one thing after another. When my partner and I dug into the testimonies of the first responders and a couple of neighbors, they started revealing little inconsistencies with the cops’ testimonies. I mean, it’s not like on TV where there’s surprise evidence or surprise testimonies—both sides scrutinize everything before it goes to court—but sometimes things come out when people get nervous or when either counsel asks them a question. By the end of the third day, even my partner and I were like, shit, I don’t think he did it.”
Will laughed softly, patting Aaron’s leg. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you as confused as you were when you came home that day.”
“Right? Oh my God. So the trial goes on, and it just keeps on piling up. When it was over, it took the jury less than two hours to come back with a not guilty verdict, and even the prosecutors didn’t seem surprised or upset by it.”
“So, did they ever catch the real killer?”
Aaron shook his head. “I don’t think so. I heard a couple of years ago they thought they might’ve caught him—some dude they’d busted in a drug raid—but he was exonerated pretty quickly.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah. That’s the unfortunate thing, and it’s why I could never handle being a cop or something. They don’t always catch the bad guys.” Aaron sipped his water, and as he put the glass on the end table, he said, “All I can do is use everything at my disposal to force the prosecution to prove guilt. After that, it’s in the jury’s hands.”
“Whoa,” I said. “Man. I always thought it would be like selling your soul to defend criminals, but it sounds like it’s not that way at all.”
“No, definitely not.” Aaron shifted a little against his husband. “I like what I do, and I’m glad to do it because if there’s no one there to force the prosecution to present a bulletproof case, then there’s no such thing as a fair trial. I don’t have to believe the defendant is guilty. Hell, sometimes I know they’re guilty. All I have to believe in is the defendant’s right to due process.”
“So, you’re like the courtroom fact checkers.”
Aaron laughed. “I hadn’t thought of it that way, but…yeah. That’s kind of what we are.”
I chuckled, looking at Will. “So I’m guessing you can’t get away with anything, can you?”
Will groaned melodramatically. “Let’s just say when you live with a lawyer, you learn to pick your battles.”
“Hey!” Aaron shot him a playful glare.
“What?” Will shrugged. “You know it’s true.”
Aaron scowled, though the corner of his mouth was twitching. Will grinned, and Aaron finally laughed and shook his head, muttering, “Ass.”
Will just chuckled, pulled Aaron closer, and pressed a kiss to his temple. My God, they were adorable.
The moment passed, and Aaron’s expression turned serious as he watched his thumb smoothing the dark hair on Will’s forearm. “My, um… My job is the reason electrostim is a hard limit.”
I stiffened. That was unexpected. “Is that right?”
He nodded slowly. Will was watching him, his expression relaxed but alert, as if he were searching Aaron’s body language for signs this conversation needed to change directions. He didn’t try to steer it away, though, and Aaron kept going.
“Fairly early in my career, there was this defendant who was accused of abusing kids and teenagers under the pretext of conversion therapy.”
My hackles went up. I was pretty sure Will’s did too.
Aaron exhaled, his gaze distant. “No one else would take the case, but I did because this asshole needed to be locked up.”
“So you were prosecuting him?”
“No, no. I was defending him. And I was rooting for the prosecution the entire time. I just prayed like hell they had the airtight case they needed to put the guy away without it getting overturned on a technicality or some bullshit later. The harder I made them work for the conviction, the harder it would be for someone to argue later that he’d been convicted on bias rather clear and convincing evidence.”
I swallowed. “With all due respect, please tell me you lost that case in glorious fashion.”
“Oh yeah.” He nodded emphatically. “The prosecution had that case in the bag, and between me and the judge, they knew damn well they needed to have every t crossed and every i dotted. Which they did. The jury came back with a unanimous guilty verdict.” He paused, pushing out a breath and resting his hand fully on his husband’s forearm. Will covered Aaron’s hand with