Grave Danger (39 page)

The waiter came and laid out their main course. The theories Jason outlined weren’t the solid proof of innocence she wanted. But she knew what she went through that night and Jason’s scenario made sense. Would the prosecutor accept it as such? And what about Mark?

After she finished eating, Libby pulled out Angela’s journal and set it on the table in front of Jason. She explained what it was. “Your mom’s writing is very personal. In the end, she is painfully frank about her marriage, mistakes she made, mistakes Jack made. There may be more in there than you want to know.”

He looked at the book as though he were afraid to touch it. “As her son, I’m bothered that Jack didn’t give this to the police sooner. There may be information that would help their investigation. As a lawyer, I’m glad I’ll have a chance to read it before we tell the cops she kept a journal.”

She wanted to give Jason a moment alone and excused herself to use the restroom. She passed by Mark’s table and a fresh jolt of pain hit her. She’d been better off when she was angry. Before leaving the restroom, she paused to collect herself, and then squared her shoulders and stepped into the narrow corridor—and came face to face with Mark.

The cold mask had dropped from his features. In his eyes she saw pain that mirrored her own. “Did you plan to use Jason from the start, or did you choose him because you knew how much it would bother me?”

She blinked against the sting his accusation triggered. Pain or not, he continued to believe the worst of her. “I’m not using Jason. He’s helping me because you had me arrested, and I needed a lawyer.”
He’s a victim, too. Don’t let the anger win
.

She started to brush past him, but he caught her arm and stopped her. She met his gaze. Probing. Intense. Just like when he’d questioned her after searching the blackberries. They’d shared so much, and yet they’d gotten nowhere. She shrugged out of his grip and straightened her spine. “Go back to your date, Mark, and leave me alone.”

“It’s not—”

“Is everything okay, Libby?” Jason asked as he entered the corridor.

She frowned. Was Mark about to deny being on a date? Did it matter at this point?

Mark’s gaze narrowed with Jason’s protective intrusion. “Libby’s always fine,” he said, then he turned and left.

“Well, that was…awkward,” she said.

“He shouldn’t talk to you without a lawyer present, and he knows it. You can talk to him tomorrow, after I meet with the prosecutor.”

Was that really why Jason had intruded? She didn’t know what to think—of Jason or Mark.

They returned to their table, paid their bill, and left the restaurant. Standing next to her truck, Jason pulled her into his arms for a comforting hug. She leaned into him and wished she could trust him, but he was too high on her list of suspects.

“I know you’re in love with Mark,” he said.

She wanted to protest, but couldn’t.

“And he’s trying not to care,” he added. He met her gaze and stroked her cheek, and then his gaze lifted over her head, toward the restaurant, and he smiled. “I’m not above helping you get some petty revenge.” He cupped her face in both hands and leaned down and kissed her full on the lips. “Goodnight, Libby.”

She looked over her shoulder and saw Mark and the waitress exiting the restaurant. A mean satisfaction slid through her. She’d suffered alone the last two days. The flash of pain in Mark’s eyes was at least a sign he felt something other than contempt for her.

She climbed into her Suburban, blew Jason a kiss, and drove off. She made it all the way home before her tears began to flow again.

D
INNER HADN’T BEEN WHAT
M
ARK
would call fun, and now, thank God it was over. Heather, at least, had enjoyed herself.

After confronting Libby, Mark returned to the table in a bleak mood. Heather’s intention had backfired. He hadn’t taken one look at Libby with Jason and known he needed to move on. No, instead he had to face the knowledge he still wanted her. Or at least wanted what he’d thought they could have together. Heather took one look at him and winced. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have asked you here tonight.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”

Mark tried to speak, but couldn’t.

“Maybe she’s innocent,” she offered hopefully.

“That’s for the court to decide.”

“But what do you think?”

“What I think and what I want are two different things.”

“For your sake, I’m going to hope she’s innocent.”

Mark smiled, surprised by the change in Heather’s attitude toward Libby. Heather was a kind woman—foolish, but kind.

They left the restaurant just in time to see Jason’s less-than-brotherly kiss on Libby’s lips, and Mark stopped dead in his tracks. This was the image that had tormented him since Monday. He got hold of himself and resumed walking.

Libby drove off as Heather climbed into her vehicle. He could go home. He unlocked his car and then heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Jason.

“Tomorrow I’m meeting with the DA,” Jason said. “I’m certain she’s going to choose not to file charges against Libby after she reviews my findings.”

“Good for you.” Mark opened his car door.

“I want you to re-open the investigation of Libby’s assault.”

“I won’t waste more taxpayer money investigating her claims.”

“I sent a copy of my findings to your office. Read my brief and then tell me you think she’s guilty.”

“I’m sure you are very persuasive.” In spite of the coldness of his tone, part of him acknowledged he really did hope Jason could convince him.

Jason shook his head as though he pitied Mark. “You had her, yet you fucked it up.”

“Did it ever occur to you that
she
fucked up? That she played me like she’s playing you?”

“No. Because I reviewed the evidence.”

“So did I.”

“No. You didn’t. Listen, I’m willing to cut you some slack because I know police procedure. Given the pile of evidence against her, you had to bring her in. I’ll even grant that given your relationship, you had to tread very carefully, and talking to her first—interviewing her privately—could have gotten your ass in deep trouble. But where you fucked up was believing the bullshit instead of trusting your instincts about Libby. You could have stepped back, told her you had to recuse yourself, and let Officer Eversall handle it. But you were stupid and sent in Roth, whose lack of experience in investigation and bias against Libby were obvious from the start. Face it. You fucked up, big time.”

He glared at Jason. Libby had damned herself before Luke ever started investigating. “The evidence against Libby is solid and supported by her actions. She falsified evidence in the past. She tampered with evidence in your mother’s homicide. She lied about her relationship with Brady.”

Jason held up a hand and ticked off his responses. “
Simone
—not Libby—falsified evidence. The ‘tampering’ argument is weak, considering she was given those boxes for the express purpose of going through them and making copies. And Aaron? I don’t know what you’re talking about, but only a fool would take that prick’s word over Libby’s.”

Mark stared at Jason, his heart beating at a slow but resounding tempo. Jason was the last person he should discuss lying women with.

Jason shook his head. “This is really about Sheila, isn’t it?”

Mark’s hand clenched into a fist. “Hell no.”

“It is. Sheila got your head so fucking twisted that—because of me—you can’t see Libby for who she is.”

“I see Libby just fine.”

“No. You don’t.” Jason paused. “You followed one trail of evidence, then let your emotions take over. You stopped asking questions and instead decided guilt. That’s not the type of cop I expected you to be.” He turned and strode to his Lexus, his footsteps echoing in the quiet night.

Mark stood frozen, staring after Jason and hating the hope the lawyer had stirred. Could Mark really be that wrong about Libby? Had he fucked up on an unbelievable scale?

All he knew was he’d never wanted to be wrong so badly. Wound up with anger, self-loathing, and treacherous hope, he decided to go to the station and read Jason’s report. While there, he’d review the fingerprint evidence and the notes on the interview with Eli Banks. Jason was probably half in love with Libby himself. He could be wrong.

Guilty or innocent, Mark didn’t doubt that Jason could get her off. Libby would do well with a man like Jason at her side.
Shit
. He’d never felt so raw and exposed.

The station was quiet. He strode to his office. An inch-thick manila envelope from Jason sat front and center on his desk. Mark reached for it with a combination of apprehension and hope, knowing it was Jason’s opening salvo in his quest to clear Libby. In the cover letter, Jason requested Mark’s attendance at tomorrow’s meeting with the prosecutor and said he included copies of his findings so Mark could familiarize himself with the case. As if Mark didn’t have the details memorized.

He looked through the attached documents. Jason was thorough and fast. In addition to copies of Libby’s cost proposal and scope of work, he’d included man-hour estimates from other archaeological consulting firms, just as Libby had suggested. Based on man-hour estimates alone, her cost proposal was in the middle range, higher than three, lower than two. Mark wondered briefly how Jason had gotten such a quick response from the other consulting firms. If they had a connection to Libby, they might’ve skewed their estimates to help her.

The cost estimate included additions to the scope of work. Jack had signed off on all the additions with the exception of the last one, which was in negotiation. Libby’s estimate for the new task wasn’t an alarming sum. Compared to the overall budget, it was hardly significant.

She didn’t have a motive.

Mark rocked back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. His stomach clenched as if he’d been punched in the gut. Without motive, he had a hard time believing Libby was guilty of anything.

Jason had a plausible theory for how her fingerprints could be found on the adhesive side of the duct tape that covered her mouth, plausible enough for reasonable doubt and therefore limiting the fingerprint evidence’s impact in court. Luke hadn’t told him her prints were only found on the first piece ripped from the roll.

Shit
. Mark was the worst cop in history. In any other situation, he would have thoroughly reviewed the evidence before ordering her arrest.

There were problems with the wine bottle used for the Molotov cocktail. Other fingerprints found on the bottle hadn’t been matched. Jason wanted them run to prove the attacker used a wine bottle found in Libby’s recycle bin.

Mark hadn’t looked closely at the bottle that night, nor had he seen it since. He left his office and went to the evidence room. He found the bin that stored the Maitland evidence. One look at the bottle confirmed what he’d both hoped and dreaded. It was the bottle he’d opened for Libby five nights before her attack. Some of the unmatched prints were his.

Jason would make Mark the star defense witness. Her fingerprints on the bottle weren’t evidence of her guilt any more than his meant he was the attacker. Except for the eyewitness, they had nothing solid to support attempted arson.

He returned to his office and continued reading Jason’s brief. Next Jason dealt with the Taser. He acknowledged the three important pieces of evidence against her: the Anti-Felon Identification tags which were found in Libby’s kitchen were traced back to one of the air cartridges she had purchased, the batteries in her Taser had not been depleted, and the downloadable weapon log showed the weapon had been fired only once and for less than a second. Jason theorized that Libby’s attacker had brought a Taser to the house that night. He or she affixed Libby’s own air cartridge to the weapon before shooting her. After Libby had been bound and subdued, the assailant then attached the dispelled cartridge to Libby’s Taser and fired one short blast to make it look like hers had been used only long enough to release the tags.

Jason’s argument was convincing. It fit well with the increasing possibility that Libby was framed. Even if they managed to keep the Taser as evidence, the weapon only supported a hoax charge, not attempted arson. Mark doubted the prosecutor would want to pursue a hoax case if they couldn’t prove attempted arson.

Mark moved on from the Taser data to Jason’s transcript of his interview with Eli Banks. Jason had hired a court reporter to record the session and the document was signed and notarized. Banks changed the timing of Libby’s return home twice during the interview. He changed his description of what she wore and described the gas cans as metal, not plastic. He adamantly insisted that whatever he told the police when they interviewed him was correct, and he couldn’t be expected to remember everything. Just forty-eight hours after Luke interviewed Banks, his story had changed completely.

Without the witness, without fingerprints, without motive, they had no case. He should, in fact, look to see whether anyone else bought a Taser in the week prior to Libby’s attack.