Vindicate (Recovered Innocence #1)(29)

Yeah, I’m the one who won’t let anything go. “If he calls again, get his info and I’ll take care of it.”

She puts a hand on the doorknob and pauses. “Have you seen your father lately?”

I don’t know why my parents split up, because they’re always asking about each other as though there’s some glimmer of something still left between them. They’ve always had a strange dynamic I can’t begin to understand. Now that they’re divorced, they use me to find out about the other instead of just picking up the phone or taking the time to go see each other. I hate being caught in their whatever it is.

“I saw him on Father’s Day.”

“How’s he managing?”

“Fine. He’s managing fine just like you.”

“I’m not fine, not that you’d care.”

With that, she tosses her hair over her shoulder and leaves. No goodbye. No see you around. She didn’t ask about Beau. She never does. Our father never does either. But for our dad it’s different. For him Beau is a deep hurt. For Mom he’s a deep shame. I’m not sure what I am to either of them anymore except a reminder of Beau.

Leo strolls in as my mother huffs out. He gives her a first, then second take. He raises his brows at me. My answer is to go into our office, out of Savannah’s earshot.

He closes the door and leans back against it. “That had to be your mother.”

“Yup.”

“She didn’t look very happy.” He slides into his chair opposite me.

“She never is.” Especially with me. “What did you find out from Maisy?”

“The name of the guy Cassandra was seeing. Dylan Newman.”

“No way.”

“You know him?”

“He was Beau’s best friend. No wonder it was such a secret. Goddamn it. That sucks.” I can’t tell Beau this. He can never know.

“He apparently had a thing for Cassandra the whole time she was going out with Beau. He moved in the minute the field was clear. Asshole.”

“Yeah, and he stuck by Beau right up until he was convicted. Was in the courtroom nearly every day.”

“If Beau and Cassandra got back together, that would’ve left Dylan the odd man out. Some guys wouldn’t take that well.”

“What are you saying? That Dylan could’ve killed her?” I shake my head. “No, I don’t see it. He’s an * for taking up with Cassandra as soon as it looked like she was free, but that doesn’t make him a murderer.”

“He was obsessed with her, according to Maisy—her word, not mine. That obsession could’ve turned violent. It also could account for the strange things that were happening to Cassandra.”

“But if he’s obsessed and he has access to the object of his obsession, why mess with her?”

“To ensure she needs him.” He fakes picking up a phone. “Oh, Dylan.” He pitches his voice really high like a woman’s. “I need you to come over right now. Something strange just happened.” He resumes his normal voice. “Could’ve gone down that way. Some guys have rescue fantasies. In his mind, he could’ve been ensuring she needs him to save her from the big bad whatever.”

“Maybe. Okay, a strong maybe. He was pretty broken up at Cassandra’s funeral. But then a lot of people were.” Except Beau, because he wasn’t there. He was sitting in a jail cell. “He still lives in San Diego. I’ll call him and see if he’ll meet with us.”

“There’s something else. After our conversation Saturday night I did some digging. What you said about prosecutor misconduct stuck with me.” He pulls a file from his messenger bag. “So I called in a favor and got access to some of the prosecutor’s notes and reports on the trial. I wanted to see if there were any inconsistencies.”

“And?”

“There was. One.”

I bolt upright in my chair. “What is it?”

“Two different DNA samples were discovered on Cassandra’s bed.”

“What?” I dig through my box until I find the DNA report that was given to Beau’s attorney. I flip through it, searching for any mention of this second sample. “There’s no mention of it in this report.”

“I know.”

“What was the sample?”

“A body hair found on Cassandra’s bedding with the root intact.”

“Why didn’t they disclose that to Beau’s lawyer?”

“All of the samples were tested and all were a match to the only suspect in the case—Beau. The lone unmatched sample was never compared to any database.”

“Why the hell not?”

“They had a witness who placed Beau there at the time of the murder, a preponderance of his DNA on Cassandra’s body, his fingerprints all over her apartment, and Beau himself admitting that he had sex with Cassandra shortly before she was killed. There was no reason to run that second sample.”

“Except that it could’ve exonerated Beau.”

“It might not have. It could be from her dad, her housekeeper, a friend, coworker, or anyone else in her life. It might not belong to the killer.”

“But it might.”

“Or it might not.”

“There’s no way to know that until it’s run through the national and local databases.”