right now. We’re all at the Meet Market.”
And she heard the tinkle of a woman’s laugh in the background. And Stone’s deep voice murmuring something in reply. And her heart broke.
She felt like laying her head on her arms and crying like Kenneth Mueller was. But she was stronger and more mature than that. She’d had to be.
“Well, when he’s done partying, tell him Kenneth Mueller is in my office confessing to the murder for which his father was just convicted.”
“What?”
“Tell Stone he was right,” she said, even though the words panged her nearly as much as hearing him making another woman laugh, like he’d always made her laugh.
“Hillary, wait—”
She said nothing more, just clicked off that call to make another. To the detective who’d handled—or actually mishandled—the homicide investigation. Unlike Stone, he was going to come right to her office.
Stone was busy—hooking up with another female. He hadn’t really wanted her at all.
He’d just wanted to win.
Well, he had his win now.
She hoped it felt as hollow for him as it had for her.
