24th of March?”
“Yes.”
All around Kyla, people began murmuring to each other even as Conway stated there was video confirming Nesbitt had been in his office for nearly four hours on the evening in question. The murmurs only got louder after that and the judge banged his gavel on the bench so hard he was going to need to buy a new one. In between trying to regain some sense of control within the courtroom, he motioned the lead prosecutor forward with a frown. Probably so he could ask him how the hell it was possible the state hadn’t thought to check to see if their one and only suspect might have an alibi for the night of the crime.
Because having an alibi was the first rule of hiring someone to commit murder for you. But Kyla thought that since Nesbitt wasn’t shouting it from the rooftops he didn’t have one. And if Nesbitt’s lawyer got his way, the charges against him would be dropped. Once Nesbitt walked out of the courtroom a free man, it was going to be nearly impossible to ever get him back in unless they managed to link him to the killer he hired.
Kyla’s breath started coming faster as she felt a panic attack kick in and she thoughts she might pass out. Then Wes’s arm was around her and he was pulling her into a tight embrace. She melted against him, needing him more than she could imagine ever needing anyone.
“It’s okay,” he whispered. “We’re not going to let Nesbitt get away with this.”
She wanted to believe Wes, but as Nesbitt turned in his chair to give her a smug smile, she wasn’t so sure. Abruptly, the utter despair threatening to overwhelm her disappeared to be replaced with a wave of anger that made her want to walk over there and punch the arrogant asshole right in the face.
Kyla promised herself then and there she’d do anything she had to do to make sure Nesbitt paid for what he’d done to her family.
Anything.
* * * * *
IT WAS AFTER two A.M. by the time Wes finally got home. A studio apartment on the fifth floor of the building, it was one room with the kitchen and living room taking up most of it. The bedroom was directly off the main space and separated by a half wall. Other than the closet, the bathroom was the only room that had a door. It wasn’t big by any stretch of the imagination, but the neutral color scheme made it seem more spacious than it was. The wall opposite the couch was large enough for a big-screen TV and that was all he cared about.
Locking the door, he tossed his keys on the table to one side of the tiny entryway with a sigh. Damn, he was exhausted. He’d gone straight from the mission debriefing at the Imperial Beach Complex that morning to the courthouse to see Kyla instead of grabbing some shut-eye, so he was running on fumes. Normally, he would have gotten some sleep on the flight back from the mission, but the only bird available had been in a C-5 cargo plane loaded to the gills with shrink-wrapped pallets of mail and diplomatic pouches. He’d spent half the trip trying to doze on the metal floor and the other draped over a pile of mail. If the Air Force was looking for a five-star rating on Yelp from him, they weren’t going to get it.
That wasn’t the only reason he was beat. Watching Kyla completely shut down after Nesbitt went free had been gut wrenching. She’d invested so much of herself in the trial and seeing the man responsible for her father’s murder go to prison that when it didn’t happen, she was devastated. She’d sat there staring off into space without saying a word, her face blank, her body stiff. She wouldn’t even look at the prosecutor when the man came over to apologize for what happened. She wouldn’t talk to Owen and Andrew, either. It took a while, but Wes finally managed to convince her to leave.
They’d stopped at her mother’s house on the way to her dorm. Her mother had tried to go to Nesbitt’s trial, but couldn’t handle it. Wes wished to hell Kyla hadn’t gone either. But if Wes thought it was torture seeing Kyla reaction to Nesbitt being released, but that was nothing compared to how poorly her mom had taken it. He’d been sure the woman was going