For the Right Reasons

The woman whirled around. “Yes?” Then she smiled with recognition. “Oh, you’re Eric’s girlfriend.”

Bree let Jillian believe what she wanted. “I’ve been trying to reach him. But there seems to be some trouble with the phone, and he’s not answering his cell.”

“He’s probably in the courtroom,” Jillian said. “You get in big trouble with the judge if your cell phone goes off during some proceeding.” Jillian looked slightly guilty, as if she might know this from experience. “He was supposed to appear this morning for some reason or other. You can probably still catch him down there if you hurry. You know where it is?”

“Oh, sure,” Bree said breezily. “Thanks.”

“No problem. I’m just glad to see Eric has someone in his life. I don’t know him very well, but he seems like a really nice guy, and he deserves someone nice.”

As she hurried back to her car, Bree felt slightly guilty for having perpetrated the white lie on unsuspecting Jillian. But extreme circumstances called for extreme measures.

Ten minutes later she was lurking on the courthouse steps like a lovesick teenager or an ambitious paparazzo, ready to pounce if she saw any sign of her target. It wasn’t as if he would be hard to spot, with those wide shoulders and the glint of gold in his hair. Although he’d cut it ruthlessly short, she bet it would turn beach-boy blond if he let it grow and spent a little time in the sun. Might get rid of that prison pallor, too.

Yeah, she’d done some research on him. It wasn’t hard—he’d been convicted of stabbing his pretty socialite wife to death, and his trial had been reported and analyzed ad nauseam in dozens of newspapers across the state. It had even been on TruTV. He had indeed been pardoned and then his conviction overturned when the real killer had tried to kidnap Eric’s future sister-in-law.

Bree hadn’t known anything about the original crime, because she’d been in her medical residency then, oblivious to anything but her patients and the few hours of sleep she could grab. Plus, crime news had never been something that interested her. She’d had her fill of it during Kelly’s arrest and trial.

It was a wonder she’d survived that period of her life, fighting for Kelly’s freedom and getting through med school.

“Bree?”

She whirled around, nearly tripping and falling down the stairs. Eric grabbed her elbow to steady her, then quickly released it, as if touching her had burned him.

“How did you get past me?” She tamped down the ridiculous pleasure she felt at seeing him again. Something about him was so reassuring. Maybe that was a glamour he’d developed to deal with skittish clients. “I’ve been watching that door for the past twenty minutes.”

“I came out a side door. I just happened to glance this way on the way to my car.... Bree, what are you doing here?”

“I needed to talk to you.”

“A phone call wouldn’t have worked? Not that I’m not happy to see you,” he quickly added. “A man would have to be crazy to... Never mind.”

He was flirting with her, though she was pretty sure he hadn’t meant to. And why did she care? She’d come here for a reason, and it wasn’t to set her hormones all aflutter. “I tried calling, but your overzealous watchdog refused to put me through.”

“Overzealous... Celeste?”

“She said once an application had been rejected, there was nothing I could do to change Daniel’s mind, and policy was to not put calls through from people like me.”

“That’s Celeste. She doesn’t bend the rules for anyone. How did you know to find me here?”

“I saw that woman, Jillian, coming out the front door and she steered me here. I’m sorry, I know I’m acting like a stalker, but I really needed to talk to you.”

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“It’s Philomene. She really is missing. When I didn’t hear from her by the next day, I called her at work. Her boss said she hadn’t shown up for work in two days.”

Eric’s brow furrowed. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“No, it really doesn’t.”

“Did you call the police?”

“For all the good it did me.” Bree’s legs were suddenly tired. She sank back down to sit on one of the steps. “They said I had to wait seventy-two hours. And even then, unless there’s some evidence of foul play, they won’t look for her.”

“As I said before—”

“I know. It’s a common-sense policy employed by most law enforcement agencies—I get that. But they were so... They just dismissed me! They already think I’m a kook, I’m afraid. I didn’t exactly make a lot of friends at the sheriff’s office when Kelly was arrested. Now they think I’m overreacting. But I’m not. Something doesn’t feel right. I think Philomene’s in trouble. We have to find her before it’s too late!”

“We?”

“I don’t know who else to turn to.”

“I’m not a cop. I’m not an investigator of any kind. I’m just a lawyer—a real-estate lawyer, if truth be told. This job with Project Justice is a temporary deal, filling in for an attorney on maternity leave.”

She slumped and rested her elbows on her knees. “I’m sorry to have bothered you.” Oh, God. She hoped she wouldn’t humiliate herself further by crying.

Bree fully expected Eric to walk away. But instead he sat down beside her, heedless of getting his expensive suit dirty. “Bree. What is it you think I can do? I’d like to find your friend. How is it you think I can help?”

“I figured you knew people. Given your job....”

“This is my first week. I’ve met some of the people who work at Project Justice, but truthfully, I don’t know any of them very well. But I could try to help. Maybe if I talked to the sheriff.”

“You’d do that?”

“I have tomorrow off. They’re fumigating the building. Sometimes just seeing a new face could shake someone out of complacence. And the fact that I’m a lawyer won’t hurt. People are afraid of lawsuits.”

“I’d be really appreciative. I’ll pay you—”

“That’s not necessary. But have you considered hiring a private detective?”

“I thought I would talk to you first. Do you know any good private detectives?”

“No. But I could find you one. Project Justice uses them from time to time for surveillance and such. But let me check a few things first.” He took his phone out of his jacket pocket and opened the notepad. “Do you know Philomene’s full name?”

“Philomene Switzer, that’s all I know.”

“What’s her approximate age?”

“Late twenties, I’d say.”

“With that and her address, our data analyst can probably find out a lot. But it’s not exactly kosher to ask him to work on something that’s not foundation business.”

“It would be foundation business if you’d taken on Kelly’s case.” Her muscles tensed as she remembered the casual way Eric had dismissed her. The way he was so sure Kelly was guilty, when he couldn’t be.

“But we didn’t. And the foundation isn’t in the business of randomly looking for people.”

“Philomene’s disappearance is connected, though. Think about it. On the very day she’s about to unburden herself to someone who might be able to get Kelly out of jail and prove the real criminal is still at large, she inexplicably goes missing. I feel the wrongness of that in my bones, Eric.”

“Then why don’t you come with me to talk to Mitch. Maybe he’ll work on the problem on his own time.”