My Sister's Grave (Tracy Crosswhite, #1)(37)

Tracy regretted those previous visits. With the experience and training she’d received at the academy and as a patrol officer before becoming a detective, she knew she’d told House too much.

House shifted his gaze between her and Dan. “Am I getting warm?”

“Dan would like to ask you a few questions.”

“I’ll tell you what, when you’re ready to stop playing games and start talking like a normal human being instead of talking in cop speak, come back and see me.” House slid from the table.

Tracy said, “We leave and we don’t come back.”

“I leave and I don’t come back. You’re wasting my time. I have studying to do. I have finals coming up.”

Tracy stood. “Let’s go, Dan. You heard the man. He has studying to do.” She started from the table. “Maybe you can teach in here. By the time you’re done, you’d have tenure.” She got half a dozen steps before House spoke.

“Fine.”

She turned back. “Fine what?”

House bit at his lower lip. “Fine, I’ll answer attorney Dan’s questions.” He shrugged and smiled, but it looked forced. “Why not, right? Like I said, not a lot to do in here.” House sat and Tracy and Dan rejoined him at the table. “At least give me the courtesy of telling me why you came.”

“Dan has reviewed your file. Incompetence of legal counsel might be a basis for a new trial. I’m not interested in that.”

“You want to know who killed your sister,” House said. “So do I.”

“You told me once that you thought Calloway, or someone executing the search warrant, planted the earrings at your uncle’s property. Tell Dan.”

House shrugged. “How else did they get there?”

“The jury concluded you put them there,” Dan said.

“Do I look that stupid? I’d been in prison six years; why would I keep evidence that would put me back in here?”

“Why would Calloway or anyone else frame you?” Dan asked.

“Because they couldn’t find her killer, and I was the monster living in the mountains above the quaint little village, and I made people uncomfortable. They wanted to get rid of me.”

“You have any evidence to support that?”

Tracy relaxed a bit. Now that he was in his element, Dan seemed more assured, confident, and less intimidated by House or their surroundings.

“I don’t know,” House said, looking between them. “Do I?”

“They ran a DNA test on the strands of blonde hair they found in your truck,” Tracy lied. “They confirmed they belonged to Sarah. A billion-to-one odds.”

“The odds are irrelevant if someone else put them there.”

“You told Calloway you’d been out drinking and picked Sarah up and gave her a ride,” Dan said.

“I didn’t tell him anything of the sort. I wasn’t even out that night. I was asleep. I would have been pretty stupid to make up a story so easy to refute.”

“The witness says he saw your truck on the county road,” Dan said.

“Ryan Hagen,” House said with sarcasm. “The traveling auto-parts salesman. Convenient he would come forward after so much time had passed.”

“You think he lied too. Why?” Dan asked.

“Calloway needed to put my alibi into question so he could obtain the search warrants. Before Hagen, Calloway’s investigation was going nowhere.”

“But why would Hagen lie and risk criminal prosecution?”

“I don’t know, maybe to collect the ten-thousand-dollar reward being offered.”

“No evidence of that,” Dan said. Tracy had never found any proof of payment from her father to Ryan Hagen, and Hagen had denied receiving the reward at trial.

“Who was going to call him on it?” House let his question linger as he considered them both. “Who was a jury going to believe, a convicted rapist or Joe Q. Citizen? Putting me on the stand to refute it was the stupidest thing Finn could have done. It allowed them to ask me questions about my prior rape conviction.”

“What about the blood they found in your truck?” Tracy asked.

House shifted his attention to Dan. “Mine. I didn’t lie about it. I told Calloway I cut myself in the shop. I went to the truck for my smokes before I went inside.” He looked to Tracy. “And don’t insult me anymore about DNA. If they’d run a DNA test on the blood and proven it was your sister’s, you wouldn’t be sitting here. Why are you here?”

“If we were to get involved,” Tracy said, “you’d need to cooperate fully. If at any time I think you’re not telling the truth, we walk.”

“I’m the only one who told the truth about that night.” House sat back from the table. “Get involved how?”

Tracy nodded to Dan. He said, “I believe there could be new evidence, unavailable at your trial, which now raises a reasonable doubt about your guilt.”

“Such as?”

“Before I discuss specifics, I need to first know if you want my assistance.”

House studied him. “Do I want to retain you as my attorney, which would protect our conversations as privileged, and in which case Detective Tracy here would need to leave the table?”