Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
“Is that a threat?” Detective Williams said.
“My, no! Why would I need to threaten a police detective? You are all here to protect me. That’s what I pay my tax dollars for, right? I will be sure to mention you both to the Chief of Police when I speak to him later.”
“Why are you meeting with the Chief?” Detective Brown asked.
Gwen checked her phone again. “Hmm, oh, well, I had some questions about this investigation and also about an older case. One involving Devi’s brother. I’ve got some thoughts.”
“Some thoughts?” Detective Brown said.
“Yes, you were on that case too, weren’t you, Detective Brown? I do hope you crossed all your t’s and dotted all your i’s.”
“That’s a threat.” Detective Brown took a step toward Gwen.
Hayes tensed and so did Kent, who moved closer to Gwen. He didn’t know where Dominic was, but it had probably been a strategic move to leave him out of the room.
Kent would likely judge better about when to step in than Dominic would. Not that Hayes would blame Dominic.
“Let’s leave,” Detective Williams said. “Uh, thanks for your statement, Miss Dawson. Hopefully your father will be found soon.”
“Drunk asshole like him? Probably everyone in this town is hoping that he isn’t found,” Detective Brown said.
“Oh, that’s an interesting opinion. I’ll be sure to let the Chief know what you think of an ongoing case of a missing man who was stabbed and kidnapped,” Gwen said.
Both detectives quickly left and Gwen turned to Devi. “Hello, I’m Gwen. I’m your new lawyer and don’t worry I have everything under control.”
Devi stared up at the older woman in complete and utter awe.
“I want to be you when I grow up.” Oh no. Hopefully she didn’t take that as Devi saying she was old.
But she just let out a delighted laugh and waved her hand through the air.
“Thank you so much for doing that,” Devi told her. “It was amazing. I’ve never seen anyone stand up to a detective like that. To anyone like that.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” Gwen told her. “That was so much fun. I needed something to sink my teeth into. Don’t get me wrong, it’s never boring in Wishingbone. The other week, I even got to do some detective work. Seemed that there were a number of shoes going missing from one particular neighborhood and everyone was blaming this one person as the shoes would turn up in her backyard. But it turns out, it was Mrs. Whiskers.”
“Mrs Whiskers?” Devi asked. “Is that a . . .”
“Cat? Yep. The cat was stealing shoes. Don’t know what she wanted them all for. Or how she even carried them. One was a boot. Mind you, she is a very big cat.”
That was . . . crazy.
“Anyway, Liam gave me all the information he had on your brother’s case⎯”
“Liam?” Who was Liam?
“Oh, sorry.” Gwen shot Kent a look.
“Liam works for me, Devi,” Kent said gently. “He was looking into your brother’s case because of these threats Stein was getting.”
She felt nauseous. “You thought that Rohan was sending Stein threatening messages. He wasn’t!”
“No one thought that,” Kent told her. “There’s no way he could have from prison anyway. We were investigating the last few cases Stein lost. Your brother’s case caught Liam’s interest.”
“And now it’s caught mine,” Gwen said. “I’ve decided I’m going to help Rohan.”
“Help him?” she asked faintly. What was happening right now?
“Yes, I’m going to take his case. There are a number of inconsistencies and issues with it.”
As much as Devi would love to hire Gwen as Rohan’s attorney, she didn’t think that Gwen would come cheap. “Oh, that’s really nice, but⎯”
“Pro bono, of course.”
That would be amazing. But Devi knew she was only doing that because of Hayes. Gwen didn’t even live here.
“I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Devi said.
“You’re not asking. Besides, I want to do it. It intrigues me.” Her phone started to ring and she drew it out. “Hey, yep, I’m here. Already run into some interesting cops. Detective Brown. He threatened to arrest Devi for obstructing justice. Yep. I’ll put you on speaker.” Gwen put the phone down. “This is my friend, Reuben. He’s also a lawyer.”
“So you’re taking the case?” Reuben asked.
“Of course.”
“The case of the missing shoes wasn’t enough for you, huh?” he said dryly.
“Well, it was gratifying. But this has a bit more meat to it,” Gwen said. “Are you going to help?”
“Of course,” the other man said smoothly. “I’ll always help you.”
“Great. Can I send you a few things and you look over them?”
“Send away. Miss Dawson?”
“Yes?” For some reason, the guy on the other end sounded terrifying. And yet so supremely confident that she also found herself feeling more confident as well.
If this guy was helping then . . . then Rohan just might get out of jail.