Russ took one of her tissues and tried to wipe away a stain on his shirt—part of his lunch, no doubt. “The system isn’t perfect. You know that. If he is wrongly imprisoned, his jury won’t be the first to get it wrong.”
Did she have more responsibility in this situation than she was willing to take? “Okay, look,” she said. “I’m not having the best day, and you’re asking me to help someone I no longer admire. But I believe there’s a chance Tim might be innocent. So I’ll get in touch with an attorney friend of mine, see if he’ll look into it.”
Russ used both arms to shove himself to his feet. “You have a friend who might be able to help?”
“It’s been a few years since we’ve talked, but yes. His name’s Ashton Cooper, and he has an enviable record when it comes to winning difficult cases.”
“How’d you meet him?”
“When I first started my practice, I was sometimes asked to give expert testimony for the prosecution. I came up against him in court several times, so I know how good he is.”
“You became friends even though you were on opposite sides of every case?”
“Basically. He consulted with me on other cases I wasn’t involved in when he had a psychology question and, over time, we developed a rapport.” He’d even asked her to dinner once or twice—not that she’d ever accepted his invitations. He was loud, caustic, argumentative and intense. Not her type. But she liked how hard he tried, in his own gruff way, to make the world a better place. “He used to donate one day a week to pro bono cases, some that focused on trying to free inmates who might be innocent. Provided he still does that, I can ask him to take a look at Fitzpatrick’s case.”
Giving up on what’d turned out to be a futile attempt to remove the food stains on his shirt, Russ threw the tissue in her wastebasket. “Why didn’t you mention this guy before?”
Because she’d been hesitant to ask Ashton for such a huge favor. What if Fitzpatrick was guilty? She didn’t want him to waste his time trying to free someone who deserved to be in prison. “I didn’t feel going to Ashton would change anything. But just this week, Amarok and I received confirmation that DNA recovered on some open cases in Arizona showed a familial relationship to that of Jasper’s parents.”
“Wait.… What are you saying? You have Jasper’s DNA profile?”
She couldn’t help smiling. With everything that’d happened recently, she hadn’t taken the time to celebrate that small victory—and she should have. It could turn out to be a big victory. “We do.”
“That’s fabulous! Then … we just need to have it tested against all the DNA found at both crime scenes. If we can place Jasper at either one, it’ll prove Tim is innocent.”
“To us. We know the murders had to be connected, and if Jasper was at one or the other, he was the culprit for both. But where Fitzpatrick’s concerned, that’ll need to play out in the legal system.”
“There’s always a lot of red tape with that sort of thing. But if Jasper was there—the psychopath who killed three of your other friends—we should be able to free Tim, especially with a good attorney.”
“I think so, too. But what if Jasper’s DNA doesn’t match? Does that mean it was Fitzpatrick who killed Mandy and Charlotte?”
“Not necessarily,” Russ argued. “Jasper could’ve murdered both women without leaving his DNA.”
“Exactly. Then we won’t know any more than we know now, and Ashton will say there’s nothing he can do. I’m wondering if we should wait and see if we have Jasper’s DNA at the scene before we approach him. That’s what I’ve been planning to do.”
Russ shoved his hands in his pockets. “Let’s not wait. Having Cooper involved should make the whole process go quicker. He’ll know how to get hold of the evidence, get the DNA tested, file whatever papers are required to move the process along, et cetera.”
“That’s true,” she agreed. “If we have to depend on Detective Dressler, who wholeheartedly believes he put the right man behind bars, we could run into some resistance and delays.” The detective hadn’t even called Amarok back! She’d tried to reach him Friday morning herself, before they’d visited the cabin, and he hadn’t returned her call, either.
“Maybe Cooper will look at the evidence and all the testimony and believe in Tim enough to take on the case, anyway.”
She gave Russ a doubtful look. “He won’t be able to get past that shoe imprint in Charlotte’s blood—unless he can offer up another plausible culprit.”
“You can’t say that for sure,” Russ said. “Who knows what this might start? Can I tell Tim what’s going on? That you’re doing what you can?”
She locked her desk. “It might be smarter not to get his hopes up until—”
“He could use some good news right now. He’s really depressed. He needs to feel he’s got a fighting chance.”
“Fine.” She handed him back the letter he’d dropped on her desk. If Russ wanted to encourage Fitzpatrick, that was his choice. Even if Tim was innocent, even if she was going to try to help him, she didn’t have any desire to remain in touch.
She listened to the soles of Russ’s shoes squish as he left her office. She was eager to head home, but she had Ashton Cooper’s cell phone number, so it wasn’t as if she had to wait until Monday. Maybe Cooper could get the DNA tested right away. He’d certainly have a better chance than she would.
Setting her briefcase to one side, she took a moment to call him.
13
Amarok was having a second bowl of chili and a piece of corn bread at the Moosehead when Evelyn came in. He wasn’t all that hungry anymore, but he had to visit The Shady Lady to give Leland another update, to let him know he was finished with the field and hadn’t found anything, and he wasn’t looking forward to it.
He stood as Makita trotted over to welcome Evelyn. “Hey, what’s up?” Amarok hadn’t expected to see her until he swung by the house.
She slid onto the stool next to his. “I noticed your truck outside, so I decided to stop in.”
He checked his watch. “It’s barely five. What are you doing off so early?”
“You know I don’t have to work on Saturday. And I told you when we were on the phone that I’d be leaving soon.”
“You put in so many hours, the day of the week doesn’t seem to matter to you,” he said dryly. “And once you’re engrossed in one of your studies, ‘soon’ could be four or five hours.”
She rolled her eyes but smiled to let him know she understood he was teasing. “Since I met you, I’ve taken a lot more time off than I ever did before. Anyway, tonight when I said ‘soon,’ I meant it. I have a raging headache.”
The concern he felt for her deepened. He had to determine what had happened to Sierra—and eliminate the threat of Jasper before Evelyn could unravel mentally or emotionally. She was already struggling. And yet he had this thing with Sierra, which may or may not be connected. “You need to eat, and you need sleep,” he told her.
She rested a hand on his thigh. “So you keep telling me.”
“It’s true.” He gave her a menu. “What would you like for dinner?”
She pushed the menu away without even looking at it. “A bowl of vegetable soup.”
“That’s all?”
“That’s all. And I’m going to bed as soon as I get home.”
“Good.” He wished he could go with her, that they could curl up together and shut out the world. When it was just the two of them, nothing else seemed to matter. But he didn’t have the luxury of relaxing. Once he’d figured out what was going on with Sierra, he could throw all his effort and energy back into hunting down Jasper. He couldn’t wait to return to that. Although he’d been protective of Evelyn all along, he wanted to capture Jasper now more than ever. Jasper was keeping him from starting a family with the woman he loved, and Amarok took that personally.
He waved to get Shorty’s attention and ordered the soup.
Evelyn asked Shorty how he was doing, but Amarok could tell that she was beginning to feel self-conscious around the locals again. “Shorty likes you, you know that,” he murmured after the owner of the Moosehead had moved away.