Page 55 of The System

“Is she?” he asked.

“If I knew that for sure, I wouldn’t be prosecuting her, but so far, I only have evidence that points to her, and it’ll be easy enough for me to convince a jury of that. She’ll be looking at life and maybe a parole date in twenty to twenty-five years.”

“Okay. I’ll take the deal to her with the new probation term, and we’ll see what she says.”

“Do you know why Diego dropped the case?” Carina asked as the PD closed his notebook and was about to stand up and leave her office.

“No. We only had one quick call to talk about it once it was assigned to me. He was nice but clearly too busy to talk long.”

“Okay,” Carina replied. “Well, take that to her and let her know. Diego was pushing for a speedy trial. Are you going to rush this if she refuses the deal?”

“I don’t think so.” The PD laughed. “I need time to prepare if we’re going to trial.” He stood up and grabbed his briefcase. “I’ll call you and let you know about the deal.”

“Please do.”

After he left, Carina realized she’d never gotten his name. He must have been new to the PD’s office because she hadn’t come up against him in court before. He was young, too; twenty-five or twenty-six years old, maybe. She knew she’d wipe the floor with him at trial, but if she could save them both the time and effort and the state a lot of money, she’d keep the deal on the table for now, even if she’d just told him it had a clock attached to it. The fact that Diego was no longer on the case, though, was interesting, and Carina found herself staring at the clock on her computer first before she picked up her phone and dialed the newest number she’d added to her phone.

“Hey,” Kieran said.

“Hi. Is now an okay time to call?”

“Are you calling as the person trying to put my sister in prison or as my new sort of weird friend?”

Carina laughed and sat back in her chair.

“How about both?”

“I can only handle a call from the new sort-of-weird friend right now.”

“Everything okay?” Carina asked seriously.

“I don’t know. I’m just tired. I’m not sleeping well these days, and this Marin stuff is really starting to get to me.”

“Yeah, about that. I actually called because I just heard that Diego isn’t on the case anymore.”

“He’s not. He dropped it.”

“Any idea why?”

“Two-fold, I think. One, he’s too busy at the firm, and they made him drop it because it’s not making them money. So, you know, capitalism.”

“Ah, that old chestnut,” she replied.

“And the other reason is that he’s still in love with me and helping me by helping Marin, who looks pretty much just like me, isn’t helping that.”

“Oh,” Carina said. “So, he’s finally realizing that you’re not interested in getting back together?”

“Sounds like it,” Kieran replied. “But I can’t talk long. I still have some work I need to finish up today.”

“It’s after six.”

“Yes. And?”

“Are we doing improv now?”

“Yes. And?” Kieran joked.

Carina laughed and said, “You’re still working.”

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