Page 96 of Innocent Intent

“If you had been more careful, then possibly, but they’ve seen both—the one you made and the original recording. I know you weren’t the only female performing on that video. You missed a few things. Criminals often get too confident. Your father was pretty damn confident, wasn’t he, Tia?”

Cassidy’s eyes lowered to the birthmark on Tia’s wrist. When she realized what Cassidy was doing, she pulled her arms back and pushed them under the table. She watched Tia’s expression falter briefly. It was only a second or two that Cassidy would have missed had she blinked at that exact moment.

“One small detail. One you didn’t think about. You went through all that trouble for nothing.”

“Took you long enough to get here.”

“A lot has changed,” Cassidy said calmly.

“Yeah, I suppose it has. At first, I was offended that you didn’t recognize me, but then again, why would you? I was just a kid and a minor hiccup in your pursuit to lock up my father and throw away the key. Get a promotion, a career, fame, and a bank account to match. Fuck who you destroy in the process.”

“Is that what this is about? Your father? My money?”

Tia smiled widely. “I don’t give a damn about my father. He should have gotten the death penalty, and even that wouldn’t be enough. I guess I should at least thank you for making sure he’s never getting out of there. As much as I hate how you used me to make that happen, I’m glad the world knows the man he truly is, a rapist and murderer.”

“And what about your mother?” Cassidy kept her eyes on Tia, whose eyes narrowed into thin slits.

“She made her choice. She could have lived a happy life without him, but she was too much of a coward.”

“So then, it was all about money? I can’t believe that you killed for money. You could have asked. I would have given it to you.”

Tia smirked but remained silent. By this time, Cassidy was over it and decided she wouldn’t get the answers she needed. Tia’s only intention had been to throw the fact that her husband was a liar and a cheat in her face. Things Cassidy already knew about him. The information wasn’t needed or wouldn’t change anything, so she pushed back from the table and stood.

“Giving up so soon?”

“You’re wasting my time. There’s nothing you can tell me that I don’t already know. Unless you want to fess up about why you killed Niles other than to frame me for it.”

Tia laughed, shaking her head. “You were right about one thing.”

“Which is?”

“I fabricated an alibi, but not to kill Niles. It was so that I wouldn’t become a suspect when he killed you.”

“When he . . .” Cassidy’s words fumbled before she managed to get her thought out. “Niles planned to kill me?” Cassidy rushed the words out in disbelief. Of all the blows she’d taken since the day Niles had been shot, this had to be the hardest to accept. It wasn’t enough to pretend to be someone he wasn’t, to fake being in love, but he’d also planned on taking her life. How? And why was he the one who ended up on the wrong end of a gun if she had been the target?

“Sure did. Or at least, that was the plan. Something changed the night he was supposed to do it. I don’t know what. He never told me, or maybe I didn’t give him a chance to. I called to make sure things were set up. It was around eight or nine. He started rambling about not going through with it.”

Cassidy swallowed thickly, remembering the call that came through. Right after they had sex, Niles insisted he had to leave to follow up on a lead on one of his missing person cases.

“And?”

“He asked me to meet him at his apartment. I knew something was off.”

“But you went anyway.”

“I did. Already had the alibi in place, and Ben was too fucking wasted to notice, or he didn’t care that I wasn’t the one in bed with him that night. I slipped out to meet Niles. We got there around the same time because as I passed the garage just as he was pulling in, guess who was behind him.”

Me.

Tia smiled.

“I called him again. Asked where he was. He confirmed he’d just got there. I parked on the street because I knew about the cameras in the garage. When I made it to his apartment, he was acting crazy. Talking about how he couldn’t do it. He wanted to figure things out with you but couldn’t if I stayed around.”

“So, how did you end up with my gun?”

“He brought it with him. I really don’t think he ever planned on going through with killing you. He showed up that night to get rid of me. Permanently if I refused to take the money. He had a new plan. Stay married to you and have his happily ever after. I wasn’t feeling it, so I also decided on a new plan. When he asked me if I would agree to take the money and go, I said yes. He walked into the bedroom, left the gun on the table, so I picked it up and shot him.”

“Why shoot him? Why not just take the money?”

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