Page 63 of Innocent Intent

“You are. Give me a minute, and I’ll drive you home. You can wait for me—”

“No. That won’t be necessary. I can get myself home, Nate.”

“Cass . . .”

She held her hand up. “Please. Things are already more complicated than they should be. Let’s not make it worse. I’ll be fine.”

Davis offered a tight nod. They shared another awkward moment of silence before Cassidy turned to leave. She hadn’t bothered bringing a purse; she only shoved her wallet-sized card holder into her pocket along with keys and cell phone before leaving the house. They hadn’t taken either from her when she was escorted into the cell, so she left without another word to anyone, least of all to the man who had her mind and emotions all over the place.

An hour later, Cassidy was stepping out of the ride share, feeling a wave of annoyance when she noticed Tia’s car pulling into her driveway moments later. She didn’t bother forcing a smile or extending pleasantries after the day she had. She couldn’t care enough to, so when Tia approached the yard where Cassidy was waiting, she decided to get right to it.

“Hey, Cass, I was coming by to check on you. I called a few times and came by yesterday, and you weren’t home.”

“Yeah, I’ve been busy.”

“Oh . . .”

Cassidy noticed that Tia seemed offended, but if she was waiting for clarity or an explanation about how she’d been busy, that wouldn’t come.

“It’s really not a good time. I’ve had an extremely long day—”

“You want to talk about it?”

“No, actually, I don’t. What I’d like to do right now is take a long, hot bath, drink some wine, and try to remember who I was before all of this . . . this . . . I don’t even know what this is.”

“Cass . . .” Tia’s face shifted into a sympathetic expression.

Sympathy was the last thing that Cassidy needed. However, what she wanted most wasn’t possible. For her life to go back to what it had been before Niles was murdered—hell—before she’d met him would be just as great.

“Tia, I’m fine, I assure you. Just tired and a bit overwhelmed at the moment.”

“That’s understandable. Is there anything I can do to help? Maybe I can order you dinner. It can be here by the time you finish your bath.”

Cassidy smiled weakly. “No, I appreciate it, but I don’t have much appetite. I’ll give you a call, okay?”

“Sure.”

Tia smiled softly before turning to leave, but Cassidy thought of something. “Wait. There is something you can help me with.”

Tia perked up, and Cassidy watched her intently. She trusted Tia, always had. But did she really have the luxury of truly being that confident about anyone in her life? There had never been a reason not to, but now, she had to protect herself, which meant not leaving anything to chance. Maybe she was being naïve. Tia never had access to her home when Cassidy wasn’t there. She didn’t have access to multiple aspects of Cassidy’s life, but that didn’t mean there weren’t possibilities.

“I was looking at the schedule, trying to make sense of some dates. On April nineteenth, I was scheduled to speak at Duke. My mind is a little frazzled. I’m pretty sure we were there, but I’m wondering if the date had possibly been moved or rescheduled. Do you mind checking for me?”

“No, I don’t mind at all. I can check right now. I remember that date. We ate at Sin-full and stayed at the Diamond Elite Hotel. Their spa was top tier.”

Cassidy nodded, offering another forced smile. “I could definitely use that right now.”

“I could book you an appointment.” Tia peeked up from swiping through her phone. “Local, that is. Doesn’t have to be there. Might do you some good.”

“I might take you up on that. I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Duke was on April nineteenth, and that’s the original date. No rescheduling.” Cassidy watched her intently, hopeful to see something—anything—and came up empty.

Do I really want her to be guilty?

If it means clearing my name, yes.

“Are you sure?”

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