Page 18 of 2nd Strike
Except…nothing. She sits there, staring. Her jaw is relaxed, her lips soft. If she was mad, I’d know it. This isn’t anger.
What I’m not seeing is a smile so this sure isn’t happiness either.
Honestly, I don’t know what this is. A buzz shoots straight up my neck as silence builds like a funnel cloud about to take out a town.
I spin my chair back to the emperor. “JJ, come in. We’ll update you.”
His smile is still in place, his features composed. Relaxed even. But something is…off. This is that of a career prosecutor who knows how to play a jury. Even when blindsided.
“Meg,” Charlie says.
The way she drags out my name,Meeggg, leads me to believe I’ve screwed up.
Royally.
Could it be that she hasn’t told JJ about Ethan? Seriously? The man is a genius at solving cold cases. More than that, he’s a tireless victims’ advocate.
So, right now, I couldn’t give a crap my sister is irritated with me. JJ’s office should be involved.
No question.
“You didn’t tell him,” I say.
It comes out as the accusation it is and I receive the Charlie death glare.
“No,” JJ answers, his voice even. “I don’t believe she’s told me.”
“You have to.”
“I donow. JJ, come to my office.”
Still filleting me with her laser focus stare, she pushes out of her chair and storms around the table.
“Hey,” I say, “You can death-glare me all you want.Youscrewed this one up. Not me.”
JJ stands to the side as Charlie moves past. If he knows anything about my sister, it’s to get out of her way when she’s on a roll.
“Well,” he observes as he watches her go. “This should be good.”
9
Charlie
I'm shaking so hard, I nearly twist my ankle walking to my office. Stomping, is more like it. I'm angry, yes. Not at Meg, but at myself.
I'm too wired to sit, too apprehensive to look at JJ. I pace behind the desk, nearly twist my ankle again, and kick off the offending shoes. They smack the wall like bullets—whack, whack.
Without the four-inch heels, I can pace faster, but I'm now that much shorter than JJ.
“Hey,” he says, his voice like melted butter. “What’s going on?"
The real reason I'm shaking—the underlying emotion causing my anger—is fear. JJ should've been the first person I reached out to. He has as much at stake in the outcome of this situation as I do.
The thing I suck at is admitting mistakes. The one person I never want to admit I screwed up to is the dark haired man watching me with his intense eyes.
"I'm looking into an old case," I tell him, avoiding those eyes and flipping through some files on my desk. “At the time it was closed, I thought I did everything right, but now…”
I can't bring myself to say it. Why didn't I insist Carl and Lily have that damn DNA test when I returned Ethan? I've asked myself that a hundred times the last couple days. Yes, I tried, but I should've pushed harder to get them to consent, or my superior, a judge,somebody, to force them to do it.
