Page 117 of The System

“We do a lot of that in my line of work, but yeah. So, let’s suggest that the murder took place after eight-thirteen. Say that she walked. That walk would’ve taken her…” Carina pulled up Google Maps and did a quick search. “Oh, that’s good: about twenty-two minutes, depending on the route she took. A drive would only be about four, but in reality, it would probably be five to ten minutes once you add getting in the car, getting out with her bag, and walking the rest of the way to the stop.”

“Assuming she walked and the time of death is after eight thirteen, she’s seen at the bus stop for the first time at eight-fifty-three,” Kieran said. “If she walked slow, which is likely because she had a concussion, was still bleeding, and was carrying a bag–”

“Supposition,” Carina interrupted.

“Bless you,” Kieran joked.

“Frank might be able to suggest that.” Carina laughed a little. “But there’s no record of a concussion.”

“Okay… But you can clearly see that she has a giant head wound with blood in the video. Couldn’t Frank call a doctor to say that, in their experience, head wounds like that can cause concussions or, at least, a massive blood loss, which might make her walk more slowly while carrying a huge bag?”

“Yes, he can, but it’s still a stretch without evidence. Either way, you’d have to contend with the borrowed car possibility.”

“Not really. Like I said, Kevin won’t find anyone who can testify that Marin borrowed their car or got a ride that night. I can still tell Frank to check for stolen car records, parking tickets, or vehicles left too long near the bus stop, but she didn’t steal a car. She walked.”

“How can you be so sure?” Carina asked.

“She told me she walked. She had no idea that there would still be footage on these buses when she told me what happened that night; no way of knowing that we could track this down and either not find her or give her an alibi.”

“It’s not a full alibi, though,” Carina argued. “There are still a few minutes unaccounted for if they can convince a jury that she walked at a normal speed and in twenty-two minutes or got a ride. Besides, we also don’t know where she was after she got off this bus and ended up at the depot. The depot is in a neighboring city. They don’t have footage going back that far. I checked.”

“I know. Frank told me. I’m back where I started,” Kieran said as she leaned into Carina’s side.

“No, you’re not. You and Frank have this now, and it’s good, Kieran. I don’t want you to think that it’s bad news. You’ll have twelve jurors at a trial. All you need is to convince one.”

“But how can I do that when they have a gun that she says she bought, and another victim in Miami?”

“I know you want to help, but believe it or not, this isn’t actually your job, babe. It’s up to Frank and the investigators.”

“I know. But she’s my sister. I want to help.”

“Get your PI license.”

“What?”

“Just throwing that out there, Sherlock. You get better access as a private investigator.”

“I’m an engineer. I code things.”

“Whatever you say, Sherlock,” Carina teased.

“Does that make you my very sexy Watson?” Kieran wiggled her eyebrows at her.

“Just play the video, Walsh,” she replied with a laugh.

CHAPTER 34

Carina was lying asleep in Kieran’s bed, and she was still naked. Kieran, however, was sitting in her office, staring at the screen in front of her. It was just after three in the morning. After reviewing the footage together, they’d had dinner and watched a movie, both of them trying to push thoughts of the case and Carina being in trouble out of their mind, but things had kept coming up.

“Can Frank just email these files like that?” Kieran had asked.

“To speed up the possibility of getting a deal, yeah. The files would be verified by our experts, but we’d get them ourselves straight from the source, too,” Carina had replied before she’d snuggled up in front of Kieran on the sofa.

Kevin had actually called Carina earlier to tell her to delete the files from her computer, so Carina had done that, but only after letting Kieran save them to her own hard drive. She’d filled out the form to receive them anyway and would likely get them at some point, so they didn’t consider it breaking the rules.

“Do you think Kevin will offer her a deal?” Kieran had asked an hour later.

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

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