Page 21 of The System

“Doesn’t mean he deserved to be murdered,” Carina countered. “If he was a bad guy and committed a crime, he should’ve been in prison.”

“As if the world is black and white like that, and all the bad guys go to prison while all the good guys live free,” Kieran replied.

Carina pulled up short at that and leaned back in her chair.

“I wish that were the case, if that helps. I try to make that happen in my job, but sometimes, it’s out of my hands.”

“I don’t remember where I was eight years ago,” Kieran said then. “Dylan told me the date, but I couldn’t remember. She also mentioned that the murder happened right before the fire and that the fire department was there by ten-fifteen.”

“Yes, they were.”

“Well, if it was that late at night, I was probably at home, on my computer.”

“Do you still have that computer if we need it? I doubt we do, but just in case.”

“I built it, so yes. It’s been upgraded a few times since, but I’m a software engineer, so I know why you’re asking. Your people should be able to pull logs from it. And before you ask, Diego should have been home, but he would’ve been in his office, if he was. So, he wouldn’t know if I was there or not. I don’t remember that exact night, but odds are, he would’ve been working from at least eight to eleven before he’d shower and we’d go to bed.”

“I can tell you’re the wife of an attorney,” Carina noted.

“Ex-wife,” Kieran reminded again.

“Sorry,” Carina replied. “And you wouldn’t know if he was in his office for sure?”

“No. Back then, he was an associate, trying to get as many billable hours as possible, so he’d leave work around six, and we’d have dinner. Then, he’d disappear after that until bedtime.”

“One of the reasons I didn’t go that route.”

“What route?” Kieran asked.

“Corporate law firms,” she replied. “I put in the hours here, and a lot of them because we’re always short-staffed and have way too many cases on our plates, but I never have to worry about billable hours or making partner.”

“Well, he’s a partner now. Junior, but still. He’s their head of litigation and will probably be a named partner by the time he’s forty.”

“How old is he now?”

“Same as me; thirty-five. We met freshman year in college.”

“Wow! Long time,” Carina said.

“On and off once he went to law school and I went to grad school, but then together after that and married for about a decade before we divorced. So, he’d be able to tell you for sure that he’s never heard me mention a sister and that the story of my birth and adoption didn’t involve a second baby. You don’t need to drag my mom into this.”

“I can probably avoid it, but it’ll depend on what happens with the case,” she replied. “I’ll likely still put her on my witness list because I have to if I think I might need to call her.”

“She’s struggling with this, okay?” Kieran told her.

“She is?”

“She would’ve adopted both of us. My parents have always wanted more kids. She’s read the stuff I sent her about Marin being found by the homeless woman and knows a little of what I’ve told her about how Marin grew up, and she feels guilty that she didn’t know. She also lost my dad about six years ago to cancer, so she’s been on her own ever since. I didn’t even know that I was adopted until right before he died. That caused us some problems early on, though, because I’d never known, and it threw me that I wasn’t related to them by blood. I know that it doesn’t matter; they’re still my parents. But knowing that doesn’t keep me from wondering why my birth parents would’ve thrown me away, and she felt guilty about that, too. Now, on top of all that, my adoption is part of a murder case. All I’m asking is that you try to leave her out of this if you can. She can’t prove whether or not Marin did this, and you’d have me and Diego, too, if you need him, to tell you that I didn’t know.”

“Diego would be representing Marin in this case, so I wouldn’t call him. I just needed you to see the conflict of interest. Let’s play it by ear. I’ll add her to the list, but I’ll only call her if I absolutely need her, okay?”

“Best offer?” Kieran asked, which made Carina chuckle a little.

“Best offer.”

“Okay. Well, what else do you need to know?”

“Nothing for now,” she replied. “The logs from your computer would be a good start, but I can’t have you pull those yourself. Can I send a tech over to your apartment to do that later today or have you bring your computer in?”

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