I tensed with a horrible sense of déjà vu.
“Yep,” he said. “I know. I know. I’ll do what I need to, don’t worry.” He clicked the phone off then tossed it onto the couch before coming to me.
“What was that about?” I asked as he wrapped his arms around me.
He kissed my nose. “Nothing for you to worry about.”
His mouth moved to cover mine, but I dodged him. “No, not this again. The last time you got a bad phone call and told me nothing, you started talking crazy with marriage proposals.”
His hands tightened at my waist. “Really, how crazy was it? Because look at your finger now.”
I pushed out of his arms. “And you aren’t charming your way out of this either, JC. I want to know what’s going on. We can’t build a life together on secrets. If I’m yours, you have to be mine too. That means I deserve to know.”
He lowered his head and sighed. “I know you do.”
“So quit with the stalling and tell me already.” Every second that he waited, the more my imagination spun with possibilities. Was it the baby? Or his work? More likely it had something to do with Dom and the reasons why I’d seen him lately. I’d wanted to get this out in the open anyway, but the look on JC’s face made me terrified to find out more.
He smiled, but it felt insincere. “I’m going to tell you.” Gently, he gripped my shoulders. “First, I want you to repeat after me, ‘There is no reason to freak out. Everything’s going to be fine. JC’s going to handle it.’”
My instinct was to pull away, but instead I cupped his face with my palms. “Whatever it is, we’re going to handle it. Together. And I’m not promising that I won’t freak out until I hear what it is.” I dropped my hands. “Now tell me!”
He hesitated. “That was Jeffrey Hines,” he nodded toward his phone, “the prosecuting lawyer from the trial. He was the one who called while we were at the doctor’s earlier.”
The call that had been followed by a text that had obviously bothered him. “And?”
“He wanted me to know that the judge declared a mistrial. By tomorrow morning, Ralphio Mennezzo will be released from jail.”
***
JC spent the next hour on phone calls, and an hour after that, Norma was leading us to a conference room at Pierce Industries. It was almost nine on a Friday night, so the building was dark and practically empty.
Norma unlocked a door, opened it and turned on the lights, revealing a long rectangular table surrounded by chairs. “Will this do?”
“It’s perfect.” JC brushed past me and took a seat at the head of the table in the chair that I assumed was normally reserved for Hudson. I was pretty sure that taking the seat of command was JC’s way of feeling in control. While he’d been focused and alert all evening at the condo, it had been the most anxious I’d ever seen him.
And that made me more worried than I’d thought possible.
I put a hand on my sister’s arm, posing it as a gesture of gratitude when I really needed the support. “Thank you for arranging this, Norma.” JC’s people—whoever they were—thought it would be best to meet somewhere that neither of us were directly tied to. Pierce Industries was the best we could come up with on short notice.
“Of course. It wasn’t any trouble at all. Do you know why the trial was thrown out?”
“They discovered that one of the jurors was connected to one of the other witnesses who’d been murdered. Steve Stockbridge’s lover—Greg Thompson. The defense believes the juror was paid to make sure the trial went in the prosecution’s favor.”
Norma’s forehead tightened. “That’s awful.”
“I know. And now Mennezzo is free on bail until a new trial can be set up.” I shivered at the thought of the man who’d killed Corinne—the man who wanted JC dead—back on the streets.
“Don’t worry yet,” Norma said in her big sister tone. “Wait and see what the authorities say.”
It was good advice, but I was pretty certain I already knew what they’d say. Still, I nodded. “I’ll give you a recap tomorrow.”
“Oh, I’m not going anywhere. I can’t just leave a room full of people who aren’t employed here to run amuck.” Norma knew as much about the situation as I did, which meant she also knew that this wasn’t the type of meeting where people would run amuck.
“I’m not even sure you’re allowed to be here, Sissy. I’ll come by your office after so you can lock up.”