hung like a pall over the room. Absinthe wanted to leave the room, get on his Harley and go to her. She’d been alone, behind bars, unable to do anything but blame herself. He knew how that felt. He glanced across the room at Steele. Steele knew exactly what that felt like. Maybe they all did. They’d been helpless, children really, but that didn’t matter when it came to emotions.
“Fuck.” Savage spit the ugly vulgarity out for all of them.
“Apparently, an advocacy group took up for Scarlet. They believed her testimony and tried to get a retrial. Another lawyer, a female, began going over the transcripts and took up her case. Holden made a big mistake trying to essentially bribe her. She recorded him. The lawyer was able to get Scarlet out of prison. She had already served three years. Everyone wanted it to just go quietly away. The judge retired, which was lucky,” Code said. “I got into his bank accounts and found interesting documents between him and Holden’s attorney. The judge took his money. Scarlet’s defense attorney took his money. The doctor he hired to refute her doctor’s testimony took his money.”
“I’ll need their names,” Absinthe said. “And information.”
“We’ll need all information,” Czar corrected, giving him a look that clearly said to back the hell off.
Absinthe rubbed his chest over his pounding heart. How the hell did Savage live with this? He nodded to Czar. “At least they got her out of prison.”
“They did,” Code said. “Holden tried to stop it. He and his son and the two frat boys, Beau and Arnold. I’ve got a couple of pictures taken of Robert grinning at Scarlet. He looks like he’s taunting her. Now, he knows her family is dead. She was asked on the stand if she had any idea who might have broken into her house and savagely attacked her younger sister. She looked right at Holden Jr. and said, and I’m quoting, ‘How could I possibly know who would be that evil of a person?’ The photographs were actually taken by someone her new attorney had hired because she wanted to see what Holden’s son was acting like at all times.”
“How do you find these things out?” Keys asked.
“I dig deep,” Code said. “I find a trail. Email, court documents. I get into files. I read correspondence. I can get into phones. The attorney was certain that Holden Jr. and his friends had attempted to gang-rape Scarlet, but she was able to fight them off. She thought, out of spite, they had then attacked her younger sister. There was no way to prove it. They didn’t leave behind any evidence, they were smart enough not to do that, but she definitely speculated. If she thought that, you can bet Scarlet thought it.”
“Did the city at least compensate Scarlet for her time in prison? Was she allowed to bring a civil suit against Holden?” Absinthe asked. He could do that on Scarlet’s behalf.
Code nodded. “The city compensated her, but under the condition that she remain silent and not give any press conferences. She has done just that. She declined to bring a suit against Holden at that time, although her attorney offered to help her. Scarlet didn’t want anything from that family, but said she would consider it.”
“What about the boys?” Czar asked. “The frat boys and Holden Jr. Did you get anything off their phones or email that might lead you to believe that they had anything to do with Scarlet’s sister’s assault?”
“All three of those boys are dead.”
There was a long silence. Absinthe, for the first time in a long while, was able to draw in a full breath. “I presume they didn’t just die of natural causes.” He kept his voice strictly neutral.
“No, they did not,” Code said. “In each case, Robert Barnes-Holden Sr. accused Scarlet Foley of murdering the poor, helpless male. She was investigated, brought in for questioning and released. There are photographs of her looking directly at Robert Barnes-Holden Jr. I got the original digital from the newspaper file and enlarged it. Cops say she has an airtight alibi. She was a hundred miles away. Take a look at that girl’s eyes.”
Absinthe stepped close to the table and looked down at the eight-by-ten black-and-white glossy on the table. He found himself looking into Scarlet’s eyes. She was looking back, deliberately taunting him. A little shiver went down his spine. This was a game of cat and mouse. Scarlet wasn’t the mouse any