Page 52 of By His Side

“Yeah, well… Thankfully, I went down the path of stealing cars rather than killing people.”

“Wise decision.”

“Wasn’t it?”

I switched the radio on, tuning it to a station that played the latest pop hits, Levi surprising me by humming along to one or two of them. When he caught me staring, he narrowed his eyes. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“Spit it out, Quinn.”

“I’m just surprised you like pop, that’s all.”

“What am I supposed to be into? Gangster rap? Anyway… it’s Hayden that listens to this stuff.”

“Course it is.”

“It is.”

We bickered amicably most of the way there, Levi providing the perfect distraction. At least until I parked in front of Belmarsh’s red brick building and things became all too real. I checked my watch, the visiting order scheduled for 14:15, which seeing as it was only 13:30 meant I’d gotten here in plenty of time. Belmarsh wasn’t a prison I’d ever had cause to visit before, my clients tending more toward petty crimes than serious ones, but I expected the security checks to be even more stringent here, so I’d kept that in mind with my arrival time. Most murderers, Julian Blackwell included, got life without the possibility of parole, which kept them off my books.

Levi’s gaze burned a hole in the side of my face as I stared at the entrance to the prison. “Are you nervous?”

It was tempting to lie and pretend it was no big deal, but I doubted Levi would buy it. “Yeah, a bit.”

“What did you end up telling him?”

“Author, like you suggested. I told him I was researching possible miscarriages of justice, that I’d seen his case and thought it might qualify.”

Levi grimaced. “Wow!When you start lying, you do it with panache, don’t you?”

I shrugged. “I needed to see him. You were the one who told me to think about what someone like him would want. I figured he’d want someone telling him he was innocent, that he’d been treated unjustly. Besides, if you think about it, I stuck as close to the truth as I could. I am researching a miscarriage of justice. I just happen to think he’s the perpetrator of it rather than the victim.”

“I suppose.” Levi didn’t sound convinced. “You’re going to have to be clever with how you talk to him.”

“I’m aware.”

Levi sat back in his seat. “And what if you get him to admit to something? It’s only going to be your word against his, and he’ll deny it.”

I fought a wave of conscience as I reached into the glove compartment and pulled out my recent purchase from Amazon. It was tiny—a rectangle of black plastic smaller than a matchbox. When Levi only stared at it blankly, I explained. “It’s a voice recorder.” I turned it over to show the underside. “You press this button here and it records everything. And yes, I know they don’t allow recording equipment, and if they find it while frisking me, I’ll be in deep shit. It’s a risk I’m willing to take.” The sheen of sweat that had broken out on my forehead gave lie to my words. Levi was staring at me like I’d gone insane. I probably had. “Don’t look at me like that. You used to steal cars. All I’m doing is taking an item I shouldn’t into a prison for a visit. And it’s for the right reasons.”

Levi blinked. “Where are you going to put it?”

I’d thought about that long and hard. My armpit was out when the frisk would require me to raise my arms. I doubtedoops, how did that get therewould be very convincing when it dropped out.

“My shoe. I’ll just have to start it recording before I go in and pray that I don’t accidentally knock the button. It records for two hours, which is more than enough time.”

“You know there’s such a thing as dogs that can sniff out electronic equipment?”

I did. I’d done extensive research. “I’m counting on the sniffer dogs here being trained to sniff out drugs, not technology.”

“Oh, you’re counting on it, are you?” Levi lay his head back against the car seat and heaved out a breath. “Hayden’s going to kill me for being part of this when you get arrested for smuggling contraband in.”

“It’s not contraband per se. I’m not giving it to Julian. I’m using it against him.”

“It’s good that you’re already working on your defense. I guess that losing your job for sleeping with a client won’t be a problem once you’ve already lost it for getting caught doing this.”

“What other option do I have?”

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