Page 91 of The System

Their dinner was in the oven, and all they had left to do was set the table, but Kieran had been talking about her visit with Marin, and Carina hadn’t wanted to interrupt her and suggest they go sit down. Kieran had hopped up on the kitchen island like she’d done it a million times before, though, and something about that just made Carina’s heart thunder inside her chest.

“Thank you?” Kieran replied. “You are, too.”

“Better than Diego?” she teased from her position of standing between Kieran’s legs.

Carina’s hands were on Kieran’s thighs, and her lips were on her neck now.

“Yes.” Kieran laughed a little. “Way better,” she added. “But it’s not a competition, you know?”

“No?”

“No. But am I a better kisser than–”

“If you say Tanley, I’m shoving you off this counter,” Carina told her, laughing.

Kieran laughed a little and said, “I like this.” Her arms moved around Carina’s neck.

“Which part?”

“All of it, really. But I meant that I could have a shitty day, and you’re here making me feel better.”

“I’m sorry she reacted that way.”

“I don’t know how I expected her to react, honestly. And she’s defended herself this whole time, but I don’t know how I can look past this second murder. How can I find out if she really was in Tampa and not Miami at the time?”

“You probably can’t. But Frank could,” Carina replied.

“Can I just get the info on where she says she was from her and fly there? I can ask some questions.”

“Babe, that’s Miami’s job. Frank will tell them about her alibi, and they’ll investigate. If they can find out that she was in Tampa at the time of the murder, they’ll drop the charges.”

“And if they can’t?”

“Then, she’ll go to trial here, and whether or not she gets convicted, Florida will want to try her there, too.”

“But why? If she’s already in prison, what’s the point?”

“Because here, there are mitigating circumstances.” Carina ran a hand into Kieran’s hair, massaging her scalp. “So, the judge could take that into account for her sentence. It depends which way Frank wants to go. He could decide to say that she did it, but it was in self-defense, so even if she gets convicted, the sentence might not be for life. Florida will want to make sure that if she serves a sentence here and is still alive, that she’ll go there to serve the rest of her life there.”

“Can I ask you something?” Kieran cupped Carina’s cheek.

“Yes.”

“Do you think she did it?”

“Oh, babe. I–”

“First, I like when you call me that. It just kind of rolls off your tongue like you’ve been meant to do it forever.”

Carina smiled up at her and asked, “And second?”

“Second, it’s okay if you do. I just want to know.”

Carina pulled back then and leaned against the cabinets opposite the island. Clenching her hands together in front of herself, she wasn’t sure why she was doing it.

“No, I don’t.”

“You don’t?” Kieran looked at her in confusion. “Wait. You don’t?”

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