CHAPTER 7

"Y ou're up early," Tinley said as she walked into the kitchen after her workout in Carina's in-home gym.

Well, calling it an in-home gym was a bit of a stretch. She had a three-bedroom house and used one room as an office and the other as the guest room with a treadmill and elliptical machine. Calling it a guest room was also a stretch then because, outside of her gym equipment, it only had a double bed in it and a TV mounted to the wall. She hadn't intended on making it a guest room at all. Her living room also had a pull-out sofa, if needed, and Carina had so few guests that she had long decided that any guests could always sleep on that in her starter home and that when she eventually met someone whom she wanted to buy a house with, they could ensure then that they had enough space for guests and a real gym.

When she and Tinley had decided to move in together, though, Tinley had also come with her bed and some extra furniture that they hadn't been sure what to do with. Some of that furniture was still in Carina's half-basement, and the bed, they'd put in the gym because Carina hadn't finished the gym yet. As much as she'd wanted to add a spot for her to do some yoga on the mornings when she woke early, like today, having Tinley suggest putting the bed there had turned out to be a good idea. They'd been together for about fourteen months, moving in together after twelve of those months and breaking up only two months later. Tinley hadn't had a place to move into, so she'd slept in said guest room with the intention of finding an apartment.

That had been three months ago, and Carina's patience was starting to wear thin. She'd been trying to keep things civil, but Tinley hadn't paid for much when they'd been together, and she still wasn't paying for much now. That included rent, utilities, and even groceries. Sure, the woman would buy the stuff she liked occasionally, but she ate the super healthy food that had no flavor to Carina, knowing Carina wouldn't eat it. While Carina tried to be healthy, her job made it difficult for her to eat right and work out. Yes, that was an excuse, but she'd bought the gym equipment with the intention of using it at some point. That had to count for something, right?

As Tinley opened the refrigerator door to pull out the grapefruit juice with no pulp that she liked, Carina ran her eyes over her ex's body. They hadn't had sex since their breakup, but damn, Carina now wished she'd gone to the bar for a night with Jessa the other day because she was definitely in need of something by someone else's hand, and Tinley was sexy as hell. She always had been. Hating that she'd been the older woman to fall for the woman in her mid-twenties when she should've known better, Carina had still given in. But while their year or so together had been a good one in a lot of ways, they were not meant to last.

"See something you like?" Tinley asked, turning just in time to see Carina objectifying her.

"Yes. Grapefruit juice," she replied before moving her eyes back to the laptop in front of her. "And I'm up at my normal time. I just came down here to read with my coffee before I head into the office."

"I'm going to hop in the shower. I can use yours for better water pressure, and you could join me, if you want," Tinley offered as she poured her juice.

"I'm dressed for work, Tin."

"And that's the only reason?"

"No," Carina replied, looking back up. "I'm also not interested."

"Are you sure? You were giving me your sex eyes just a minute ago. I know that look."

"Yes, I was. You're very sexy. And you already know that I think so. That's no secret to you."

"Even after a workout, when I'm all sweaty and gross?" Tinley asked, clearly fishing for the compliment.

"Tinley, how's the apartment hunt going? Any prospects?" Carina asked back impatiently.

She'd tried to be understanding and patient, but it had been three months, so while she and Jessa had their affair, if it could be called that, Carina was ready to date again and bring a woman home should they both want that. With Tinley around, she'd tried to be respectful and not do that, and so, as time went on, it was starting to wear on. Tinley had gone from being a second-year law student when they'd met, to dropping out of law school completely to pursue a Pilates instructor certification. That hadn't panned out, so now, she worked odd hours as a personal trainer and had an inconsistent paycheck since she took clients freelance and didn't work for a gym with regular hours. That had been Tinley's more recent excuse for having a hard time moving out: apartments needed security deposits or proof of employment with consistent funds coming in, and she didn't have that right now.

"I'm trying, Carina. But I lost my old place when you asked me to move in here. I didn't know we'd be breaking up before I even unpacked my boxes."

"Tinley, your lease there was up. That was the main reason we moved in together. When you asked whether you should renew or not, I told you that you could if you wanted to. You said you were over here mostly, anyway, and it was also closer to campus. Then, you dropped out of law school when you only had a year left to go, and now, you're just wandering around my house most of the day until you decide to get a new client or have a regular appointment, and those don't seem all that regular."

"You're still on about me dropping out?" Tinley said and sat down at the table with her juice. "I was a middle-of-the-road student in only a decent program. What kind of job was I going to get out of school, anyway? Besides, I wasn't passionate about the law, how you are. I know what I want now. I'm just starting out. It takes time to build a business."

"Work for a gym," Carina stated, repeating the same words she'd said over and over. "It's a job that pays every two weeks, and you can still take clients on the side. You'll get an apartment faster that way."

"You really hate having me here, huh?"

"I don't hate it, Tinley, but it's wrong. We broke up for a reason. Still, you're just down the hall, acting like it never happened, asking if I want to join you in my shower, and not paying rent or utilities when you're the one who uses them the most."

"And you're ready to move on? I get it," Tinley said. "I just need a little more time, Carina. I'm trying here. I'm just a little aimless at the moment, okay? My parents always wanted me to amount to something, so when I didn't get into a fancy law school like the one you went to, they were disappointed, but after I dropped out, they stopped helping me altogether."

"You were twenty-four years old, Tin," Carina argued. "That's more than an adult."

"Fine. But I also changed my career path, so now I'm starting from scratch. A little patience would be nice."

"Three months post breakup isn't enough for you?"

"One more month; that's all I'm asking. And I'll start paying you something. I can't pay a lot, but if you need rent money or something for the water bill, I'll help, okay? How's three hundred a month?"

Carina wanted to scoff at that because that wouldn't even cover Tinley's grocery bill, but it was something, and at least Tinley was showing some kind of effort.

"Fine. But it's just three hundred for one more month because you're moving out in a month. If you want to back pay me, that's fine, though."

Tinley smiled and shook her head. She'd been caught, and she knew it. She probably would've made a good lawyer, too, because she had a way with words that generally got people, including Carina, to do or give her what she wanted.

"Three hundred, and I'll get it to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Tomorrow," Carina replied.

While being from an upper-middle-class family, Carina had still been raised to work for everything, including the scholarship that had gotten her through undergrad and law school. She'd even managed to hold down a part-time job during all of it and lived in the law school dorms, despite wishing for an apartment of her own. She'd done all of that knowing that when she got out, she would, hopefully, join the DA's office and make a pittance, so she needed to save as much as she could while she could. Then, after years of one-room-with-a-shared-bathroom living, Carina had really wanted to own her own house, so she'd just continued to save up until she could afford a down payment in the town she'd moved to, and by thirty, she had this place.

She hadn't thought she'd be living here still at forty. The plan had been to be here for three to five years, find a wife, and either build or buy their dream home together. She'd sell this place for that down payment and live happily ever after. Instead, she had three failed relationships in that time, including Tinley, whom she considered her biggest mistake yet. It didn't matter, though; Carina would wait for the right woman to take those next steps with. Moving in with Tinley had been more a practical and logical decision than one based on love and wanting to fall asleep next to her every night, but she knew better now.

Tinley, on the other hand, had been raised with the proverbial silver spoon shoved comfortably into her mouth. Her parents had been born to a wealthy family, so they'd grown up spoiled themselves and knew no other way but to spoil their only child. Tinley hadn't had to work for much, but she hadn't been able to get out of her low LSAT scores and Cs throughout her undergrad at a very good school, so that had meant her family's dream of her attending an Ivy for law school had been lost, and Tinley had ended up at a small-town university, where Carina sometimes gave guest lectures. That was how they met, and Carina still felt like a cliché.

"I'm going to the office. Will you be here later?" she asked as she closed her laptop.

"I don't know. I'm supposed to have two clients today, but one is a little flakey. She seems like the kind of person who wants to tell people that she has a personal trainer but doesn't actually want to put in the work."

"Tinley, the gym would give you at least eight hours of work a day and probably on a regular schedule. Maybe think about it?"

"I don't want to go that route," Tinley protested. "I want to do this on my own."

"And how do you think people do that?" Carina asked rhetorically as she shoved her computer into her bag. "They meet clients through the gym, and when they're ready to go out on their own, they just take some with them. Think about it."

"Fine. I'll think about it," Tinley told her reluctantly and proceeded to sip her grapefruit juice. "I'm going to take that shower now."

"In the guest bathroom. Don't think I didn't notice that my handheld showerhead was hanging when I took my shower yesterday."

Tinley laughed and said, "You know how much I love that showerhead."

"I remember. But there's one in the guest bath that you can use to get off."

Tinley laughed again and said, "True."

Carina left her at the kitchen table and took the twenty-minute drive to the office, where she parked in the parking garage and showed her badge to security on the way in. Having her office at the courthouse itself was convenient in a lot of ways, but it also meant that she had to go through security every single morning, which meant that she had to remove her laptop and other metal items from her bag and put them in a bin on the conveyor belt while she went through the metal detector. It all added at least five minutes to her morning on a good day, but usually more.

"You guys really need a line for employees," she suggested to Rick, the security guy she'd developed a rapport with over the years. "One for the people who don't know what they're doing, and one for people like me who have this down to a science."

"You say that at least once a week," he replied as he motioned her through the detector. "And every week, I tell you that it's not my decision and to take it up with my boss."

"Yeah. Yeah." Carina winked at him and began repacking her bag.

She made her way to the elevator bank and waited since someone else had already pressed the button. She looked down when her phone buzzed and pulled it out of the side pocket of her bag. She almost burst out laughing when she saw Tinley's text.

Tinley Capshaw : Can I get you that three hundred next week instead? That client canceled on me, like I thought she would.

Carina typed her reply.

Carina Whitlock : Get a job at a gym, Tinley. At least, apply. And if you do that, you can keep the three hundred for the LAST month you'll be staying with me.

Carina hated that during their relationship, and even more so now, it had felt like she was more Tinley's parent than her girlfriend sometimes. Tinley's actual parents didn't seem to know how to push their kid at all, though, which resulted in her now being a twenty-six-year-old woman who was wandering around the world without a real place to call home.

As she rode up to her floor in the elevator, Carina thought about how they'd met and how she'd fallen for Tinley for all the wrong reasons. She should've seen the signs, but she'd been blinded by the boobs, honestly. Tinley had great breasts, and her laugh was one of those infectious laughs that didn't ever sound forced or fake, so after the lecture, when Tinley had laughed at Carina's terrible jokes, Carina had been a little smitten and definitely surprised. That had led to incredibly hot sex, which Carina considered to be fine because she wasn't Tinley's professor and had no role in grading her work.

The sex had led to dates. Dates had led to exclusivity. Now, Carina understood that she'd only wanted that with Tinley, again, for practical reasons: while they'd still been allowed to see other people, Carina had required both of them to get tested regularly. In that time, she had only slept with one other woman, an ex-girlfriend of hers whom she'd gotten drunk with one night after running into her, but Tinley had been with a few women. Carina wasn't about to get anything because they might have been reckless, so tests had been needed. After a month of that, though, exclusivity had made sense, and she'd developed real feelings for Tinley – or, at least, she'd thought that she had. The more time had passed since their breakup, the more Carina worried that she'd just been lonely more than anything back then, and so she'd mistaken her affection for parts of Tinley with being in love with her.

"Oh, here she is."

The elevator doors had only just opened when Carina saw two people head toward her, and one of those people was Kieran Hart. She'd been the one to just say that Carina was here.

"Hello. Miss Hart?"

"Kieran. Hi," Kieran said. "I know you wanted to meet, so I made an appointment, but we're early."

"You made an appointment?"

"Yes, with your assistant."

"Oh, okay. Well, good. We need to talk."

"Diego Hart," the man, who was holding what looked like a very expensive briefcase and standing next to Kieran, introduced himself and held out his other hand. "I'll be representing Kieran today."

"Kieran doesn't require representation, as she told me when we sort of met," Carina replied and smiled at Kieran a little. "She's not even a witness, let alone a suspect who requires representation, Mr. Hart."

"She has some concerns about what you'll be asking her, and I'm here to advise her on what to answer and what not to, at least for the time being."

Carina exited the elevator when she realized she was still inside it and the doors were about to close on her.

"Very well. We can talk in my office. Would you like any water? Coffee?" she asked only Kieran.

"No, thank you. We had some on the way over," Diego replied for her, which irked Carina.

They all walked down the hall in silence and into the room where most of the ADAs had cubicles. As one of the most senior ADAs, Carina had an office, which was one of only three. She pulled open the door and held it for Kieran, who walked in before her. Then, Diego took the door from her and let Carina walk in first. She walked around to her desk, placed her bag on it, and pulled out her computer first to let Kieran and Diego settle in her two guest chairs.

"Marin is on her way here now," she began after they both sat down across from her. "I assume you'd still like to meet her, Kieran?"

"I would, yes," Kieran replied. "Does she know about me?"

"I'm not sure what she's been told, but it's probable," Carina replied and sat down now as well.

"I'm a little nervous," Kieran admitted, and it was only then that Carina really got a good look at her.

This woman was identical to Marin in all of her facial features, but everything about her screamed different than the mug shots Carina had seen of Marin. Kieran wore a tan blazer but had a band T-shirt on underneath it as if she was normally a casual dresser and had attempted to dress up a little just for the meeting. Her brown hair was down to her shoulders, and her green eyes stood out more than Marin's had in the photos Carina had seen. She also looked healthier than Marin, and Carina smiled at her without being able to stop herself. Kieran smiled back at her, and a second later, Diego cleared his throat, interrupting their silent exchange.

"What questions do you have for my client?"

"Again, she doesn't need to be a client, but I mainly need to hear from her what she told Lieutenant Easton in her own words, and we'll go from there."

"But I already told her ," Kieran pointed out. "She even wrote it all down."

"Yes, but if you're called as a witness, either by me or the defense, I need to know what you'll say or what they might ask based on your statement."

"You just said I'm not a witness."

"You're not a witness to the crime, no, but they might still call you as a witness," Carina explained. "Cases with twins are difficult, Miss Hart."

"Kieran," Kieran requested and then looked over at Diego, which was interesting .

"Kieran," Carina repeated, acknowledging the request before she proceeded. "Identical twins have identical DNA or, at least, a strong enough match that a defense attorney might–" She stopped herself when she realized it. "Actually, Mr.Hart, I need to understand something before we begin. Are you representing Marin as well?"

"Probably. I'll at least be consulting with her when she arrives. If she decides to let me represent her, I'll be taking the case pro bono."

"Then, I'm not sure what I can discuss here with you in the room."

"I'm not her attorney yet, Miss Whitlock," he argued.

"I'm aware. But anything I discuss with Kieran here could be used by you if you do end up representing Marin, and I don't believe privilege would apply here since I'm in the room, and it's not a private discussion between client and attorney."

"You're worried I'll use whatever you say in here against you in court." He nodded. "And you should be. I would."

"Diego," Kieran admonished him softly.

"What? I would, too," Carina replied. "It's how this works. And this is what I meant when I told you that he'd have a conflict of interest, Kieran. It's up to you how you want to proceed here, but you get what I'm saying, don't you?"

Kieran nodded.

"Kieran," Diego began, turning to his ex-wife a little now. "I'm perfectly capable of separating your concerns here from what Marin might need."

"Are you?" Carina asked him. "You might be put in a position where you need to accuse Kieran of this crime to get your client off. We both know that's what we're talking about here."

"The fingerprints don't match," Diego tried to argue.

"Yes, but you and I both know that you'll just say the house burned and evidence was lost or that–"

"She wore gloves," he interrupted.

"Exactly," Carina replied, deciding that he would be a worthy opponent in a courtroom.

She'd never heard of him before, but she suspected he wasn't entirely local, and his suit was at least three thousand dollars, if not more. He probably worked for a high-powered firm, and that was especially true if he was taking this case pro bono as part of the firm's annual charity offerings and not just because his ex-wife needed his help. They did look like quite the couple, though. Kieran, with her band shirt, jeans, and with that cute blazer, trying to appear a little more professional than she might otherwise have been outside this meeting, and her ex, with his expensive suit, shoes, and briefcase, looking every bit the super lawyer trying to show off his skills today.

"Actually, now that I think about it… I might need to call you as a witness, too, Mr.Hart."

"Me?"

"Him? Why?"

"Well, Kieran, I'll need to know your alibi for the night of the murder, and my guess is that your husband would probably provide that or be able to verify it for you. I might need to call him to the stand to support that. He'd also be able to testify that you've never even mentioned having a sister or known she existed."

" Ex -husband," Kieran corrected. "And by that definition, you'd call my mom, too."

"It's possible," Carina confirmed.

"I was kidding," Kieran added, looking concerned now.

"Kieran, my job is to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone has committed a crime, and in this particular case, you present an obvious other suspect. The police will want to talk to you again, and maybe more than once. I'll also need to talk to you again. You will probably be called to the stand. And Mr.Hart here has a massive conflict of interest that he doesn't want to admit to you."

"I can–"

"Diego, you should go," Kieran interrupted. "She's right."

"I'm not even Marin's attorney yet. I'd much rather make sure you're okay, if I have to choose who to represent."

"She needs you way more than I do," Kieran said. "We all know that I didn't do this. We don't know if she did for sure, but she needs someone better than the public defender they'd assign her."

Diego sighed and said, "Fine. I'll leave you to talk, but I'm going to wait outside, and we'll confer about everything that was said in here. I'll advise you from there."

"Sure," Kieran said somewhat dismissively.

Carina smiled at that a little and turned away to hide it as Diego stood, grabbed his briefcase, and left the office, closing the door loudly behind him.

"How long have you two been divorced?"

"Officially? A little over a year," Kieran replied.

"Still close?"

"You could say that," Kieran told her, sounding like that was a bad thing.

"Ah…" Carina leaned forward. "He still…"

"Yes."

"But you don't?"

"No. But I'm here to answer your questions, so go for it."

"You understand that he can't represent you, right? I don't want to do this, but if I have to, I'll get in front of a judge and ask the judge to choose because he can't–"

"I understand," Kieran said. "And you understand that I had nothing to do with this murder, right?"

Carina nodded and said, "Yes. But I'll need to get a jury to believe that, too, so we still need to talk."

"But talking to you only means that you're going to use that against Marin."

"Depends on what you say, but yes. Kieran, I only need you to tell me that you're not a viable suspect for the defense to lean on." Carina gave her a sympathetic smile. "Whatever you tell me today or another day, because you weren't involved at all, won't do anything to put your sister away for this. The evidence will do that, not you."

"And what if I don't want to help you? What if I want Diego to present me as another suspect? I clearly didn't do it. You said it yourself that you believe me. And there's no real evidence against me, anyway. So, you wouldn't have me arrested, would you?"

"I don't know. The same argument that he can use to include you as a suspect could be one I use to prosecute you for this later. It's just easier to defend you than it is Marin with that argument because of her relationship with Nick May and the evidence. Either way, right now, I'm an ADA. I don't assign myself cases. My boss does."

"Right now?" Kieran asked.

"I have career plans," she replied, leaving out the specifics.

"You think she did this?"

"It doesn't matter what I think, Kieran. It matters what the evidence shows and what we can prove in a court of law. Then, it matters what the jurors decide from there. My job is to present that evidence and represent the state and the victim here."

"Who wasn't a good guy, from what I've been told," Kieran pointed out.

"Doesn't mean he deserved to be murdered," Carina countered. "If he was a bad guy and committed a crime, he should've been in prison."

"As if the world is black and white like that, and all the bad guys go to prison while all the good guys live free," Kieran replied.

Carina pulled up short at that and leaned back in her chair.

"I wish that were the case, if that helps. I try to make that happen in my job, but sometimes, it's out of my hands."

"I don't remember where I was eight years ago," Kieran said then. "Dylan told me the date, but I couldn't remember. She also mentioned that the murder happened right before the fire and that the fire department was there by ten-fifteen."

"Yes, they were."

"Well, if it was that late at night, I was probably at home, on my computer."

"Do you still have that computer if we need it? I doubt we do, but just in case."

"I built it, so yes. It's been upgraded a few times since, but I'm a software engineer, so I know why you're asking. Your people should be able to pull logs from it. And before you ask, Diego should have been home, but he would've been in his office, if he was. So, he wouldn't know if I was there or not. I don't remember that exact night, but odds are, he would've been working from at least eight to eleven before he'd shower and we'd go to bed."

"I can tell you're the wife of an attorney," Carina noted.

" Ex -wife," Kieran reminded again.

"Sorry," Carina replied. "And you wouldn't know if he was in his office for sure?"

"No. Back then, he was an associate, trying to get as many billable hours as possible, so he'd leave work around six, and we'd have dinner. Then, he'd disappear after that until bedtime."

"One of the reasons I didn't go that route."

"What route?" Kieran asked.

"Corporate law firms," she replied. "I put in the hours here, and a lot of them because we're always short-staffed and have way too many cases on our plates, but I never have to worry about billable hours or making partner."

"Well, he's a partner now. Junior, but still. He's their head of litigation and will probably be a named partner by the time he's forty."

"How old is he now?"

"Same as me; thirty-five. We met freshman year in college."

"Wow! Long time," Carina said.

"On and off once he went to law school and I went to grad school, but then together after that and married for about a decade before we divorced. So, he'd be able to tell you for sure that he's never heard me mention a sister and that the story of my birth and adoption didn't involve a second baby. You don't need to drag my mom into this."

"I can probably avoid it, but it'll depend on what happens with the case," she replied. "I'll likely still put her on my witness list because I have to if I think I might need to call her."

"She's struggling with this, okay?" Kieran told her.

"She is?"

"She would've adopted both of us. My parents have always wanted more kids. She's read the stuff I sent her about Marin being found by the homeless woman and knows a little of what I've told her about how Marin grew up, and she feels guilty that she didn't know. She also lost my dad about six years ago to cancer, so she's been on her own ever since. I didn't even know that I was adopted until right before he died. That caused us some problems early on, though, because I'd never known, and it threw me that I wasn't related to them by blood. I know that it doesn't matter; they're still my parents. But knowing that doesn't keep me from wondering why my birth parents would've thrown me away, and she felt guilty about that, too. Now, on top of all that, my adoption is part of a murder case. All I'm asking is that you try to leave her out of this if you can. She can't prove whether or not Marin did this, and you'd have me and Diego, too, if you need him, to tell you that I didn't know."

"Diego would be representing Marin in this case, so I wouldn't call him. I just needed you to see the conflict of interest. Let's play it by ear. I'll add her to the list, but I'll only call her if I absolutely need her, okay?"

"Best offer?" Kieran asked, which made Carina chuckle a little.

"Best offer."

"Okay. Well, what else do you need to know?"

"Nothing for now," she replied. "The logs from your computer would be a good start, but I can't have you pull those yourself. Can I send a tech over to your apartment to do that later today or have you bring your computer in?"

"Today?"

Carina tilted her head then and said, "Kieran, I need to make sure you don't do something stupid and delete the logs."

"Why would I–"

"The less evidence I have that you were at home, the more Diego could use this to help your sister by suggesting that you could've done it and just worn gloves. My guess is you already know all that, though, which is why you told me that he was in his office, mentioning the hours of eight to eleven specifically, when you know the crime occurred, and that he wouldn't be able to tell if you'd left."

Kieran lifted an eyebrow and said, "You can send your tech over to get the logs whenever. I have a computer that I use for work, but that one is my gaming computer. It's expensive and not easily portable, so I'd prefer it to stay in my apartment."

"Gaming?"

"Yes, video games. I play."

"Seriously, apparently, if you have a whole computer for it."

"Almost went pro."

"Pro in video games?"

"Yes." Kieran laughed. "That's a thing. People can make a lot of money in it if they're good."

"Are you good?"

"Entered a few competitions and came in second in two of them and third in another. I won some prize money, but I mostly play for fun."

"Well, I wouldn't want to take that away from you. I'll have someone follow you home with an officer and–"

"An officer?"

"Chain of custody and to make sure there's a witness to the tech pulling the logs. Precaution."

"And the following-me-home thing?"

"Same reason," Carina said with a shrug.

"Diego will want to be there, too."

"He's your ex-husband, so that's really up to you, but, Kieran, don't let him represent you. If you feel like you need an attorney – and I don't think you do – find someone else. Someone from his firm, if you want, but not him."

"I get it," Kieran replied. "Am I free to be followed home now?"

Carina laughed and said, "Yes."

When the door ultimately closed behind Kieran Hart, Carina thought to herself that this had been the best meeting with a possible witness that she'd had in a long time. Hell, maybe ever.