Page 74 of Trial of Deceit

“It’s good.Move on.There’s a backroom not on the construction plan.It’s at three o’clock,” Ashari stated, watching as Sanjae’s body turned at an angle.He made no verbal command, but after heavy stomps and shakes of armor followed him toward the direction, Ashari released her grip on the microphone.Her fingers dug into the chair again.Her eyes darted around the live feed as Sanjae moved through the site, scanning over terrified or passive faces in search of Jediah.

He should be there.

Why wasn’t he there?!

Lyssa walked across the room.She stopped beside Ashari.“We’ll get him,” she assured, laying a hand on Ashari’s shoulder and giving it a squeeze.

Ashari’s lips parted, but her throat was still blocked.Her heart raced a mile a second, slamming against her chest so hard, she thought every throbbing vein would rupture.

Could this be the end of the Richardson empire?

It couldn’t be.

This was too easy.

Officers were only finding drug baggies hidden in the plyboards.Where were the guns?!Jediah had said they’d be temporarily housed there.Had he found somewhere better to store them?He was strategic like that—

Her spine stiffened as Jediah came into view.He was kneeling on the ground beside Elias, their hands raised in surrender.Two officers rushed over and forced them to the ground.Jediah’s teeth gritted as an officer knelt on his back, wood chippings pressing hard into the side of his face as the officer fastened a zip tie around his wrists.

Sanjae released his rifle.It swung at his side as he stooped before Jediah.Jediah’s eyes narrowed on Sanjae.Ashari knew he couldn’t see her through the lens, so she convinced herself that it was the dust causing him to glare so deeply.

Cheers and applause erupted around the room.Ashari’s grip loosened on the chair.

“Congrats, babe,” Lyssa whispered.

“Thanks,” Ashari mumbled.

Lyssa walked away with a victorious grin.

The tightness released from Ashari’s throat as she moved around the chair and plopped herself into it.She glanced to the side, meeting her father’s gaze.Toby gave her a nod before he left the room.Ashari dragged her gaze back to the monitor.She should’ve felt relief as Sanjae yanked Jediah to his feet.Instead, there was this morbid feeling of uncertainty.

Chapter eighteen

“Hestillhasn’tsaidanything?”Lyssa asked as she stopped beside Ashari, who stood before the window of the observation room.She handed Ashari a tall cup of coffee.

“No,” Ashari said, moving the hot brew to her lips.Its bitter taste added to the one already lingering inside her mouth.She paused after noticing the absence of the ring on her finger.It was back at the secure location at which she’d been stationed and guarded twenty-four seven for when Jediah eventually put two and two together.She wasn’t sure if Reka had shown Jediah the images, but since then, she’d caught him taking her ring off her finger one night.By the morning, the ring was back on her finger.Maybe he’d finally put a tracker in it.Ashari wasn’t sure, but she couldn’t afford any more slip ups at this integral part of the case.

Lyssa bumped Ashari with her shoulder.She smiled as Ashari glanced at her.“You did great.I was worried about you for a while.”

“Why?”

“Senior told me to keep my distance, but I couldn’t.Whenever Tsai told me that he brought you to a car mart, I snuck around the building and watched you.I saw how happy you looked with him.For a second, I thought…”

Ashari’s brow raised.“Thought what?”

“That you actually liked him,” she said, laughing as Ashari’s eyes widened.“But I know now that it was a ploy.Glad you took the initiative to bend the rules and leave the club.You’re really the best person we could’ve put on this case.It’s just a pity Romar and Jaia aren’t here to see it.”

“Right…” Ashari moved the coffee to her mouth, taking a big chug.It stung the back of her throat, and she choked.

Lyssa looked at her, placing a hand on her back.“You good?”

“Yeah.Can you get me a bottle of water, please?Coffee’s not good for me right now.The arrest’s making me uneasy,” Ashari explained, and Lyssa nodded before leaving the room.Walking toward the table pressed against the wall behind her, Ashari rested the cup atop it.She walked back to the window, watching closely as an agent tried getting a reaction out of Jediah.She should’ve felt victorious.Instead, she felt empty.

Since the raid, he’d been in the interrogation room for seven hours.The others — including Elias — who were arrested were in separate rooms.Jediah hadn’t asked for a lawyer, or to go take a leak.Not even once.He sat still as a statue with his cuffed hands resting atop his thigh beneath the table, his feet flat against the floor, his shoulders relaxed, and staring straight ahead at the window.

Her heart raced as the unease in the pit of her stomach continued to grow.This was such a bad idea.She should’ve gathered more evidence or beg Toby to take her off this case.Maybe Romar was right.She wasn’t as experienced as him to be the lead on anything.They should’ve gone with the angle of him wooing Reine while she worked from the shadows.

She sucked in a breath as Jediah slightly opened his mouth.The agent in the room stopped talking, leaning over the table, then banging his palm against it.He demanded that Jediah confess to the crimes.

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