Page 39 of The System

“Oh. Well, do that. Or, at least, he should. Anything she says in that interview could be used against her, so he’ll need to put a stop to it.”

“Maybe I should just let him handle that.”

“You want my opinion?”

Kieran laughed because she really did.

“Tell her not to do this. Tell her that you won’t give an interview, either. A lot of people just want to get their story out there. They want someone who’s willing to listen, and they make mistakes. Even if she’s got one appeal left, she shouldn’t be giving interviews. Or, if she does, it should be with her attorney approving everything and right there to listen in and control it should it go sideways.”

Kieran looked down at her shoes and said, “Thank you. I know you don’t have to be on my side here, so thank you.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Kieran.”

“What if Marin didn’t either, though?”

“That’s for us to find out, isn’t it?” Carina replied.

CHAPTER 13

When she arrived home and heard Tinley in the kitchen, likely making a mess, Carina hurried up the stairs and quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a light sweater. She hated having to sneak around her own house, but she wasn’t in the mood for Tinley’s excuses or requests for yet another extension on not paying rent or staying with her. It was also around dinnertime, so Tinley would be cooking for one, as she usually did, and Carina would need to fight for space in her own kitchen to make herself dinner and then either eat with Tinley or she’d have to eat in her bedroom, which she’d done before, unfortunately.

Making it back out to the garage without Tinley hearing her over the music she was playing while cooking, Carina left and hit the road with no real destination in mind. The need to get out of her house to get some privacy was very real, but it still left her directionless. She heard Ada’s voice in her head from their pizza-time the other night and considered it.

“You need to tell her to go. She has friends. She can couch-surf until she finds a place. This is getting ridiculous,” Ada had said.

Of course, Ada was absolutely right, but kicking Tinley out of the house would just end in the woman making that puppy-dog face and Carina giving in again, so they’d be right back where they started, with Tinley conning yet another month out of her. How she could go into a courtroom and hold her own with opposing counsel and judges she didn’t always like or agree with but couldn’t handle her own ex-girlfriend was beyond Carina, but when she passed the one movie theater in town, an idea hit her. She turned around and soon joined the short line for tickets.

Not caring what movie she saw, she ended up with one ticket to something with Kenzie Smyth and Lennox Owen as two friends on a vacation together where they fall in love. She’d heard about this film but hadn’t planned on seeing it in a theater, thinking she’d watch it streaming once it was out. Knowing very little about it other than it starred a married couple and was one of the year’s only women-loving-women movies and the one with the biggest budget, Carina bought herself a giant tub of popcorn, added butter, and put sugar in the iced tea she’d bought, wishing they served sweet tea there because she loved sweet and salty. Instead, she’d have to deal with undissolved sugar granules at the bottom of her cup.

Luckily, she was early for the movie, so when she walked in, the lights were still half-lit, allowing her to see which seats were available. Generally, she liked sitting in the middle of the theater, if she had her pick, but she noticed someone whom she recognized all the way at the top, right under the window where the movie would be projecting out to the screen. She smiled and tilted her head a bit because Kieran Hart was in the theater by herself, too. Or, maybe she was just waiting for someone. Not Diego, to be sure. Kieran had made it clear that her marriage to him was over, so that probably meant they wouldn’t see a movie together, but especially not a movie where two women fall in love.

“Well, hello,” she said. “Weren’t you just saying we need to spend time together outside of the criminal justice system?”

“Carina? What are you doing here?” Kieran asked, looking up from her tub of popcorn with some still in her hand.

“I’m here to see the movie. What about you?”

“Oh, right. Same.”

“Are you waiting for someone?” she asked, looking at the empty seats on both sides of Kieran.

“No, I came here by myself. I just… needed to get out of my apartment and think about anything other than the case, my sister, and, well, work, too, I guess.”

“But you like your job.”

“I was late on a project,” Kieran explained. “Which is not like me at all, but things have been a little hectic lately, and I missed a deadline.”

“Did you get in trouble or–”

“Not really. I told my boss beforehand that I’d be late, and he put someone else on it. I had to help them finish it up, and we got it done, but I’m not really happy with myself right now. Video games weren’t helping, so I went to a late movie.” Kieran nodded toward the screen. “You?”

“Can I sit?”

“Oh, yeah. Sure.”

Carina sat down next to her and set her own popcorn in her lap.

“I have an ex-girlfriend at my house, and I didn’t feel like dealing with her, so I ran.”

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