Save Your Breath (Morgan Dane #6) - Melinda Leigh Page 0,82
in Lance’s crotch, and wagged.
“She’s friendly?” he asked, not liking her giant teeth so close to his important parts.
“Yes.” Joe sighed. “Please don’t tell anybody. She’s scared the crap out of more than one reporter, but she’s actually not much of a guard dog. She likes everybody.”
Lance rubbed her head, carefully moving the dog’s nose from his groin. Encouraged by the attention, she pressed closer, forcing Lance backward a step.
“Place,” Joe commanded, gesturing to a dog bed the size of a twin mattress in the corner. The dog walked to her bed and lay down. Joe walked around the island, opened a drawer, and took out two hearing aids. He put them in his ears and faced them over the island. “Now, what do you want?”
Sharp began, “Did Olivia Cruz contact you?”
“She did. Several times. By phone and by email.” Joe crossed his arms. “I emailed her back and told her I don’t grant interviews.”
“Could you hear us outside?” Lance leaned a hip on the counter.
Joe shook his head. “But I can read lips.”
And that explained why Joe hadn’t heard them calling for him.
“You never spoke to Olivia?” Sharp hooked a thumb in the front pocket of his jeans.
“No.” Joe leaned on the counter, spreading his palms wide. “I prefer email and text. I don’t like to talk on the phone. Even with hearing aids, it’s hard for me to distinguish words without having lips and facial expressions to read.”
Sharp’s head tilted. “The night Brandi Holmes was kidnapped, your brother said he was here with you. Was he?”
Joe stared at his dog. “As I said in my testimony, I don’t wear my hearing aids at night. In fact, I don’t like to wear them at all. They aren’t like glasses. Hearing can’t be returned to twenty-twenty. I’ve never been able to get used to the way they amplify sound. There’s always distortion and background noise. And it’s like wearing plugs in your ears all the time.”
“You didn’t give your brother an alibi?” Sharp asked.
“How could I?” Joe’s voice rose. “Even if I had wanted to, it was impossible.”
“But did you want to?” Sharp pressed.
Joe blinked. “I wish I could have given him an alibi.”
Lance switched gears. “Olivia found a technical issue with the evidence presented in your brother’s trial. Did she mention it to you?”
Beads of sweat broke out on Joe’s forehead. A vein on his temple throbbed. “No.”
Is he lying?
“What was wrong with the evidence?” Joe asked.
Lance explained about the break in the chain of custody of the hair samples.
“I don’t understand all that technical legal crap, but my brother will never get out of prison.” Joe shook his head, as if trying to convince himself.
“What if he could get an appeal?” Lance asked.
“It’s been years,” Joe stammered. “Could that even happen?”
“I don’t know,” Lance said. “But Olivia was onto something. And now she’s missing.”
“Well, Cliff is in prison. He didn’t take her.” Joe began to pace. He propped one hand on a hip and swept the other through his thick black hair. Distress radiated from him in waves.
“You’re sure you didn’t meet with her?” Sharp asked.
Joe stopped, his mouth dropping open as his gaze darted back and forth between Sharp and Lance. “You can’t think I had anything to do with her disappearance.”
That was exactly what Lance was thinking.
He leaned forward, placing both palms on the smooth wood. “Why does the thought of revealing an evidentiary error bother you? Do you believe Cliff is innocent? Is he going to be mad you didn’t give him a better alibi? Has he been locked up for three years for a crime he didn’t commit?”
Joe swallowed. “This conversation is over. Get out.” His voice roughened. Sensing her master’s emotions, the dog rose to her feet, her attention riveted on Joe.
Sharp didn’t break eye contact with Joe until Lance guided him toward the front door. They walked outside into the cold night air. They didn’t speak until they reached the car.
Sharp unlocked the vehicle with his fob.
“Let me drive.” Lance walked to the driver’s door.
Sharp didn’t argue and climbed into the passenger seat. “What did you think?”
“I’m not sure.” Lance turned the vehicle around. “He wasn’t happy about the idea that his brother’s conviction could be overturned.”
“Does he really think his brother is guilty or did Joe kill Brandi? Maybe he doesn’t want the case reopened?” Sharp leaned his head on the back of the seat. “We don’t have anything to tie him to Brandi or any of the other missing women.”