Page 85 of I Want You
I thanked Claire for letting me use her computer and printer and left with my documents in hand. I shot a quick text to Wes. I needed to fill him in on this development.
Me: We need to talk.
I waited by my phone like a teenager texting his crush. Wes didn’t respond right away though, so I pocketed my phone and went back to Scarlett’s place.
The day moved in a strange haze, both too quickly and too slowly for the rest of the afternoon. My mind kept fixating on the implications of the differing documents.
Scarlett was in the bedroom getting ready to go out tonight. It was just Harpoon’s with the crew for drinks, nothing fancy, but she was spending a ridiculous amount of time on something.
“Letty, you almost ready?” I called through the door.
“Yeah, two minutes. I promise.”
When she stepped out of the room a few minutes later, myheart sent a kick to my ribs. She was stunning. In that silky black dress that floated against her skin, hugging her curves with a feather-light touch, the thin black straps that held it up that could so easily be slipped off her shoulder, she was exceptional in every way. Her red curls were pulled back into a thick braid; some of the pieces in the front loose and wild around her face.
“I’m overdressed, but I don’t care. I wanted to wear this for you the other day, but we stayed in, and I didn’t get a chance to.”
“Fuck, Letty. You look even more beautiful than I imagined. Maybe we don’t have to go out tonight. Let’s just stay in again.”
Laughter made her eyes crinkle, and she swatted at my chest as she passed me in the doorway. “We are going out. But I was kind of hoping to lose this dress on your bedroom floor later.”
I wrapped my arms around her from behind, whispering in her ear, “I hate to tell you, baby, but there is no way that dress is making it past the living room once I can get my hands on you.”
My phone vibrated from my pocket, eliciting a growl from my throat when I had to let her go. Wes had finally texted me back.
Wes: Are you breaking up with me, Wilder?
My brows pinched until I reread what I wrote to him earlier. I chuckled. It did kind of sound like a breakup text.
Me: Redmond’s case. It’s big. Are you going to Harpoon’s tonight?
Wes: Yes.
Me: I’ll tell you in person.
I pocketed my phone again and lifted my eyes to Scarlett, looking like the supermodel she was. “Let’s get over there. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave, right?”
“So impatient,” she teased, shaking her head at me.
Harpoon’s wasn’t too crowded. Scarlett and I found Wyatt, Maeve, and Seb at one of the high-top tables. Reid and Claire joined us a few minutes later, followed by Wes not long after them.
Beers were ordered for everyone, as well as some apps for the table.
I caught Wes’s eye as the conversation flowed around us, jutting my head to the side to indicate a sidebar conversation. I placed a quick kiss to Scarlett’s temple and met Wes a few feet away.
“Here.” I passed him the folded-up forensic report from my back pocket.
“What is this?” His eyes scanned the document quickly. It took less than three seconds for him to figure out what he was reading. His face hardened, and his gaze raked through it again from top to bottom. “Where did you get this?”
“State lab sent it to me. The copy I had from the report got coffee spilled on it, so I asked for another copy. This is what they sent.”
“This says Ryan wasn’t the owner of that cigarette. Unless it was Alana’s, it’s safe to say that someone else—not Redmond—was there when she was killed. Someone else left those marks on her.”
“It wasn’t Alana’s. We had it tested for both of them. Alana’s came back as a non-match, and Redmond’s supposedly came back as inconclusive.”
“Think this was an honest mistake by someone?”
“Honestly, no. I think the document on file as evidence was forged,” I said. Wes scratched at his thick beard. I could almost see the wheels turning in his head as he processed this development. “It was well done, but it wouldn’t stand up during the trial. The forensic scientist would be called as an expert witness. They would testify that they had different results. Unless someone was paying them off, I guess.”
