The Discovery - 9. Chapter 9

Kyle frowned slightly as he pointedly ignored the tap of raindrops on the window behind him. It had been raining since he left the house and had not stopped since. All morning, he was forced to listen to the subtle but insistent tap of the cold rain in the cold late October air. Autumn weather was something that he never enjoyed. Rain only seemed to make it worse. The rain was cold and clung to whatever you were wearing. But what really annoyed him was the wind that seemed to whip it up so the taps would occasionally turn into splatters of cold water dashed against the window behind him. It carried a chill with it that seemed to almost seep through the window as all around him the leaves on the trees turned brown until the wind eventually ripped them from their branches, sending them tumbling into piles of wet, dead leaves.

The last few weeks had been quiet in the office and at home. The most he had done in the past few months was what he was doing now. Typing out documents to file in court at the end of the week for a minor claims suit. Most of the cases coming into the office were being distributed to the other lawyers while he was trying to keep his caseload light. Not that he had nothing to do, rather it was mostly mundane. It may be that spending nearly two years fighting a huge corporation and winning against impossible odds had spoiled him. But he also knew the newer lawyers needed the experience more than he did. When he could, he offered help and advice if they needed it and made sure they all knew his door was open to them for anything.

With the quieter schedule, boring as it was, it at least gave him more time at home with his family and friends. That was worth the more boring cases he handled now. Maybe, next Spring after the boys were out of school, he and Jacob could take them on a vacation somewhere? They didn’t get a chance to visit his mother last Summer. Maybe another trip there would be a good idea. His mother and her husband did enjoy the boys any time they were there. He didn’t want to take that away from them.

As that thought settled in his mind, he finished up his work and was ready to have it printed out before meeting with the client tomorrow. After looking it over one more time, he was about to print it when Rose’s voice broke into the silence of his office from his desk phone. “Mr. Howard, there’s someone here to see you.” She paused as she added in a slightly annoyed tone, “who doesn’t have an appointment.”

Kyle’s eyebrows lifted slightly in surprise as he hit the comm button on his office phone. “Who is it?”

There was a slight pause before Rosette replied dryly, “who else would walk in without an appointment?”

Kyle smirked. From Rose’s tone, he had a good idea who it was. “Send her in.” He lifted his gaze to the door to his office and waited for the door to open. He was a little surprised but only pleasantly when Stephanie walked in carrying a heavy looking satchel over her shoulder. She was also dressed in her usual work outfit along with a long coat hanging over her arm, which made him wonder what she was doing in his office. He rose from his seat and started to come around his desk. “Steph! How’s Nate and the baby?”

Stephanie’s amused smirk softened into a warm smile. “They are lovely as ever. Melinda and her daddy are having a grand time at home. Nathan can’t get enough of her, so he spends most of his time working from home now.” They embraced before Kyle offered her a seat. She let the heavy bag hit the floor with a noticeable thud as she took a seat in front of his desk. “I told him he didn’t have to do it all himself, but he’s been adamant about being a stay-at-home dad. And I’m starting to think about finding something outside of the DA’s office, but we’ll see.”

Kyle chuckled as he sat back. “I’m glad the two of you are making it work so well. I know Dad would love to see her.”

“He’ll get his chance,” she said. “Nate and I were planning on coming for Thanksgiving, if that meets with everyone’s approval.”

Kyle snorted derisively. “As if we would want it any other way. You know you’re always welcome.”

“Then it’s all set.” Stephanie sat back and smiled at him, waiting in the small space of silence between them as if she was expecting something to happen.

From the smile on her lips beginning to take on a look of smugness, Kyle was starting to question her presence in his office. “What brings you to this neck of the woods?”

Her smile evolved into a mischievous grin. “Your criminal indictment,” she replied with a casual air.

Kyle chuckled at her obvious joke. “Have I been a bad boy that one of Dauphin county’s ADAs has come to serve me papers?”

“Damn near,” she remarked dryly as she leaned back in the chair and her tone became more casual. “It amazes me sometimes the lengths you will go to make things harder than they need to be.”

He blinked and tilted his head curiously, wondering what she was talking about. He motioned to the bag as he asked, “what’s in the bag?”

She arched an eyebrow as her smirk became more playful. “Why the Carter file, of course.”

“The Carter file?”

“Yes,” she replied with a pointed look as if to suggest he should be aware of it.

Kyle stared at her, trying to figure out what file he had requested from anyone, much less her. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Funny thing, that,” she remarked casually. “I didn’t know it existed either or understood why you were poking around in state databases by proxy. It’s a good thing I found out instead of my boss or internal affairs. That probably kept you from getting hauled into an ethics hearing or worse.”

Trying to remember, all he could do was look at her with an exasperated smile. “I can hear you saying words, but they don’t make any sense. Would you like to try again?”

“Alright.” She lifted the bag next to her and pulled out a thick file that reminded him of an old phonebook and placed it on Kyle’s desk. Before he could take it, she put her hand on it to stop him. “But first…”

“First, what?”

Stephanie lifted the file from his desk and set it on her lap. “I was wondering, after your huge win against the ‘evil’ corporation, why the hell would you be looking into a criminal matter? I mean, you were a good enough ADA when we worked together and all, but I figured once you resigned and got a pretty successful law practice started, you’d be steering clear of this sort of thing.”

He stared up at her in surprise and a little trepidation. The look she gave him hinted that she knew more than she was letting on. “You’ve read this already?”

She nodded with a suggestive smirk. “I got it yesterday and took it home to read. Not to mention the pictures.”

“Pictures?”

“Yes,” she said. “One in particular which had me wondering. I had the oddest sense that they looked very familiar, though I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. And, while the subject matter is kind of out there, the circumstances are rather odd. I figured that maybe you wanted this to add another feather to your cap so you can end up on the cover of Lawyer Magazine, or something like that.”

“Steph,” he began, raising his voice slightly, getting exasperated. “I never asked you for a file. Tell me what this is all about now.”

Her smile faded slightly as her eyebrow arched. Her voice took on a more serious tone that hinted at her displeasure. “You’re right. You didn’t ask me. But you did ask Mike.”

The words hit him almost like a physical force as he sat back in his chair. Eyes wide, suddenly realizing what was sitting on the edge of his desk. “I… I’ve been so busy lately here and with the kids. I’d completely forgotten.”

“Very busy,” she quipped. “What with managing a multi-million-dollar settlement and adding new staff to keep up with demand. Your children, your husband, your father and your farm.” Her lips curled smugly. “Not to mention the evidentiary hearing you lost. I bet that struck a nerve.”

Kyle frowned. From her words and her expression, he could tell she knew a lot more than what she was letting on. “How do you know about that? And how did you get ahold of this file?”

Stephanie picked the file up from the desk and sat back in her chair, setting the file on her lap. Her voice conveyed not only her playfulness but how much she was enjoying stretching this out. “To answer both questions; when Mike needed help doing your ‘favor’ without getting himself potentially into a situation where he would have to answer questions he didn’t know how to answer, he came to me. I thought it was a little odd you asked him for help and not me so I asked myself, ‘why would Kyle not want to tell me about this?’ The obvious answer was that you didn’t want me to know because you didn’t want anyone else in your family finding out. I thought about asking your dad or Jacob what you were up to, but I didn’t want to take the risk that I’d get you in trouble.” Her eyes glimmered slightly, enjoying his discomfort. “So, I decided to do the next best thing and called my brother-in-law.”

His eyes widened slightly. “You called Andy?!”

“No,” she replied as her grin widened. “My other brother-in-law.”

He sighed heavily. “Brian.”

Her smile faded as she continued. “And he told me a very interesting story. About genetic tests and a woefully mismanaged evidentiary hearing, which, had you consulted with me beforehand I would have told you was a fool’s errand. After that, I figured out the rest on my own without his help.”

“What did you tell him?”

She lifted the file in her lap. “About this? Nothing.” Her lips tilted up slightly. “He might be my brother-in-law, but you’re the father of my firstborn. So, for reasons passing understanding, I felt compelled to keep your secret.” She placed it back on his desk and looked him right in the eyes. “This is probably not what you were hoping to find. And it took a lot of effort considering it’s a criminal file. Not that it’s not open to the public, but because of the DNA test that led you to it.”

“So, he was arrested for something?” Kyle groaned inwardly. This was not the happy outcome he was hoping for.

She shook her head. “Not just anything, baby-daddy. He was tried and convicted of first-degree murder.”

Kyle stared at it for a silent moment. He wanted to know what the file held but was also unsure if it would help or hurt Jacob. “Can you give me a rundown of what’s inside?”

With a slightly exacerbated sigh, Stephanie began, “Joshua Carter. Accused of killing his girlfriend five years ago. He pled not guilty and his trial lasted two weeks. A jury found him guilty after three hours of deliberations, and the judge sentenced him to life without parole. Prior to that he had a few drug charges, but no violent offenses. I guess he had a serious addiction.” She gave him a caustic look. “Gee, who does that sound like?”

An ache started to grow in his chest. He couldn’t imagine the kind of life this person could have lived. But, still, if he had been lawfully convicted, then he was paying the price for his crime. He could just throw it away and do as Jacob asked and forget all about it. But some sense inside him kept saying that something wasn’t right. “Anything else?”

“Do you still want it, or should I just take it home with me?”

If this was Jacob’s brother, then he was family, Kyle reasoned. He owed him at least some time to look over the file. “Leave it here. Maybe I’ll pass it on to one of my other lawyers and see what they have to say about it.”

Stephanie knew Kyle well enough to know that he was probably not going to go that route. “From what I’ve heard, Jacob would prefer not to know this person. At least that’s the story Brian suggested to me.”

“Yeah,” Kyle frowned slightly in thought. “He was very touchy about it from the start. Wouldn’t really give me an explanation for why, other than to say that he was fine with his life as it is now.”

“I would suggest that if you are going to look into this, you have someone else do the hard work.” She sighed as she almost reluctantly placed the file back on his desk. “If I were you, I’d go home and spend time with your family and forget all about it.” She smirked as she got to her feet. “But I doubt that’s what you’ll do. You always do love to make things impossible for yourself.”

He rose to his feet. “You’re not going to tell anyone?”

She shook her head. “Not a chance in hell. Something tells me this is going to be a lot worse than it seems. Just remember, not every lawyer is a superstar like you.” She gathered her things as Kyle came around the desk. “And as far as anyone else knows, I was never here.”

Kyle chuckled. “Covering your own ass then.”

“Covering both our asses.” As they got to the door, she turned to him in a more serious tone. “Seriously, Kyle; don’t let this blow up in your face. This was an open and shut case. There’s no exculpatory evidence in there. The defense was pitiful.”

“So, just forget it and let him rot in prison?”

“If I were you, yes.” She looked in his eyes and a grin spread across her face. “But I think we both know you’re not going to do that.”

“Thanks for coming,” he said with a small smile. “I appreciate it.” He shut the door and paused for a moment before returning to his desk. With deliberate slowness, he slid the file to his side of the desk and stared at it. He had promised Jacob that he would drop this search. Technically, he had. After Jacob had insisted it be left alone, Kyle had gone back to his usual work. But now, here were the answers in a nice neat little stack of papers. And yet, this was much, much more than he had bargained for. Jacob’s supposed brother, a convicted murderer? It seemed antithetical to him. How could two people, born of the same parents, have led such different lives? Of course, Kyle already knew part of the story. But it wasn’t enough. He wanted to know how this Joshua had ended up in the life he was in now.

As his fingers moved, his decision was made. Breaking the small seal, he began to open the file. A sense of dread filled Kyle’s heart. If he took this next step, there would be no going back. Perhaps, if what he ends up reading turns out to be legitimate, then it would be best to never mention it. Put the file in a drawer and never open it again. That thought finally prompted his hand into motion as he opened the file and began to read.

****

Kevin Bryant sat with his feet on the desk in front of him as he read the local paper. Leaning back in his seat, his deep, resonating voice would punctuate the silence in the office, yet the soft click of a keyboard nearby continued at a constant pace. “Butler mayor expected to be re-elected.”

“Isn’t there something else you should be doing right now,” the woman whose desk his feet were on asked as she typed away on her keyboard.

“I did at one point,” he replied. “But my one-thirty cancelled at the last minute. So far nothing else has come my way.”

She glanced up at him with a slight hint of a smile. “Well, try reading silently while I finish up this document for my client then we can go look for some trouble to get you in.”

He looked over the top of his paper at her and flashed a smile. “That’s what I like about you Michelle. Always eager to help out.”

Michelle resumed her typing. “So, what was your appointment supposed to be for?”

Kevin frowned. “Divorce negotiation. Nothing big. Boring, really. But I had scheduled it for most of the day and now that that cancelled…” He sighed as he turned the page. “Never anything challenging in the last four months I’ve been here.”

She chortled silently, shaking her head as her fingers remained in motion. “Sitting around in my office isn’t going to get you any closer to a big case.”

It was a truth Kevin could not deny. Working for the Howard Law Firm for the last year was his first job since he completed his internship out of law school. When he went looking for his first job as a lawyer, he had heard in certain circles that Kyle Howard was always willing to help give a new person a job. Of course, when he got the job, he didn’t expect to be working in such a small area. His primary expertise was family law, but he had interned at a firm that had given him experience in other aspects of the law as well. Truth be told, since he arrived here, Kevin had only seen his boss a handful of times. “Yeah, I know,” he sighed. His smile returned as he added cheerfully, “maybe I’ll get lucky.”

She chuckled as she looked up and then nearly swallowed her tongue when she saw her boss standing in her doorway. “Mr. Howard.” For reasons she couldn’t understand, she found herself getting to her feet. “What a surprise.”

Kyle looked at the two of them and suppressed a grin as he watched the younger man scramble to his feet. “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

Michelle shook her head. “No. Not at all. Is there something you need?”

“Actually, yes.” He held a large file in his hands as he stepped into the room. “If I remember right from your resume, you did some work in criminal defense?”

She blinked in surprise. “Uh, yes. I worked for a few years in a public defender’s office.”

Kyle placed the file on her desk. “I’ve spent the last hour reading this and it’s bugging the hell out of me. I’d like you to go over it and give me an assessment tomorrow in my office. Do you have time for that?”

“What kind of case is it,” Kevin asked.

Kyle frowned slightly, still trying to process everything he’s learned in the last hour. “It’s a murder case from a few years ago. Something doesn’t feel right about it, but I think I need a second opinion on it.”

“I can look it over,” Michelle offered. An opportunity to impress her boss was not something that came often, and she knew it shouldn’t be ignored. “You really want to wait until tomorrow?”

Kyle sighed and nodded. “Yeah. I want you to take your time with it. Go over the court transcripts and evidence that’s in there. Think of the defendant as if he’s your client and tell me if you could live with this.” He sat the file on the edge of her desk. “Okay then?”

“Yes, sir,” she replied. She remained standing until Kyle stepped out and then remembered to breathe. “He seemed off, don’t you think?”

Kevin shrugged dismissively. “I wouldn’t know. I barely know him.”

“Well, all the same…” She picked up the file Kyle left behind and skimmed over the first few pages before she handed it to him.

He blinked as he took the offered file. “What are you giving this to me for? He wants you.”

“Go find a secretary and make two copies of it,” she instructed. “By the time you get that done I should be done with this, and we can go over it together.”

“Why me?”

Michelle smirked playfully. “Because your one-thirty cancelled on you, and you were just talking about wanting something challenging. Looks like you got your wish.”

Kevin smirked as he stepped towards her doorway. “Next time I’ll be more careful about what I wish for.”

She giggled as she sat down and refocused her efforts to finish her work as soon as possible. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kevin leave and she privately wondered what they were going to find once they started reading.

****

By the time Kyle arrived home that evening, the rain had stopped, but the chill in the air remained. As he stepped up the ramp, he did his best to compose himself. Since Stephanie left his office, his mind had been occupied, thinking about Joshua Carter and the circumstances of his imprisonment. His gut told him there was something there and he had missed it. Or perhaps that was just wishful thinking on his part. That’s why he handed it off to another lawyer. Now, he had to go in and spend the evening pretending he didn’t know what he knew. He rationalized it to himself that it was a case and that he shouldn’t talk about it, even if he wasn’t being held by any ethical standard to maintain confidentiality for the time being.

He made his way quietly through the house and into the bedroom. The unexpected events of the day were still playing through his head as he started undressing. In his mind he was remembering what he read and how off it all felt. His personal suspicion was most of the case he read had been circumstantial evidence. And yet, the jury found him guilty? And what had the defense offered up instead? Practically nothing, from what he saw. But maybe he was just seeing it with a biased eye. Tomorrow, Michelle will probably give him all the answers he didn’t want to believe and that will be that. Put the file away and never mention it again.

Strong arms suddenly wrapped around him from behind causing him to yelp in surprise. A familiar chuckle drifted into his ear as he suddenly forced the previous thoughts out of his mind and focus on his surroundings. “It’s been a while since I last caught you by surprise,” Jacob said with a voice that was soft and almost sultry.

Kyle smiled and leaned back against him. “Sorry. I was a little distracted.” He suddenly became aware of how damp he felt through his dress shirt. “Are you wet?”

“Yeah,” Jacob replied as he gently brushed the tip of his nose against Kyle’s ear. “I just got out of the shower.”

“What are you wearing?” Kyle felt his body tremble slightly at the intimate touch.

“Same thing I wear all the time in the shower.” Jacob grinned and kissed Kyle’s neck softly. “I have good news.”

“Other than the fact that you’re wet and naked?”

Jacob chuckled. “Date night. Saturday. Andy and Brian said they would take the boys for the night as long as we return the favor some other time.”

Kyle grinned, forgetting everything else. “God. It’s been so long. Do we have a plan?”

“Whatever you want to do, is what we’ll do,” Jacob said. He didn’t care what they ended up doing, so long as they got to spend time together with no responsibilities.

“I’ll give it some thought and let you know.” Kyle turned himself around in Jacob’s arms and kissed him lovingly before his eyes glanced down. “Oh. You shaved.”

Jacob laughed. “I figured you were worth it. How was your day?”

He looked up into Jacob’s eyes and, for a sliver of a second, he thought about telling him what he discovered. To get it out in the open and deal with it. But there were still so many unknown variables, it could only serve to ruin a good evening together. “Oh, just a regular day.” Jacob gave him a questioning look, but Kyle continued before he could question him further. “I’m going to get cleaned up for dinner while you dry off and get dressed. Okay?” Kyle leaned in and kissed him tenderly.

Jacob smiled. “Okay.”

Kyle went to the bathroom and ignored the pang of guilt that began to slowly fester in his heart.

****

The next morning, Kyle waited as patiently as he could, sitting in his office and keeping himself busy. He wanted to keep this as quiet as possible and hoped that Michelle would keep what she had been working on for him to herself. Berating himself, he realized how foolish that thought was, considering she was unaware of the larger implications of the case he handed her the day before. She was a solid worker, he knew. While she had only been in his office for about a year now, he had been impressed with her work thus far. Kyle wanted her to do a thorough job so when she said she needed a couple hours to run down some information, he resigned himself to wait and keep Rosette from asking too many questions, only informing her that Michelle would be coming to his office later in the day.

To keep himself occupied, he made a few phone calls that he had put off yesterday and fended off a reporter wanting to do an interview about his class action victory last summer. Not long after that, he remembered Jacob and their date night they had this coming weekend. That kept him occupied, finding a nice restaurant and booking a hotel room in Pittsburgh for that night. Given enough time, they can do some shopping along with a trip to the Worhol Museum before dinner and then a night in a hotel room before going to Acrisure Stadium the next day to take in a football game before going back home.

When the knock on his door finally came, it came as a relief that he could finally sit back in his chair and get this whole mess over with. Kyle had some concerns when he saw Kevin accompanying her into his office, but he reminded himself they didn’t know who Joshua Carter was. Not what he knew, at least. “I take it you’re ready to brief me. What were you waiting on this morning that you couldn’t get here sooner?”

Michelle smiled a little as she walked up to Kyle’s desk with Kevin standing next to her. Anyone else saying that would have come off as rude, but Kyle’s tone was almost curious instead of recriminating. As if he was concerned for her rather than concerned for his own sake. With a more professional and serious tone, she gave him her report. “I have all of it here,” she said holding a file in her hand. “I read it all over a couple times last night and then this morning I wanted to know more about the defense, so I called up the public defenders’ office to talk to the lawyer who represented Mr. Carter in his case. I just got off the phone with him twenty minutes ago.”

Kyle nodded in approval. “What did you find out?”

Michelle gave him a somewhat serious frown. “A number of things kind of clued me into how off key the entire investigation and trial went. For one, while it does seem cut and dry, most of the evidence they had was circumstantial.”

“Run it down for me. Go step by step.”

“Okay…” She seemed a little confused but remained on her feet as she began to speak. “Six years ago, there was a 911 call from the house Joshua Carter was renting. He said he found his girlfriend dead in the front room when he woke up. Emergency services and police arrived on the scene, but coroner’s reports say she had to have died at approximately midnight which was about seven hours prior to the 911 call.”

She took a breath, but before she could go on, Kyle interrupted her. “Michelle?”

“Yes?”

“Why are you standing?”

“Um. I don’t…” her cheeks flushed slightly. “I don’t know why.”

Kyle motioned to the chairs behind them. “Why don’t you take a seat before you continue. This isn’t a courtroom.”

“Yes, sir.”

She and Kevin both sat down, and Kevin continued from where she left off, having read the same things she had. “Police questioned Mr. Carter about his whereabouts that night. He claimed he had been injured at work and his girlfriend, Sharon Ellington, had gone out for the night with her friends. He had been given a medication which he says put him out for the night and he went to bed at eight o’clock the night before. There were no signs of forced entry and while she did have obvious signs of strangulation, there was no evidence or prints anywhere in the apartment other than Mr. Carter.

“Police took him into custody that morning and then charged him with first degree murder later that evening. He got a public defender, but there was no evidence to prove his story.”

Michelle continued on from where Kevin started. “I read the transcripts of the trial and noted a number of times defense could have or should have objected to some testimony and never did. He also didn’t put Joshua on the stand in his own defense. Prosecutors also tried several times to get him to plea out to manslaughter and second degree murder, but he never took the deal.”

“And he’s serving life in prison now,” Kyle asked. When he saw her nod in confirmation he frowned. “Why would he do that?” He leaned forward with his hands on his desk. “If you’re accused of murder, wouldn’t you want to at least try to get your sentence shortened?”

Kevin shrugged. “Anyone sane would. But there’s no record he ever accepted a deal.”

“That’s why I called his lawyer,” Michelle added. “He told me, once he took a moment to remember, that he tried to talk Mr. Carter into taking the deal, but it was the defendant himself who wouldn’t go along with it.”

“But why,” Kyle asked. He had handled several criminal cases and only a handful had gone to trial. Most of the time, they freely took the plea bargain which just helped the justice system move faster and didn’t take up resources that would have been wasted on a full trial when the defendant guilt was obvious.

“Maybe he was just convinced he was innocent,” Kevin offered.

“And his over-worked, under-paid public defender, did him no favors,” Michelle stated with a frown. “No independent review, no subpoenas, no investigation into the allegations, much less finding anyone to corroborate his story. Like I said, it was a case build on circumstantial evidence and the defense was inadequate.” She took the file in her hand and placed it on Kyle’s desk.

“What’s this,” Kyle asked as he picked it up.

“Rough draft of a motion to appeal,” she stated.

“You’re going to appeal it?!”

Michelle exchanged a confused look with Kevin before replying. “I thought you were wanting to appeal it.”

“Well…” This conversation had not gone the direction Kyle had hoped it would. Over the past several months, he had envisioned finding this person, his husband’s brother, somewhere in some city, living his life and it would have been yet another moment he and Jacob could have added to their life and expanded their family further. Now, he was faced with a convicted murderer who might have been innocent but had been lost in the cracks of the justice system. Where were his parents? Where were the people who were supposed to stand up for him and help him? Who could have let this happen? And what if he really was guilty? What should he do then? This was definitely not the happy ending he had hoped to find. He sighed, trying to get his mind to figure out a next step. “…I guess we could.”

“We.” Michelle asked, looking surprised.

“We,” Kevin repeated, looking excited.

Kyle glanced up at them and made his decision. “Yes. We. But first, before we file this, we need to speak to our client.”

“Ten o’clock, Monday morning at Forest State Penitentiary,” Kevin said with a smirk. When Kyle shot him a questioning glare he shrugged. “I had an idea where this was going. I mean, overturning a wrongful conviction would get a lot of attention.”

“That’s not why we do this,” Kyle said with a slight admonishing tone. “If he was wrongfully convicted, we’ll have to do better than the last time. And have a harder time doing it.” He realized with every second, he was getting pulled into this and it was going to be a major consumption of time. “We have a duty to do the right thing for the sake of righting a wrong. Not making headlines. So, ten on Monday morning. We’ll leave here at eight thirty.” He turned his attention to Kevin. “I want you to delve a little deeper into this. See if you can find any news articles or anything of the minor information in this case that you think got overlooked. We’ll go over it together after Michelle and I get back. You got that?”

“Yes, sir,” Michelle said. “Do you need anything else?”

Kyle looked up at her as she stood. For half a moment he jokingly thought about giving her the job of telling his husband about this but knew that to be the wrong idea. Besides, he still wasn’t sure of this and did not want to make a final decision until they had met with Joshua. “Just get your schedules cleared up. You never know how much time this is going to take. We’ll probably have to do a lot of legwork and phone calls. But that can wait until next week. Finish anything you can between now and then.”

“Thank you, sir,” Michelle said as she headed towards Kyle’s door and out into the hallway.

Kevin was fast on her heels. “What do you think the odds are that this guy is really innocent?”

Michelle shrugged and kept walking. “I wouldn’t want to guess until I actually met him and got his story. Guess we’ll find out.”

“I think I’ll do a little more research into the victim,” Kevin pondered out loud. They ended up in her office where he stopped and sighed. “You realize, there’s a good chance we’ll lose, right?”

She turned to him with an incredulous smirk. “I wouldn’t say that in front of Mr. Howard. We haven’t filed the appeal yet and you’re already talking about losing?”

Kevin kept his voice and his expression serious. “I’m not talking about that. We’ll win the appeal. But the judges will send it back for a new trial. And that’s where we will likely lose.”

She frowned slightly. “What makes you say that?”

“Because this is effectively a cold case. It’s been years since the murder and there’s no crime scene to investigate or witnesses to the attack, if there was one. There’s no murder weapon and the prosecution claimed that Carter likely strangled her with his hands. There’s no evidence left to claim otherwise in his defense.”

Her frown deepened, knowing he had a point. “So, how do we get more evidence?”

Kevin grimaced slightly. “I don’t know yet. I have to give it some thought. I’ve never handled a criminal defense. If there is anything, we’ll have to go find people who are years beyond the event. Memories get vague and uncertain over time. And you can forget any kind of DNA evidence that will exonerate him.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” she replied. “I have handled a criminal defense, not just learned about in law school. It’s going to take a lot of work and with this being as old as it is, who knows where it’ll take us. For now, just get settled what you can on your schedule and figure out what we need to know from him when we interview him next week.”

Kevin moved to her doorway and then stopped. “Now that I am thinking about all this, where the hell did Howard find this case?”

“No clue,” she responded. “You’d probably have to ask Rose. She’s the one who handles his case load. He does seem pretty focused on this though. Makes you wonder what he has in mind.”

“I don’t seem to be her favorite person. You ask her.”

Michelle laughed. “What makes you say that?”

“She treats me like a kid.”

“You’re twenty-seven. You are a kid as far as she’s concerned. Go.” She sat in her chair and moved over to her computer. “I have work to do and so do you.”

Kevin sighed and headed down the hall to his office, hoping he can get a settlement for his divorce case before Friday. He had a feeling he would be busy for the next six months.