After meeting with Jason Prichard, Cade felt a little better. There were some glaring gaps in the case against him. Still finding proof of his innocence wasn't easy.

Years of being a dutiful son had backfired on him. His mother hadn't called, and he refused to call her. Leigh spat, "She doesn't care about you."

Cade shook his head. "She doesn't know. If I tip her off, Vinnie will know his set up worked. Let him sweat."

Leigh sighed. "I bet he knows. Guys like him buy off cops to get inside information."

"That's criminal."

Leigh laughed. "You are so naïve."

Cade paced the small apartment. Restlessness was getting to him. Leigh had gone out, and he worried about a knock on the door. She looked defeated when she returned. "What's wrong?"

"I stopped by my firm. I had to explain what was happening. They claim my defending you is a conflict of interest, because the firm represents Copley Hotel."

"So?"

"It's bullshit. They basically gave me an ultimatum. Come back to work now or never."

"That's not fair."

She shook her head. "I didn't say you were family. I should have."

"I can hire a lawyer. Save your career or if you are tired of billing unhealthy hours with no recognition, I know a graphic designer who can help you launch yourself on your own. He has investment money too."

She put her hands on her face. "I can't abandon you. You are more important than any career."

"If I'm in jail for life, you can have all my money."

She looked up. "Money! We can prove you don't have any large deposits."

Cade stared at her. "But I do."

"Yeah, but that's well documented. I bet Eden can put together a report of every dollar you earned. The sale of CEJ is public record."

She paused when her phone rang. "What's happening?... Shit! Have you looked at the tapes? Find her or your boss will be embarrassed when I do."

When she hung up, she looked worse than she had about her job. "What's wrong?"

She looked up with tears pooled in her eyes. "They're bringing it to the grand jury next month."

"What does that mean?"

"They'll convince the jurors there's sufficient evidence to arrest you?"

"Can we stop it?"

"Not without your alibi. We may have to let it play out. You'll be arraigned, but then we get to see what they know and build our case."

"Will I have to go to jail?"

Her face fell. "Accused murderers rarely get bail."

"So I'm going to jail?"

"Yes, but I'm going to get you out. We need to find your alibi."

"Fucking Vinnie is ruining my life." Cade stomped around the room.

Leigh threw up her hands. "Stop, you look like the guy on the tape."

Cade stopped. "The one who framed me. I don't walk like him."

"No, but we can't prove it."

Cade looked at her. "Eden recorded us all the time. I bet she has tons of videos of me walking."

Leigh's eyes widened. "Get it."

A morsel of hope replaced Cade's anger. He sent a text. I need videos of me walking.

His phone rang. "What do you need?"

"Me walking. To prove I don't walk like the thug with the load in his pants."

"It's probably the gun or his extra large balls." Eden laughed hysterically.

When the three friends hung out Eden talked like one of the guys, sometimes worse. "Do you talk to Kevin that way?"

"Nah, only you."

"Thanks. I'm going to jail. Will I survive?"

"You are good looking with a nice ass."

"Why are you looking at my ass?"

"Why do you think I record you walking?"

"Because you recorded every highlight of CEJ."

"That and your ass, but Kevin's is pretty cute too so you're safe."

"If you're trying to take my mind off jail all this ass talk isn't helping."

"I'm sorry, Cade. I love you and just wish I could help."

"You can get videos together."

Leigh yelled, "The money trail."

"Right. Document all my deposits to prove where my money came from."

"They think you got paid millions for the hit."

"The sale is public, and the math is easy. Divide by three."

She laughed. "They are probably too dumb. They don't know who you are."

"When my arrest goes public, no one will know Daniel C. Maloney is me." Cade frowned. "Except Vinnie. He calls me Daniel because he knows I don't like it. My father's name should never pass his lips."

"What's your dad saying about this mess?"

"He doesn't know. He would freak out. Leigh is working as hard as she can to save me."

"I'm going through my videos. I'll send what I have."

"Thanks, Eden."

Leigh grabbed his phone. "Eden, don't delete them or edit the originals. We need to show they were taken before the bullshit... Yeah, I know. I'm trying as hard as I can." Leigh turned to him. "She said bye."

Cade put his arm around her. "Tell me I'll be okay."

"I won't stop until you are, so I quit. I don't want to work for them and their clients. Maybe I'll open my own practice or maybe I'll work for the public defender's office. Either way, I won't be representing people so rich they can pay those fees. Do you know how many times I represented dumbass kids who drove daddy's sports car drunk?"

"And they were guilty."

She nodded. "Most of my clients were. I know for sure you are innocent."

"Maybe you should be a prosecutor to convict guilty people."

She shook her head. "I would rather let them go free than send an innocent person to prison."

"Like me."

"You won't go to prison. I refuse to let you get convicted."

"Leigh, I trust you."

The siblings hugged. If Cade prayed, he would pray for the ordeal to be over.

The doom of impending arrest subsided since it wouldn't happen until after the grand jury met. Leigh encouraged him to leave the apartment. "You're still free."

"I'm afraid Vinnie's gonna get me."

"You're too valuable to him taking the fall for his guy. You need to get fresh air and run. Let's go for a drive."

"Where?"

"Anywhere out of the city."

He cracked a rare smile. "Okay."

Every day he ran while Leigh sat on a bench in the sun. It helped his stress levels. Days crawled by and April had turned to May. They set the grand jury date for the end of the month. As Cade circled the park, he watched Jason walk across the grass. Gradually, he had increased his running time, although his strength wasn't back.

When he reached the bench, he stopped and paced. Jason smiled at him. "You look better. Still need to eat. I have good news. I needed to tell you in person."

"What?" He picked up a water bottle and drained it.

Leigh sat up as Jason sat beside her. Cade stood behind the bench looking over their shoulder. "I got the footage from the lobby earlier that day."

"How?" Leigh asked.

"I know people. It took some expenses."

"Is that legal?"

Leigh said, "Law enforcement pays informants."

Impatiently, Cade implored, "Let's see."

Jason took out a tablet and pressed play. Cade's breath caught. One half the screen pointed towards the restaurant door and the other half the elevators. Meg appeared looking around just before the elevator door opened. He rushed forward looking at his watch. When he looked up, she walked into him.

"That's her?"

Cade nodded. "But who is she?"

"We'll put her through facial recognition software."

"Give me a screen shot." Leigh bit her lip. "She's not your normal type."

"I don't have a type. What are you doing with the picture?"

"I'm sending it to the ADA. I keep telling him his people will have egg on their face. She's our proof, whoever she is."

"Could she keep me from going to jail?"

Leigh shrugged. "It depends on how adamant they are. They only have to share their evidence with the grand jury."

"What if we can't find her?"

"With social media we will." Jason updated them on a few other aspects of his investigation.

Cade watched as Jason walked away, then he sat in his place. He looked closer at the image on Leigh's phone. Meg turned to look at him walk away instead of walking to the restroom. A warmth spread through him. If they found her, she could save him, but also he would see her again. When their night started, he hadn't considered seeing her again. It was a hookup, but something changed as the night progressed.

He looked at his sister. "She looks so proper because she was having dinner with her parents. At the club, she had on a sexy dress and she was really cool. Fun. If the night hadn't turned into hell, I would have bought her breakfast and asked for her number."

Leigh looked down at the picture. "She'd be lucky to have a guy like you."

He cleared his throat. "Should we head home?"

"Yeah." She put her arm around his waist and squeezed. "Hey, this is good news."

"Do you trust your guy on the other side?"

She thought for a moment. "Does it matter what side finds her? She only has one story."

"My life is in her hands."

"It's probably more than she bargained for when she picked you, blue eyes."

"Let's find her first."

Leigh hugged him. "Come on. We have work to do."

Cade took a deep breath before they returned to the city and the small apartment. If he got out of the mess, he would move out of the city, although rambling around alone in a big house wasn't appealing either.

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