Page 68 of Quiet Protector
She sighs. It sounds as antagonized as the pain stretched across my chest. “What happened wasn’t your fault.”
“If Joey wasn’t dealing with the people looking for me, he could have stopped Madden.”
“You don’t know that, Brandon.”
“I do,” I argue with the utmost certainty. “Joey was good like that. He would have protected Melody.” I stop just before I say,unlike me.
Phillipa sighs again. This one is more from her struggle not to get in an argument with me over the phone. She’d rather save her drilling until we’re face to face. “Where are you?”
“At Saugerties, but I can be anywhere you need me to be within hours.”
My interests overtake my heartache when she mutters, “Even Ravenshoe?”
“Even Ravenshoe,” I reply after forcefully swallowing.
I was hoping since Phillipa is based in New York, she’d keep me a little closer to Melody, but I guess I can’t add stipulations to a game I have no control over.
“Once you’re back, reach out. I have a few leads I need you to chase up.”
Stealing my chance to reply, she disconnects our call, freeing me to commence my long journey back to the town that switched me from being a morally upstanding citizen to that of a vigilante.
29
Melody
“Believe me, you’re not the only one who wants that prick sent away for life, but we need to do this right. We can’t have any holes in our evidence.” After standing from my seat, I roam my eyes over my colleagues gathered around the boardroom table at the District Attorney’s Office in New York. “Have a second forensic team run over the results. If the defense discredits our first expert, we’ll hit them with a second and third.”
“Great,” Leo jumps in, clapping his hands together. “Let’s get the evidence in this case wrapped up tight.”
Smiling to thank him for his backup, I commence packing away the stacks of evidence I’ve trawled over for sixteen plus hours a day for the past week. This is my version of heartbreak—work and more work. To others, it seems like a pathetic way to ease the heartache, but it works well for me. My father’s training ensured I’d never be an ice-cream-and-sappy-movies type of girl. If my hurt can help someone else, why not put it to good use?
“Before you go, Melody,” Leo mutters, stopping my brisk exit. “Can I have a quick word?”
My throat works hard to swallow when he asks a newly appointed intern to close the conference room door on his way out. I’m not scared to be alone with Leo, he’s a gentle giant. It’s seeing the cause of his meeting request in his eyes that has my heart stuttering.
Think of the worst conversation you’ve ever had. Now double the awkwardness. That will give you an idea of how my conversation went with Leo when my presence popped back onto his radar late last week.
Nichole had kept her word, she didn’t pass on news of my case to anyone outside of her division, but Leo knew there was more to my absence than my run-in with Mr. McGee the week earlier.
I never said I hid my heartache well. I just put it to good use.
I don’t know who Leo was pissed with more, Madden for what he had done or Mr. McGee for dusting off his old defense lawyer skills to represent his son.
I kind of hate them both the same.
After propping his hip on the glass desk separating us, Leo folds his arms in front of his broad chest. “I was talking to Julian earlier—”
“How is he?” I ask before I can stop myself. We haven’t had contact since he left two weeks ago.
The unease in Leo’s eyes softens when he nods. “He’s good. Enjoying the weather in California.”
“It has to be better than here.”
“Anywhere is better than here,” he replies with a laugh.
Once his chuckles settle, he gets to the point of our conversation. “He told me you two aren’t together anymore. Is that true?”
My mouth falls open, then I close it again. Leo has been friends with Julian for years, so I’m shocked he doesn’t believe his recollection of events.
