CHAPTER 15

"O kay. I've got it," Dylan said. "They only had paper records going back that far; haven't digitized the old stuff yet." She dropped file folders onto Carina's desk.

"Well, hello, Dylan. How are you? It's nice to see you. I'm doing well. Thanks for asking."

"Your assistant said I could come on in."

"Did she tell you that you had to rush in and toss paperwork on my desk, too?"

"No, I did that all on my own. But you're going to want to read through those file folders because they're on Marin May."

"Marin? What did you find?" Carina closed her laptop and picked up the file folder on top.

"Oh, just an old juvie record I'm not supposed to know about because it was expunged."

"What?" Carina flipped the folder open and saw an old mug shot of a teenage Marin May pinned to the inside. "How did you find this?"

"I asked for all of her foster care records, and they had this, too. I don't know if they realized they gave it to me or not, but they're not the most organized in the world over there," Dylan explained as she sat down across from her. "Ada's on the way with lunch, by the way. I told her I was coming over to talk to you about this, so she's grabbing us sandwiches from downstairs."

"Oh, great. I'm starving," Carina said as she scanned the pages. "I can't get this admitted into evidence unless I can prove pattern, and even then, it's a long shot. I'd need a very friendly judge."

"I'm not sure it fits an exact pattern, but it's still good information for you to have," Dylan said.

"She really did this?" Carina looked up at Dylan.

"She didn't do any real time. It was her first offense, and she was only sixteen, but according to that, there was a foster brother, and she burned him with a cigarette twice. He reported it to their foster parents the second time. He said he woke up to her standing there, smoking, and when he didn't give her the money that she asked for to buy more cigarettes, she burned him again. Something else in there about her hitting on him, too."

"Does she have a history of violence other than this?"

"Not that I've found. Mostly, she just bounced around like a lot of foster kids do, unfortunately. Of course, there could be another expunged record out there that I don't know about, but I thought you should have it. Want me to track down the foster parents or the brother to see what happened? I'm sure there's more to the story than this."

"It won't matter if I can't get it admitted, and I'm not sure it helps my case at all." Carina closed the folder and set it down next to the other one Dylan had brought her. "She killed Nick because Nick was abusing her, and she couldn't get away because he'd found her the previous times she'd tried to leave. That's the story I need to be able to tell."

"Getting the jury to see that she's reacted with violence before doesn't help demonstrate that?"

"If she'd shot this foster brother or smacked him in the head with a board after he'd done something to her – maybe," she said. "I'll hang on to this and see if I can get it admitted anyway, though. If so, I might have you do a little more leg work."

"You know she has a heart condition?" Dylan asked.

"She has–" Carina leaned forward. "No, I didn't know that. What is it?"

"It's in the file, the medical term for it. She had a bunch of surgeries when she was a little kid. She takes pills now, but other than that, she's okay, I guess."

"She has a heart condition, and she smokes ?" Carina asked herself more than Dylan.

"Risk-taker all around, I guess," Dylan replied and ran her hand through her short hair that was starting to go gray a little at the temples.

Somehow, it made her look even sexier, and not for the first time, Carina thought that Ada was a very lucky woman.

"Anyway," Dylan added. "She seems fine now, but it's one of the reasons she wasn't ever adopted."

"Do you think… I mean… Is it genetic?"

"Genetic? I don't know. You'd have to ask a doctor. I can barely pronounce it." Dylan laughed a little. "Why?"

"Does Kieran have it?"

"Oh, I don't know. I haven't spent that much time with her, but it hasn't come up."

"I have," Carina admitted.

"You've spent that much time with her?" Dylan asked, confused.

"We've had drinks and talked at the jail a couple of times. I also ran into her at the arraignment. Well, at the diner across the street, anyway. We technically bumped into each other at the movies as well, and I took her home."

"You what?!" Dylan said loudly. "You slept with Kieran Hart?"

"What?! No. That didn't come out right. I meant that I brought her back to my place."

"And that's you saying it the right way?"

"I showed her a video, and we ate pizza and watched half a movie. That's all."

"Hold on. Video? Movie?"

"Video of the bus footage. Then, an actual movie since we both missed the one at the theater."

"Okay. I'm very confused," Dylan said. "You showed her the bus footage?"

"It's public record. Diego would have shown it to her anyway. She was insistent that Marin was there, and I think Marin is lying to her. Kieran found out that she has a twin, and I think she thought she'd find a sister when they met, but Marin is angry and locked up, and it's not been going well for Kieran. I just want her to know the truth."

"So, you invited her to your house instead of just emailing her the file?"

"Yes. And I know it's a bad idea."

"It's a weird idea," Dylan replied. "You're watching a movie with the sister of the woman you're trying to lock up for life."

"Hey, I offered her ten years. I'm not heartless," she defended. "And nothing's happened with Kieran. We might be becoming strange friends."

"Friends?"

"She's straight, Dylan."

"But you like her?"

"Yes."

"As more than a friend?"

"Yes," Carina admitted. "I don't know her well yet, but I like what I know of her so far, and she's beautiful and so smart. Plus, the way she argues or just knows what I'm about to argue – it's really hot." She laughed a little. "Like I'm playing verbal chess with her, and I love that. It's not like I got that with Tinley or that Jessa provides anything but a good orgasm and a free glass of wine sometimes."

"You need to be careful here, though," Dylan told her.

"She's straight," she repeated. "So, it's just an attempt at a friendship that might not even last beyond her, I don't know, getting information out of me."

"Do you think that's what she's doing?"

"No, I don't," Carina said with a smile. "I think she actually likes hanging out with me, too, and that if I called her now to see if she wanted to grab a drink tonight, she'd say yes if she was free."

"Will you?"

"Will I what?"

"Call and ask her for a drink."

"Not tonight. I'm slammed," she replied. "I now have all this new stuff to review that you were so kind enough to bring me."

"Sorry. I thought I was doing you a favor, bringing it over."

"Oh, please. Your wife works here. You were just going to grab lunch with her and thought you'd bring this over since you'd already be here."

"Don't tell Ada, but on particularly hard days, I miss her, and seeing her midday like this helps."

"Hard day?"

"I had to tell a mother that while I found the man who kidnapped her son about four years ago, her kid is not coming home, unfortunately." Dylan looked down and ran her hands over her pants. "I hate days like today. In my line of work, it's not like I get to deliver good news very often, but watching a parent burst into tears when they realize they'll never see their child again is one of the hardest parts about it."

"I know what that's like," Carina said.

"Hey, I'm here," Ada said as she walked into her office. "And look who I ran into in the hallway downstairs."

Carina looked up, and her eyes went wide when she saw Tinley standing behind Ada, holding two sandwiches in her hands.

"Tinley?"

"Hi. I didn't know we were doing lunch," Tinley said. "But Ada told me she and Dylan were joining you, so I thought I'd come up here, too, and we could all eat together like old times."

"Yes, old times," Ada said, giving Carina an apologetic look as she sat down next to Dylan. "Hey, babe. I got you your favorite." She handed Dylan a pre-wrapped sandwich.

"Thanks," Dylan replied, leaning over and giving Ada a kiss.

"I grabbed you the tuna salad," Tinley said and placed it on Carina's desk.

"Tuna salad?"

"I was going to grab you the turkey Swiss," Ada said. "But–"

"I took the last one." Tinley held up her own sandwich. "It was the only relatively healthy sandwich down there. Plus, this one doesn't have mayo. All the rest do."

"So, I get tuna?" Carina said, picking up the sandwich she didn't want to eat.

"Oh, I also grabbed you the chips you like to make up for it," Tinley added and fished a bag of chips out of her giant purse before setting them down. "And water." She put a bottle of water next to the chips and smiled at Carina. "And my treat because I stole the last good sandwich."

"And you're staying at her house for free," Ada noted under her breath.

"What are you doing here, Tin?" Carina asked.

"Paying a parking ticket," the woman replied. "I tried to pay online, but the thing kept telling me that I had to come in instead."

"Why?"

"Because I had more than one," Tinley admitted and leaned against Carina's desk. "I had seven, to be exact, and because I had so many, I had to come here in person and pay the full amount."

"You had seven parking tickets?! Where the hell are you parking? On the sidewalk?" Ada said.

"No, I meet my clients at their homes, and sometimes, I'm running late, and there's no decent parking unless I park where I shouldn't. So that I'm not late, I park as close as I can, and, apparently, that means I have to get tickets."

"How much do you charge for your training sessions?" Dylan asked.

"Yeah. And how much are your tickets? Do you even make money on the ones you get the tickets for?" Ada added.

"Anyway… That's why I was here," Tinley said to Carina. "And I saw Ada."

"Well, the three of us were going to talk shop, so if you want to go, I'd understand," Carina told her.

"Ada said you were just having lunch," Tinley replied.

"We are; while we talk about a case."

"What case are all three of you working on?"

"You know what?" Dylan said. "I think Ada and I will just eat in the cafeteria. I don't have much time anyway before I have to get back to the station."

"Yeah, that sounds good to me," Ada replied and stood up. "Carina, lunch another day?"

Carina nodded and understood why they wanted to leave. Neither of them had liked Tinley all that much when she and Carina were dating, but Dylan seemed to need her wife and some calm right now, not an argument between exes about why Tinley had decided to join them for lunch just because she'd run into Ada downstairs. Carina wanted them to stay as her excuse, but she wouldn't try to stop them.

"What about the case?" Tinley asked.

"We'll just call you later," Dylan offered in Carina's direction before she followed Ada out of the room.

"Anyway, I paid the damn tickets, which was close to a thousand bucks, so I don't have your three hundred, but–"

"Tinley, you need to move out," Carina interrupted.

"Sorry?" Tinley stood up and moved around to the front of Carina's desk.

"I mean it. I've been trying to be patient with you, but it's been more than three months now, and you still haven't paid me anything to help around the house. I'm not made of money, Tinley. I work for the DA's office, for crying out loud. I can't just keep paying for both of us, especially when we're not together anymore."

"This is about the woman you brought home," Tinley stated as she sat down in Dylan's old chair. "You don't want your ex around when you're starting to date again."

"We're not dating. I told you that she's a friend."

"Kelly, something, right?"

"Kieran. And don't do that. You know her name. You made her say it, like, three times."

"And she called me Tan ley."

"Yes, and it was funny and totally deserved. You were never this jealous when we were together, so I can only assume that it's not real jealousy. It's you thinking I'm moving on, which means there's a time limit on this living arrangement."

"There always was. I told you I'd move out. I just need a little more time, Carina."

"You've had over three months. If I keep giving you another month after another, you'll just stay forever, and one day, I will bring a woman home, Tin, and I'll want to be able to be myself and for her to feel comfortable and not see you walking around in your workout clothes or just after a shower, wondering why you still live with me when we're no longer together."

"I'm looking for places," Tinley argued. "I went to see one this morning, in fact. They just wanted a security deposit, and I can't afford that now that I've had to pay off these tickets."

"Tinley, you have friends. You can technically ask your parents. I'm sure they'll help in some way, at least. Sleep in a friend's guest room or on their sofa."

"A sofa?"

"You're taking advantage of me, Tinley, and that's over now."

"One night with Kelly, and you're suddenly feeling like I'm taking advantage of you?"

"Make arrangements," Carina insisted. "Find a sofa to sleep on or an apartment, but you need to move out now."

"Fine." Tinley stood and dropped her turkey sandwich on Carina's desk. "Keep the damn sandwich, and I'll figure it out."

"And, Tinley? Her name is Kieran, not Kelly. Remember that."