“But the pictures on Snapchat are temporary, so they were wiped from Tessa’s phone.” Frustration bubbled in Lance’s chest. Jacob Emerson was a predator, and Lance wanted to nail him.
“Technically they disappear from your phone.” Felicity took her phone from the back pocket of her shorts and began scrolling. “But I made Tessa take a screenshot. I wanted her to keep a copy because Jacob is such an asshole that it wouldn’t surprise me if he pulled a stunt like this again. I didn’t want Tessa to regret not keeping the pics. But she didn’t want to keep them anywhere her grandparents could see them. She was so embarrassed.”
So embarrassed that she didn’t go to the police. Humiliation was one of the reasons that only a third of rape victims reported their assaults.
“I copied the pictures to my cloud account,” Felicity said.
The police wouldn’t have known they ever existed, even if they got a search warrant for Felicity’s phone. Plus, if Jacob ever got a hold of her phone, he couldn’t delete the pictures.
“Do you still have them?” Morgan perched on the very edge of her seat.
“Hold on a minute. I have to download them.” Felicity watched her phone, then handed it over. Then she turned away, as if unable to look.
Morgan held the phone toward Lance. Even knowing what to expect, the first photo made him suck wind. An unconscious and naked Tessa sprawled on a rug. A fully clothed Jacob knelt between her legs, both hands on her breasts.
“Hell.” Disgusted, Lance looked away.
There were four pictures, each worse than the last. Lance gave them a quick glance, then got up and paced to the window. Just viewing the images made him feel dirty, as if Tessa was being violated all over again. The anger that had been building throughout the case went from a simmer to a boil. Jacob Emerson was just seventeen, but Lance wanted to beat the hell out of him for what he’d done to Tessa.
So much for Jacob’s statement that he thought of Tessa as a sister.
Morgan lowered the phone and spoke to Felicity. “These pictures are evidence now. I need your phone, and you’ll have to give a formal statement.”
Felicity nodded. “OK.”
“Why didn’t you show these to the police?” Lance asked.
“They only asked me about the last two weeks.” Felicity shrugged. “I didn’t think something that happened a couple of months ago could be important. I guess I should have, but I’ve been so upset since Tessa died. I’m not thinking straight.”
Damned Horner . . .
He and the DA had been so positive Nick was their perpetrator, and in such a rush to make an arrest and ensure the public that a violent offender was off the streets before the upcoming election, they’d neglected to fully investigate other suspects. They’d taken clean-cut Jacob at face value.
Morgan collected the phone, and they left Felicity’s house.
“Do you think he drugged her?” Morgan asked.
“There’s no way to prove it.” Lance led the way back to the Jeep. Morgan pulled her phone out of her bag.
“Who are you calling?” he asked.
“The DA. We need to have a meeting.” Morgan scrolled on her phone. “We need a DNA sample from Jacob Emerson to see if he’s the father of Tessa’s baby. There are several ways I can make that happen, but frankly, Bryce can do it faster. I have to share any information I uncover in the investigation anyway.”
The discovery process was a two-way street. The prosecutor had to share all the evidence he intended to present against Nick, but the defense had the same obligation.
“Do you think he’ll cooperate?” Lance asked as they paused on the sidewalk.
“If he fights it, there’s a chance the judge would deny our request based on the fact that someone has already been arrested for the crime. Jacob isn’t a suspect. Plus, the fact that he got her pregnant doesn’t mean he killed her, but it would prove he lied. His father knows this and will fight hard to keep us from getting a sample.”
“But this is new evidence.”
“Yes, and I’ll get Jacob’s DNA eventually, but I want it to happen sooner rather than later. I want Nick out of jail.” She tapped a finger to her lower lip. “Bryce takes his case to the grand jury tomorrow. If he gets his indictment the same day this new evidence goes public, he’ll look like a fool.”
“But he can’t put off the hearing.”
“No, he can’t, and he can still get his indictment, but he’s not going to be happy that Jacob lied. Lying witnesses create reasonable doubt. Bryce doesn’t like to take cases to court he isn’t confident of winning.” Morgan’s focus shifted to her call as she asked for Bryce. “Tell him he’s going to want to see me.” She paused for less than a minute. “Thank you.”
She lowered the phone. “He’ll see us now.” Confidence gleamed in her eyes.
“What is it?” he asked.
“For the first time, I think we’ve found a solid flaw in the case against Nick.”
Thirty minutes later, they parked in the municipal complex and locked their handguns in the glove compartment of the Jeep. Lance followed Morgan to the DA’s floor. His secretary didn’t make them wait. The DA rose as they walked into his office.
Morgan and Lance slid into two chairs facing the DA’s desk.
Bryce gave Lance a nod, then turned his laser focus on her. “What is this all about, Morgan?”
Morgan pulled Felicity’s phone, now in a plastic bag, from her pocket. Through the clear plastic, she tapped on the pictures app and pulled up the photos of Tessa. She handed the phone to Bryce.
Lance had seen the DA in action in the courtroom. Bryce Walters could compete for an Oscar any day, but even Bryce couldn’t maintain his poker face when viewing the images of Tessa. Lance was relieved when disgust flashed briefly in Bryce’s eyes. Lance had been afraid that personal ambition would make the DA blind to the injustice.
Bryce set down the phone and dragged a hand across his face. “Whose phone is this?”
“Felicity Weber’s,” Morgan said. “Jacob sent Tessa these pictures via Snapchat. Tessa took a screenshot but didn’t want to hold onto them in case her grandparents saw her phone. Felicity stored the images on her cloud account in case Jacob pulled another similar stunt in the future, either with Tessa or someone else.”
Bryce sat back. “So what do you want?”
“I want a DNA sample from Jacob,” Morgan said.
“Why?” Bryce asked. “Nick’s sperm was found in her body. That’s verified.”
“These pictures date back to early July,” Morgan said. “Right about the time Tessa would have become pregnant. If Jacob raped her in July and she got pregnant, she could have confronted him that night. That’s motive.”