Love's Verdict Page 8

  “Nice,” she said.

  Landon stopped with her glass halfway to her mouth, riveted at the sight of sexy Carly sipping tequila. This needed to stop and right now. She took a taste and glanced over at Shelby, who was throwing side-eye in Carly’s direction. Landon made a note to find out what the issue was between them, but for now, she decided to break the ice. “This is the best tequila I’ve ever had. And I’ve had quite a bit.”

  “I can always spot a tequila girl.” Shelby took a drink from her glass. “I’m going to go see what’s keeping Trevor. He had a call with one of his sponsors, but I expected it to be over by now.” She squeezed Landon’s hand. “Be right back.”

  She sashayed out of the room and disappeared into the cavernous house. Landon raised her glass again and looked at Carly. “Do you really like this or were you being polite?”

  “Do I strike you as the type to mask how I really feel?”

  “Maybe. Like I can tell there’s some bad blood between you and Shelby, but you seem to be handling it like a pro even though she keeps goading you.”

  Carly waved a hand. “She didn’t always agree with our strategy when we were fighting the suspension. Rather than blaming Jane and Mark, she focused her disapproval on me. Comes with the territory. If you expect clients to like you all the time, you’ll be sorely disappointed.”

  Landon knew she wasn’t the “you” Carly had been referring to, but she couldn’t help but feel like the message was meant for her. Fact was, she did like it better when clients liked her. It sure made it easier for them to confide in her. If Shelby wanted to play favorites, she wasn’t going to protest.

  Trevor’s voice sounded from the entry. “Sorry to keep you waiting.” He pointed at the phone in his hand. “But I’m not really in a position to turn down calls from my sponsors right now.” At the sound of his voice, Dijon sprang from the bed he’d collapsed into after his attention from Carly and ran toward his owner. Trevor smiled, but his eyes were red and he looked haggard as he petted the lovable Frenchie.

  “Everything okay?” Landon asked.

  “I don’t know. Brands are dropping me like crazy, but Shelby’s convinced a few to keep me on at least until the grand jury determines if they’re going to indict me. It’s kind of unbelievable that in the court system you’re innocent until proven guilty, but in the court of public opinion one allegation and you’re history.”

  Sounded suspiciously like a sound bite and something Shelby had prepared. Landon spoke carefully. “I get that it’s tempting to tell your side of the story and shout that you had nothing to do with Vanessa’s death, but I promise the public will twist anything you say into a bigger pretzel than the prosecution. You have absolutely nothing to gain from talking to the press.” She pointed at Shelby. “Besides, that’s what you have Shelby for. I’m sure she has access to some great PR folks who can speak on your behalf. Trust me, we’ll get you through this.”

  “Shelby tells me she has good instincts about you.” Trevor strode over to the bar and pulled a beer. “So, what’s on the agenda for tonight? Jane said you might have some background questions.” He took a deep drink from the beer glass. “Whatever you want to know, ask me.”

  He motioned for them to have a seat on the huge leather sectional that took up most of the room. When they were settled, Landon decided not to waste any more time. “Tell us everything you know about Kyle Dandridge.”

  Trevor’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t get it. What’s Kyle have to do with this?”

  “Good question. He’s listed as a witness in the police report, and since he wasn’t arrested, I’m thinking he’s a prosecution witness. When’s the last time you talked to him?”

  “I called him yesterday.”

  “How did he act?”

  “He didn’t. I didn’t reach him. I left a message.”

  “What did you say?”

  He looked surprised at the question. “I don’t know. Probably something about needing to talk to him because all this stuff is weighing on my mind. Why?”

  “Because you can bet that if Kyle really is a prosecution witness,” Carly said, “he’s handing over every message you leave to the prosecutor, and the words ‘stuff is weighing on my mind’ sounds suspiciously like someone who has something to confess.”

  “Well, that’s crazy.” Trevor tossed back the rest of his beer and stared at Carly with a hangdog expression. “Is that what you really think?”

  Shelby stared daggers at Carly, and Landon almost felt sorry for her. “Let’s take it back a notch,” Landon said. “Trevor, tell us everything you know about Kyle. Start from where you met him to what kind of relationship you have now. I mean, realistically you probably don’t spend a lot of time together, right?”

  “Actually we’ve spent a lot of time together this off-season. We took a trip to Aruba and I spent a couple of weeks at his place in Cabo.”

  Landon cut a glance at Carly, who nodded. She took out a piece of paper and wrote at the top Attorney Client Work Product/Confidential and handed it to Trevor. “You don’t have to do this right now, but after we leave, I need you to write down everything you can remember about those trips. Who you talked to, what you said, what other people said to you. You get the idea, right?”

  “I do.”

  Shelby’s phone buzzed. “Sorry, I need to take this. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  Trevor leaned back in his chair and sighed. “I just can’t imagine what Kyle would have to say about Vanessa. I mean, he knew we had kind of a tumultuous relationship, but he was my go-to when I needed to get away from all the drama.”

  “Well, let’s talk about that. I know you probably discussed your relationship with Vanessa with Carly while you were fighting the suspension. Do you mind going over everything again with both of us?”

  “Carly has been great. I’m pretty sure we never would’ve gotten the suspension lifted without her.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Landon saw Carly puff up at the compliment. Obviously, Trevor didn’t share Shelby’s animus for Carly. Landon made a mental note to figure out more about the hostility between the two women. Maybe there was something there she could use to her advantage. The moment she had the thought, she felt a tinge of regret. This whole race for partnership thing put her in a weird spot. She was used to being a tough competitor, but that was when she was fighting with someone on the opposite side. She and Carly were working toward the same goal, and it didn’t feel right to be looking for ways to undermine Carly’s success to make herself look good. Besides, despite Carly’s uptight ways, Landon actually enjoyed their banter. She needed to adjust her approach. Maybe the key to getting the partnership wasn’t to undermine her competitor but to strike a balance between making them both look good while delivering winning blows against their real opponent, the prosecution. She liked this plan. Especially since it meant she could get a little closer to Carly than sparring would allow.

  * * *

  Carly waved off Landon’s attempt to open the car door for her. “We’re not on a date, Holt.”

  Landon winced. “Don’t call me that, please.”

  Filing the nugget of intel away to be explored later, Carly slid into the passenger seat and yawned. They’d spent the last two hours grilling Trevor under Shelby’s watchful eye. Whenever they tried to play devil’s advocate, Shelby intervened, and Carly was exhausted from the effort. They hadn’t learned much more than what Carly already knew. Vanessa had confronted Trevor several times about threats she’d received and whether he was seeing other women. On at least two occasions, the police had been called. Trevor denied ever sending the emails, and he insisted Vanessa was just paranoid. That much hadn’t changed since she’d last grilled him on the subject, but when Landon asked him if he’d ever cheated, he squirmed, finally admitting that one time, he and Kyle had picked up some fangirls in a bar after an away game and taken them back to the team hotel. Infidelity wasn’t illegal, but at least now they had a more definite reason for why Kyle
might be on the prosecution witness list. Tarnishing Trevor as a cheating boyfriend could bolster the prosecution’s case.

  A hand passed near her face, and she looked over at Landon.

  “Earth to Carly. Are you more tired or hungry?”

  Carly laughed at the surprising question. “I think it’s a dead heat.”

  “Why are jocks such bad hosts?” Landon asked. “I mean, the guy could afford to have a chef on hand around the clock, but the only food in the house was pretzels. Lawyers cannot live on party mix alone. At least not this lawyer.”

  “Me either. My relleno faded long ago.”

  “I could use a burger, if you’re up for it.”

  Carly surreptitiously glanced at the dashboard clock. It was late. She was no stranger to working late, but a big dinner after nine would keep her up half the night. Her plan had been to go home, have a cup of the soup she’d saved from the day before, and do a little research before turning in. A greasy burger and the fries she was certain Landon would order were definitely not part of her plan. She diverted. “How is it that you know so many places to eat in Dallas if you haven’t lived here in years? Do you come up often?”

  “Not even. I guess I just remember the good places.”

  It was too dark to see Landon’s expression, but her tone had morphed from fun loving to somber, and Carly wanted the fun version back. “Ah, that explains the progression of comfort foods.” At that moment her stomach rumbled, and they both laughed. “I guess that settles it. Take me to your favorite burger spot.”

  Keller’s was hopping for a weeknight. Carly had driven past the old drive-in burger joint plenty of times and, like tonight, it was usually crowded with fancy cars parked next to Harleys owned by the many bikers who frequented the place. Landon pulled the car to a stop. “This okay?”

  “Sure.” Carly decided to embrace trying something new. Landon turned on her flashers, and a few minutes later, a woman sporting a beehive with a paper pad in her hand wandered out to the car to take their order. The food came fast, and when it did, Carly bit into her cheeseburger and tried not to mind that it dribbled down her chin. “There are not enough napkins in the world for this experience,” Carly said.

  “True. But if you’re focused on the napkins, you’re doing it wrong.” Landon took another bite of her burger and moaned. “Better even than I remember.”

  “No good burgers in Austin?”

  “There’s plenty, but Dallas wins, hands down.”

  “This is amazing.”

  “It’s no salad, that’s for sure.”

  Carly smiled, and a second later, Landon touched a napkin to her face, dabbing at the corner of her mouth. Carly reached for the napkin, and her fingers closed over Landon’s and held for a moment, enjoying the warmth of the simple touch. Warning bells clanged in her head and she reluctantly let go. “Salads aren’t so messy.”

  “They are when I eat them. Of course I load them up with tons of dressing and toppings. Lettuce is merely a palette.”

  “How in the world do you look the way you do when you eat stuff like this all the time?” The words were out before Carly could censor them and she was instantly mortified.

  “You like the way I look,” Landon said with a grin.

  “That’s not what I said, and you know it. It’s a question of science. If I ate like you do, I’d never fit through my front door.”

  “Maybe I have a very large front door.” Landon chomped down on a French fry. “Seriously, I’ve always been this way—overactive metabolism. I do work out, but that’s mostly to burn off energy.”

  “Was that comment supposed to take away the sting, because it just made me hate you more.”

  “You don’t hate me.”

  Carly paused before answering. It was true, she didn’t hate Landon. Not at all. In fact, the more time they spent together, the clearer it became that she actually kind of liked her. Which made it more difficult to wrap her head around kicking Landon’s ass while working on this case. “Okay, hate is a strong word.”

  “See?” Landon scrunched her hamburger wrapper into a ball and started the car. As they drove away from Keller’s, she said, “I know we’re rivals here, but if we set some ground rules, we might actually both have a better shot at winning.”

  Intrigued, Carly said, “Name them.”

  Landon ticked the rules off on her fingers. “Number one, we share all information we learn. If we’re working for the good of Trevor, then it’s our duty to do the best we can.”

  “Got it. Next?”

  “We present a united front. Trevor, Shelby, and especially Donna Wilhelm don’t need to know we’re competing against each other. If Donna finds out, she could try to take advantage.”

  “Agreed. I’ve got the next one. We do all witness interviews together whenever possible. That way we each get a fair glance at the veracity of the witness.”

  Landon nodded. “I have only one more. You let me teach you about the game of football. I can’t have you going around using the wrong vocabulary and not knowing anything about the players and organization. You’ll make us both look bad. And don’t say you can learn all about it on the internet, because you can’t. There’s no substitute for the real thing.”

  Carly stammered for a response, but Landon was right. Right or not, she proceeded with caution. “And how do you propose to teach me?”

  “We’ll start slow. Have you ever been to a game?”

  “That’s a pretty broad question, counselor.”

  “Okay, have you ever been to a pro game?”

  “Fairly certain you know the answer to this one. And that would be no.”

  “Excellent. Then I’ll have the pleasure of escorting you to your first game. Prepare to be amazed.”

  Landon’s words were silky smooth and probably weren’t intended to convey strong flirtation, but Carly’s senses were all on high alert at the promise in her voice. “What should one do to prepare?”

  “One should not talk about oneself in the third person, for starters.”

  And just like that, Carly’s eagerness for the new adventure was buried in embarrassment. Thank God Landon had just turned into the office parking lot. “Yeah, it’s okay. I think I can figure out what I need to know on my own. My car’s right up there. You can let me out here.”

  Landon ignored her and pulled into the spot next to her car. “Hey, I’m sorry. I was just teasing.”

  Carly shrugged. “I get it. I’m just tired.”

  “You don’t like to be teased.”

  “Does anyone?”

  “I guess I’m used to it. I have two brothers. It came with the territory.”

  Carly’s ears perked up at the first mention of some detail of Landon’s family, but she decided not to press. She wasn’t at all sure why she cared about Landon’s personal life, but she wrote it off to knowing her opponent. Sure, right, that was it. For now she was just glad for the focus not to be on her and her own insecurity. “I should go.”

  “Okay.”

  Neither one of them moved. Carly had no desire to leave because it would mean Landon’s hand would no longer be touching her. Completely irrational. Landon was everything she wasn’t. Gregarious, easygoing, good-looking—the list went on and on. They had absolutely nothing in common but this case, and the fact they both wanted to make partner—both excellent reasons for why she shouldn’t be attracted to Landon and why she definitely shouldn’t act on her feelings. It might be a little too late for that first thing.

  Chapter Seven

  “Why are we taking an Uber again?” Carly asked.

  Landon looked up from her desk. Carly was framed in her doorway, and Sunday-at-the-office version of Carly was wildly different from regular workday, office-ready Carly. She was dressed in jeans, Chucks, and a light cotton hoodie, and her hair, normally pinned up tight, cascaded around her shoulders like a gorgeous auburn halo. “Your hair is almost red when the light hits it.”

  Crap, she could tell by the strang
e look on Carly’s face that she’d said that out loud. “I mean that’s interesting. Like a strange effect. You know. Of the light. On your hair.” Shut up, shut up, shut up. Now Carly was smiling at her in a goofy way, so Landon stood and grabbed her cell. “As for why we’re taking an Uber, you’ll see. Ready to go?”

  Perfect timing—the car showed up just as they stepped out of the building. It was a gorgeous fall Sunday, and the air was crisp with the promise of cooler temperatures. Like Carly, Landon was dressed for play in jeans and her favorite sweatshirt purchased on a recent trip to Provincetown. When Carly asked her about the P-town logo, she was surprised that she hadn’t heard of the popular gay vacation destination. “It’s at the tip of the cape about two hours from Boston. Super popular in the summer, and they have a full week of events just for women every October.” She watched for a sign of recognition but got nothing. Maybe the gay vibe she thought she’d been getting was something else. But then Carly had made that comment about not being on a date when she’d held open her car door, but that wasn’t definitive. She shook her head—they were here on business, and Carly’s sexual orientation was a non-issue, or at least it should be.

  “I don’t vacation much.”

  “Don’t like to travel?”

  Carly seemed surprised by the question. “I don’t mind the destination, it’s the preparing for and getting there part I’m not particularly fond of. Besides I’ve been pretty busy with work the last few years, you know, trying to make partner.”

  “Oh yeah, that.” Landon smiled. “Well, if you hate the getting there part, you’ll appreciate not having to park at the stadium.” She pointed out her window at the long lines of vehicles waiting to get into the parking lot. “We’re about to be dropped off at the entrance.” She leaned over the seat and gave the driver specific instructions about where to locate Will Call. She was excited about seeing the game in person, even though the star player would be absent. It would be the second time this season they’d played without Trevor. They’d crashed miserably the first time, but they’d had little notice since he’d just been arrested. Now that the team had had more than a week to regroup, hopefully they’d be up to the challenge.