Holding Out For A Hero. HelenKay Dimon

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      Annie shook the receiver in his face. “Then I will climb over this table and beat you with this phone.”

      Kane laughed. “That’s one of her favorite threats.”

      Josh gave up. For a second he wondered if between Annie and Deana he ever really stood a chance.

      “Marriage has made you soft,” Josh said to his friend.

      Kane’s smile grew even broader. “But not stupid. Women always win. Just accept it and move on. Call Deana and pack your bag.”

      Chapter Six

      “I don’t approve of this strategy.” Deana made the statement for the third time as she walked down the hallway a step behind Josh.

      Thanks to a knee-length skirt and two-inch heels she had to double-time her steps to keep up at all. Even then, she nearly got knocked over by a group of lawyers coming in the opposite direction.

      “We’re even, because I don’t remember inviting you on this trip.” Josh pushed open the glass doors leading to the office of the Prosecuting Attorney without looking back at her.

      He hadn’t said much of anything since agreeing to take on Ryan’s case. One confirming phone call and a quick stop at Deana’s house to ask a few personal questions about Ryan and his lead defense attorney, and Josh was off and investigating. She only knew about this related excursion at all because a confirming text about his meeting came in while Josh was at her house an hour before.

      It paid to be nosy now and then.

      “What choice did I have since you refused to fill me in on your strategy?” she asked.

      “How about we skip the talking and get to the part where you stay out of this investigation?”

      Easy for him to say. They weren’t talking about his nephew. He wasn’t the one walking into a building he despised, one filled with memories better forgotten.

      Josh waved to a few people milling by the door and mumbled a few hellos before walking up to the reception desk. “Hey, Mary. Is he ready for me?”

      Despite her being about sixty and wearing a wedding ring, under Josh’s attention the older woman giggled like a schoolgirl. After babbling something about the DEA problem, the woman picked up the phone.

      The woman never even acknowledged Deana hiding behind Josh’s broad shoulders, which, as far as Deana was concerned, was a very good thing. Standing there, seeing the curious stares from passing lawyers was bad enough.

      Josh leaned on the desk and turned back to Deana. His eyebrows lowered. “What’s wrong with you?”

      Deana noticed his smile faded the second the flirting with the other woman stopped. “Is there anyone you don’t know?”

      “I’ve worked in law enforcement for a lot of years.”

      “In Kauai, not here, and not as an attorney.”

      “People like me.”

      “I find that hard to believe,” Deana muttered under her breath.

      “You did hire me for my expertise and connections, remember?”

      The last thing she needed was a lecture. “I brought you on board with the hope you would be neutral.”

      Josh tapped his pen end-over-end against the desk. “And walking into this office somehow shows I’m not?”

      “Your friendliness with the very people who prosecuted Ryan is a bit disconcerting.”

      Josh continued to throw her a blank stare. “Your point?”

      So much for hoping he’d understand without a diagram. “There isn’t a person in this building who believes Ryan is innocent.”

      “I hate to tell you this, but there aren’t many people in Hawaii who think Ryan is innocent.”

      “That’s not true.”

      “No one but you, your mother, and Ryan think he got a raw deal. Most think the life sentence was a gift or a result of his family’s wealth.”

      “He’s only sixteen.” Funny how everyone forgot that little fact in their bloodlust to crucify him.

      “All that proves is that there’s no age minimum on stupid when it comes to killing.”

      “Thanks for keeping an open mind on this. I really appreciate it.” She glanced around and was hit with awful flashbacks of her last trip here.

      And then there was the Mary problem. Recognition finally dawned on the older woman’s face at the mention of Ryan’s name. Her eyes shot open and her mouth snapped shut on what could only be called a look of distaste.

      Deana waited for Mary to say something. Anything.

      “Deana.” The sound of Josh using her first name stunned Deana for a second. He stepped away from the counter and crowded closer, pitching his voice low. “Talking to the prosecutor is part of my process.”

      “But—”

      Josh’s forehead hovered only a few inches from hers. “And you know what? You’re not going to be in the room when I do it.”

      Now there was a wrong assumption. Ten minutes with the prosecutor, hearing his skewed view of the case, and Josh would walk away from the case. “I’ll remind you that I’m the one paying the money.”

      Josh straightened up, putting space between them again. “If that’s your argument, I can leave right now and never come back.”

      Okay, so the money angle was the wrong way to go. Josh made it clear he hated being reminded about checks, cash, or any other form of payment. She found his sensitivity ridiculous. Talk about being touchy for no reason. There was nothing wrong with being paid a good wage for work. Surely he was smart enough to see that.

      She tried a different tack. “I have a vested interest in the outcome of what you find out here today.”

      Josh pointed to the green couch behind her. “You can vest out here in the waiting area.”

      Mary did not even try to hide her laughter.

      Whatever Deana might have said died on her lips when Eric Kimura, the Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, appeared behind Josh’s left shoulder.

      She could not possibly be this unlucky. No woman could.

      Eric shook his head as if he wasn’t expecting to see her, either. “Deana?”

      The air sucked right out of the room. She would have screamed except the security guys stationed right next to the door probably would have shot her. She wasn’t exactly in friendly territory at the moment.

      “Hello, Eric.” She skipped the part about it being nice to see him again, because it wasn’t.

      “Hey, СКАЧАТЬ