CHAPTER 17

"D iego dropped the case?" Carina asked.

"I guess. It just appeared on my desk this morning. He was doing it pro bono, and without that, she couldn't afford an attorney," the public defender, now-assigned to Marin's case, explained. "I haven't met with my client yet, but Diego told me there's a deal on the table."

"What about Kieran?"

"The sister?" the PD asked and looked down at his notebook. "Right. They're twins."

"Yes, she's Marin's sister. She's not paying for Marin's attorney herself now that Diego has dropped out?"

"I don't know. I guess not, if I'm sitting here talking to you about a deal. I've reviewed what I could so far, but I'm still playing catch-up. There's a deal, right?"

"Yes, there is. She's turned it down, though, from what I understand."

"Is there a ticking clock?"

"Well, I don't want to do all the trial prep if she's going to take it at the last minute, so yes, let's say there's still a clock. I'll give her one more chance to take manslaughter and ten years. I won't argue if she's out in five. Probation for the next five to fill out her sentence, but if she's out on good behavior, I'm willing to reduce the probation period to two years. There were mitigating circumstances. That's the best she's going to get anywhere. You know that."

"So, five in and two on probation if good behavior?" the PD checked and took a note. "That's a pretty good deal."

"I know. I agree. But Marin May doesn't want to take me up on it. She told Diego no, so you have an uphill battle."

"Will this sister help me convince her?"

"I doubt it. Kieran doesn't want her to take it, either. She thinks Marin is innocent."

"Is she?" he asked.

"If I knew that for sure, I wouldn't be prosecuting her, but so far, I only have evidence that points to her, and it'll be easy enough for me to convince a jury of that. She'll be looking at life and maybe a parole date in twenty to twenty-five years."

"Okay. I'll take the deal to her with the new probation term, and we'll see what she says."

"Do you know why Diego dropped the case?" Carina asked as the PD closed his notebook and was about to stand up and leave her office.

"No. We only had one quick call to talk about it once it was assigned to me. He was nice but clearly too busy to talk long."

"Okay," Carina replied. "Well, take that to her and let her know. Diego was pushing for a speedy trial. Are you going to rush this if she refuses the deal?"

"I don't think so." The PD laughed. "I need time to prepare if we're going to trial." He stood up and grabbed his briefcase. "I'll call you and let you know about the deal."

"Please do."

After he left, Carina realized she'd never gotten his name. He must have been new to the PD's office because she hadn't come up against him in court before. He was young, too; twenty-five or twenty-six years old, maybe. She knew she'd wipe the floor with him at trial, but if she could save them both the time and effort and the state a lot of money, she'd keep the deal on the table for now, even if she'd just told him it had a clock attached to it. The fact that Diego was no longer on the case, though, was interesting, and Carina found herself staring at the clock on her computer first before she picked up her phone and dialed the newest number she'd added to her phone.

"Hey," Kieran said.

"Hi. Is now an okay time to call?"

"Are you calling as the person trying to put my sister in prison or as my new sort of weird friend?"

Carina laughed and sat back in her chair.

"How about both?"

"I can only handle a call from the new sort-of-weird friend right now."

"Everything okay?" Carina asked seriously.

"I don't know. I'm just tired. I'm not sleeping well these days, and this Marin stuff is really starting to get to me."

"Yeah, about that. I actually called because I just heard that Diego isn't on the case anymore."

"He's not. He dropped it."

"Any idea why?"

"Two-fold, I think. One, he's too busy at the firm, and they made him drop it because it's not making them money. So, you know, capitalism."

"Ah, that old chestnut," she replied.

"And the other reason is that he's still in love with me and helping me by helping Marin, who looks pretty much just like me, isn't helping that."

"Oh," Carina said. "So, he's finally realizing that you're not interested in getting back together?"

"Sounds like it," Kieran replied. "But I can't talk long. I still have some work I need to finish up today."

"It's after six."

"Yes. And?"

"Are we doing improv now?"

"Yes. And?" Kieran joked.

Carina laughed and said, "You're still working."

"Aren't you ?" Kieran tossed back.

"Touché," she replied. "But I'm an overworked ADA. What's your excuse?"

"I'm an overworked engineer," Kieran said.

"Do you want to maybe work for another hour and meet your new sort-of-weird friend for a drink?" Carina asked, knowing that she shouldn't.

"I would, but I can't."

"Too much work?"

"That, and we always end up talking about the case. I feel like that's my whole life right now, Marin's case, and I have to meet her new public defender tomorrow."

"You're not getting her a new attorney?"

"I want to. I'm going to ask her tomorrow if I can pay for someone for her. I don't have an endless stream of money, but I might be able to afford someone and just put off buying that house I wanted to buy within the next year or two in order to pay for it."

"You shouldn't have to do that."

"She's my sister. I don't know what else to do. Getting her out of jail for something she didn't do is more important than me buying a house, isn't it?"

"But what if she did do it, Kieran? What if you're doing all of this for her, and it turns out that she's guilty?"

"She insists that it wasn't her. She's still going to do the interview for Kenna. I know it's stupid, but it feels like doing that… I don't know. It just feels like maybe she's doing that because she is innocent, and she wants to prove that to people."

"Kieran, even if she is innocent, it's still a bad idea."

"I'm aware. I've told her as much. I met Kenna for lunch, and she–"

"You met Kenna Crawford for lunch? Please tell me she didn't convince you to do her show, too."

"No, she didn't convince me. But if Marin is doing it no matter what I say, I could help her case if I do it, too. If I get interviewed, and people see me sticking by her side, that matters for something."

"Kieran, how many of those shows have you watched where someone in an orange jumpsuit behind a plexiglass, holding a phone to their ear, professes their innocence to you in the audience? How many of them did you actually believe when they said they didn't do it? Now, pretend she's not your sister, and you're watching this show at home. You see this woman who looks like crap because she's in jail, and she's telling you that her husband beat her regularly, that she tried to divorce him but he kept her from leaving, that he caused her to lose her baby, and one day, he just ends up dead. The evidence all points to her. Then, she runs. She's gone for eight years before the cops find her. What would your honest impression of her be? With all of this evidence against her, would you even think she could be remotely innocent?"

"I need to get her out of this interview," Kieran replied softly.

"Yes, you need to. And I know you believe her, but, Kieran, the deal I'm offering her is a good one. It would save everyone a trial and endless appeals. It would put an end to it. She'd be out in five years, if she behaves, and I told the public defender just now that I'll lower the probation, too. Well, I can recommend – the judge accepts or declines – but I'll recommend two years of probation instead of five. She won't get any better anywhere else, and I already barely got that approved by my boss after he heard about the juvie record. All she has to do is keep her head down in prison, and she'll get out."

"But if she really didn't do it, Carina, whether or not it can be proven, you'd be locking up an innocent woman, and the person who did kill Nick May would still be out there."

"That's the reality I deal with every day in my job, unfortunately. I can only go where the evidence tells me."

"Maybe it'll tell you that Marin was on the number twelve bus."

"Maybe. But in the meantime, she still has a deal to consider with her new attorney."

"Do you see what I mean, though? We keep talking about this," Kieran noted.

"Drinks on me, and I won't bring it up," she replied. "I promise."

"I wouldn't make good company tonight, anyway. Besides, I'd hate to run into Tan ley again."

Carina laughed and said, "You won't. I'll take you to a bar, not my place, but also, Tin ley is moving out."

"I feel like you've said that before…"

"I have. But this time, she actually is," Carina revealed.

"You live on evidence and proof. Where's your evidence and proof that she's leaving?"

Carina laughed again and said, "Well, she packed her bags in a huff last night, and she wasn't there in the morning. I saw her put her luggage in her car and drive off. She also stole all the food I bought for her from the kitchen, so I think that's a pretty big piece of evidence."

"Wait. You were buying her food, too?" Kieran laughed.

"Yes. I figured if I paid for her groceries at first that she'd have more money to get an apartment with it, but she kept staying."

"Who wouldn't? If you were buying my groceries and paying my bills, I'd stick around, too."

Carina smiled, liking the sound of Kieran sticking around.

"I've learned my lesson, and she's finally gone. I have my guest room back. Well, kind of. Her bed is still there, so she needs to come back and pick that up."

"Oh, she still lives there, then." Kieran laughed again.

"Shut up," Carina said, laughing, too. "Maybe I should just offer to keep it instead and pay her for it so that she stays away. It's a used mattress and a cheap bedframe; it can't be worth that much."

"If you don't want to risk her coming back, that might not be a bad idea. Text me when you get home and check it out. If she's there again, you have to tell me. It'll make me laugh, and I could use more laughter right about now."

"My pain is funny to you?" she teased.

"I'd hardly call this pain; more annoyance than anything. Oh," Keiran paused, seemingly realizing something. "Unless… You're…"

"Unless I'm what?"

"Dating again. Or, if you want to date again, but she's always around, so you can't."

"Oh, right," Carina replied. "Yeah, I guess there's that."

"That wasn't your primary reason for wanting her gone?"

"No, my bank account was the primary reason. But I also don't like sneaking around my own house just to avoid someone who seemed to always be there and was making no attempt to do anything to improve her life by getting a reliable job and a place of her own to live."

"Well, that's good now: you don't have to worry about sneaking around with someone anymore. I just noticed how she treated me when I was there. Clearly, she wasn't a fan of you having a woman over, even though you and I are just friends."

"New sort-of-weird friends?" Carina teased.

"How else would you describe us?"

Oh, Carina had some ideas of how she wished she could describe them, but she couldn't say those out loud.

"Two people who met because of a difficult situation but are trying to make the most of it and become friends who might actually still be friends when this is all over, if you don't hate me for the outcome."

"I won't hate you, Carina. I know you're just doing your job. This isn't your fault."

"It's not yours , either."

"Maybe not, but that doesn't stop the guilt for not being there for her."

"Hey, who's older?" Carina asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Huh?"

"You or Marin? You're giving off real big-sister vibes, and she's kind of giving off real baby-in-the-family vibes."

Kieran laughed and said, "Honestly, I hadn't thought about that. I guess we'll probably never know, huh?"