Page 9 of Cause and Effect

“What about your niece?” I asked.

“She’s different. She’s family.”

The crease between my brows deepened as I stared at this man.

“What?” Julian asked. “Listen, Laurel. This tension between us is because of what happened back in San Francisco. I’m just clearing the air with you. Now that you know I no longer want to sleep with you, we can let the tension fade away.”

“Okay. Tension gone.” I subtly rolled my eyes and stared out the window.

“Now that we’ve settled that, I’ll fill you in on Georgina Bennett. She’s the daughter of Ken Bennett, CEO of Bennett Technologies. Shit,” he said, staring out the window at all the reporters in front of the precinct.

“I guess word about her arrest already got out,” I spoke.

Sam pulled up to the precinct. Julian climbed out first and extended his hand.

“Come on. Hold my hand tight, and I’ll get you through this crowd.”

“I can manage,” I said, dismissing his hand.

He wasn’t amused. As soon as I stepped out of the car, I felt his hand on the small of my back. I wouldn’t lie and say it didn’t affect me because it did.

“Georgina, this is Laurel. She’s new to the firm and will be working on your case with me. Tell me what happened.”

“They think I killed Derek, Julian.”

Julian opened the file and studied it.

“Why was Derek at a hotel?” he asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? He was cheating on me.”

“Did you know he was cheating on you?”

“No.” She shook her head.”

“Where were you last night?” I asked her.

“I was home all night,” she said.

“Can anyone verify that?” Julian asked. “Your son, Chase?”

“No. I was alone, worrying about my husband because he didn’t come home or answer my texts or calls. Chase was with my parents that night.”

“What about your housekeeper?” Julian asked her.

“She was gone for the night. I didn’t murder my husband, Julian. You have to believe me.”

“I do, Georgina. Don’t worry. We’ll get you out of here.” Julian reached across the table and placed his hand on hers.

The guard removed Georgina from the room, and Julian and I spoke with Detective Larry Costner, who was handling the case.

“You have no evidence, Larry,” Julian said. “There’s no murder weapon, and my client was home all night. You have nothing to hold her. Come on. You know better than this.”

“We were only questioning her. She was the one who insisted on her lawyer being present. We’re getting a search warrant for her house.” He glanced at his watch. “Which should be ready soon. You might want to be with your client while we search the house.”

“We will be,” I said.

The detective’s phone pinged. “We got the search warrant.”

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