Page 4 of Dane

“OK, then.” Knight plugged in the drive and started working.

Hannah rose while Knight worked, coming around the table to stand near me instead of across from me, which felt deliberate. “You’ll stay here tonight,” she said gently. “I’ll get a room ready for you next to me and Knuckles. Nobody will bother you there without going through me first.”

I thought about arguing, but I was tired in a way I hadn’t been in a long, long time. It felt like the past twelve years came crashing down on me. All I wanted to do was crawl in bed and sleep for a week.

Still, I hesitated. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

Hannah held my gaze. “We’re not trying to trap you, Brielle,” she said softly. “But if one of the guys has a bad feeling, it’s usually best to listen.”

“But…” I held her gaze desperately, not knowing what to do.

Hannah reached out and took my hand. “At least come meet the other old ladies. After you talk with them, if you’re still unsure I’ll arrange for a hotel room. I’ll be your protection and Knuckles can assign a couple guys to watch outside. OK?”

I took a breath, not daring to look at Dane. I didn’t know if I’d see the angry man looking at me with disdain when he first recognized me, or the equally angry man refusing to let me give up my freedom in the face of what I’d cost him with my lies.

While we talked, Knight stared at his laptop screen, his fingers dancing over the keys before he stopped and stared at whatever file he’d pulled up.

“There’s a file marked for deletion in here that didn’t fully clear,” he said, not looking up. “I think I can recover it.” He kept working while I sat with my hands in my lap, looking down at the table, waiting for whatever judgment these people came up with. “Creation metadata puts this document built on a workstation registered to Grant Sutton. Timestamp’s eleven days before the date stamped on the federal interview log.”

Chapter Three

Brielle

Knight stared at me with his strange-looking black eyes. He didn’t blink as he repeated himself. “The creation metadata puts the document built on Sutton’s workstation eleven days before the federal interview happened. The scanned document entered into evidence was notarized and hand-delivered, according to the chain of custody.”

“Chain of custody,” Dane snorted. “On a fuckin’ notarized letter? Yeah. That’s not suspicious.”

Knight shrugged. “Note says Ms. Sloan was unavailable but offered her written testimony to get them started.”

“And someone handed it to a detective who hadn’t been formally assigned to the case. Before anybody sat her down and asked her a single question about what she saw.” Knuckles stared hard at Knight, then turned his gaze on me. I practically wilted under the intensity.

“Fuck,” Dane scrubbed a hand over his face but didn’t look at me. I barely noticed. I was too focused on keeping my head down to care.

Hannah reached out and covered my hands with hers, but I pulled away. “I still said it.” My voice came out a whisper. “No one held a gun to my head.” I glanced up at Dane, unable to hold his gaze and immediately ducked my head again. “I stood up in a courtroom, under oath, and I repeated what he told me to say. To the jury. To him.” I didn’t look at Dane this time.

“Brielle.” Hannah said my name with tenderness and caring. “Honey. You were nineteen.”

“I know how old I was. But that’s not an excuse. Not entirely. So please don’t minimize the harm to Mr. Rourke by making excuses for me.”

Knuckles cleared his throat, shaking his head slightly and clenching his fists. Obviously the man was upset and I couldn’t blame him. “All right.” He looked at Knight. “You work on that drive. Make sure Lana gets a copy. She might be able to get Rip’s brother. Rip said he’s been in an especially bad mood for a couple months. Might be a good fight for him to pick to make himself feel better.” Knight nodded without looking up, already typing again.

Knuckles’ gaze swept the table one more time, landing on me for a moment. “Please take us up on the offer of a place to stay here. I can’t force you, but until Knight figures out who followed the two of you,” he glanced at Dane, “I would feel better about you being under our roof. If you insist on going home, I’ll send Hannah home with you.”

I shook my head immediately. “No way. I don’t want anyone else hurt because of me.”

Knuckles smiled. “First off, I’d never allow Hannah to get hurt. Trust me when I say she can handle herself, but I will always make sure she has backup. Second --” his smile got wider “-- the easiest way to make sure no one else gets hurt is to accept our offer to stay here. Problem solved.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it again.

“Good,” he said. “Meeting’s over.”

Hannah stood and came around the table. “I’ll have a room made up in twenty minutes,” she said. “Next to ours. Like I promised.” She glanced toward Dane. “Sit tight a minute. It’s a lot, I know.”

“Thank you,” I said softly.

Knight stayed when I stood and moved to the hallway. I needed to stretch my legs and to maybe just be alone for a minute. I stood next to the door with my arms wrapped around myself, not sure what to do but knowing they were likely right. I didn’t really want to stay because I didn’t know these people, but I had to admit, something about the place put me at ease. At least, until Dane left the room too, following me into the hallway.

I waited just outside the meeting room, arms folded tight, waiting for the explosion. I half expected him to yell or erupt into some kind of violence, to be in my personal space to intimidate me, but all I heard was the soft click as he shut the door behind him.