Page 70 of Innocent Intent

“But you said you had a speaking engagement that day.”

“I did.”

“Tia, your assistant, travels with you. Is it possible that she’s the one they reached? Maybe she had your phone while you were speaking, and they reached her, not you.”

Cassidy gently shook her head. “No, it’s not possible. I always keep my phone with me. There’s never a time when Tia would have had it.”

“What about when you were speaking?”

“Not even then.” Cassidy swallowed a large gulp, hesitant about the confession she was about to make, unsure why it would have mattered. “I have an aversion to speaking in front of larger crowds. After my parents left, I rarely communicated. According to Clara, I withdrew into myself. Books were my escape. I’d read just about anything.” She smiled softly before her eyes met with Davis’s.

“Anyway, I didn’t have many friends. I felt awkward and out of place most of the time. My therapist said it came from being abandoned. My parents leaving me with a neighbor was a part of the reason why. Although I was familiar with Clara and had been to her home enough times to feel comfortable, my parents’ leaving shifted something in me. Keeping to myself didn’t change over the years, I suppose. Being in front of large crowds made me anxious, fearing people were analyzing me. I know that’s weird, considering it’s what I do. For each speaking engagement, Tia was there, right up front, as a focal point for me, to keep me grounded. I kept my phone to use my notes to stay on task. She was there that day, just like all the others. The bank didn’t contact me or her. It wasn’t possible.”

Davis nodded. She could see him processing. “So you hate speaking in front of large crowds?”

“Pretty much.”

“Psychology fits. It’s typically one-on-one, but the direction in which your career shifted is not so much. Knowing you’re uncomfortable in that space, why would you take on such a task?”

Cassidy smiled and shrugged. “I hadn’t really planned on the book becoming a bestseller and people wanting me for speaking engagements. That was never the plan. It just kind of happened.”

He laughed. “It didn’t ‘just happen,’ Cass. It was destined. You’re great at what you do, and you’ve had a stellar career.”

She frowned, staring at him pensively. “You still believe that, after everything you know about me?”

Her eyes remained affixed on him, waiting, hoping. Her stomach twisted at the thought of how much she wanted—needed—his approval. “Yeah, I do. Why wouldn’t I?”

“You know why,” she said quietly.

“You have to let that go. You did nothing wrong . . .”

“I hid the truth, which might not be classified as ‘wrong,’ but it certainly wasn’t the right decision.”

“Do you truly believe that? If you did, then we wouldn’t be having this discussion right now. You believed you made the best decision possible, given the circumstances. You didn’t lie, Cass. You made an ethical choice to prevent other women from falling victim to a very sick and morally corrupt man. There’s no way in hell I could hold that against you. I don’t hold that against you.”

His firm stance on the matter allowed her to relax. “Thank you.”

Davis offered a tight nod before he asked his next question. “Has Tia ever been here alone?”

“No, never. You’re asking an awful lot of questions about Tia. What is it that you’re not telling me? Did you find something that makes you think she’s somehow connected to this?”

“Yes and no.”

“I don’t like the way that sounds.”

“Neither do I, but this is where we are.”

“And where exactly are we, Nate? Are you accusing Tia of something?”

Cassidy would be crushed if she had yet again fallen victim to someone abusing her trust. First, Niles, and now, Tia. How had she allowed that to happen twice?

“The partial print we found on the gun matched thirty-two people. It’s how we were able to exclude you completely. It’s evident someone wiped the gun to conceal their identity, but they messed up and left something behind.”

“The partial . . .”

Davis nodded. “Neither of the six points matched your print. But it did match that of one we found in the database of a child. There was a record listed from Ident-A-Kid.”

“For Tia?”

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