Page 131 of Winning Bid

“Do you really think there’s hope?”

“There’s always hope.” He answered too fast for my liking.

“I mean it. Don’t just say what I want to hear.”

My request gives him pause. “I want to believe there’s hope. I don’t know if that hope will pan out. But when it comes to you and me, I will always hold out hope for the best.”

“I don’t think I can do that.”

“How come?”

“Hope can betray you. I’d rather have luck.”

He huffs a laugh, blowing into my hair. “Yeah, we could use some luck.”

Out of nowhere, a memory comes to mind. In law school, one of my professors used to say that if a client is depending on luck for their outcome, then cut them as fast as possible. Luck puts people in prison.

I fall asleep, praying Professor Jenkins was wrong.

61

ANDERSON

This morning, Dana tried to get me not to take the stand. She said it was foolish at this point, but I refused. However, she did talk me out of going with the truth. She said it’s a bullshit Hail Mary play that only works in movies. “… refute his claims. Make him sound like a punch-drunk thug who is making up grandiose stories to get immunity for hauling a body away.”

On the long walk to the witness stand, I take stock of everything I’ve done in my life. I’ve lied and cheated—of course, I have. I’m a lawyer. It comes with the territory. I know how to talk my way into and out of trouble. That’s what I’ve always done.

I can do it now, too.

Tanner gets his chance after I’m sworn in. “Mr. West, you face very serious charges. Brave of you to show up since you could flee the country easily enough.”

Dana starts to speak, but I wave her off. “Justice wouldn’t be served that way.” Suddenly, everything clicks. Why my family is almost exclusively lawyers? Why men like Neil get away with things? Why has Moss been backed into a corner?

Justice is broken. Someone has to fix it.

“Do I have it right that on the night in question, you stated that you?—"

“I did it.”

Every person in the room has a reaction, but it’s June I can’t look away from. I’d thought she might cry, but she stared back at me, utterly confused. Judge Ackerman pounds the gavel until people shut up. Tanner laughs, delighted he’s going to win. “Mr. West, can you say that again?”

“You’re looking for a murderer, but you won’t find one. You’re trying to paint me as the jealous ex or say that June was cheating on me. Neither is the case. I’ll tell you want you want to hear, but I will tell it my way.”

He smirks. “Go ahead.”

“The night in question, I went to check up on June at her new job. But I saw another man walking her home. I thought once he left, I might get a chance to talk to her, so I followed along, call that what you will. Her apartment building’s lobby has glass doors, so I saw them standing at the elevator. And that’s when I saw Neil get out of hand with her. She pushed him back … ” My throat goes dry at the memory. “He started to choke her. She tried to fight him off … but he was stronger. I ran in, pulled him off of her. She fell to the floor … ” The words make me sick to my stomach.

The judge says, “Please continue.”

“I fought Neil Johnson. She wouldn’t be safe until he was neutralized—I knew that much. He gave almost as good as he got. A couple of times, I was on the ropes. When I shoved him back, I had no idea there was a stud in the wall behind him. He whacked his head on it … what Moss said was right. It was an accident that happened during self-defense. I never wanted to kill anyone. But I will never let anything happen to the woman I love. Not if I can help it.”

Tanner clenches his jaw. “And then you hid the body.”

“I shouldn’t have, but at that point, all I could think of was June.”

“How’s that?”

“I didn’t want her name to be tied to that bastard every time someone looked her up. I didn’t want her to have to go through any of this because some guy tried to kill her. When he strangled her, he threatened to have sex with her body, Mr. Walsh. She should not have to be reminded of that each time she meets someone new. She deserves a clean slate.” I sigh at myself. “I thought by hiding the body, I was giving that to her. It was foolish of me, but I did it for love.”

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