Secrets

Andrea waited to see how Kyle would react. The first time she had asked him how he was able to exert so much influence, he'd brushed it off with a joke, and they'd ended up getting sidetracked. But now he had promised he would be open and honest with her. Not just promised, he understood why it was necessary if they were to have any chance proving his innocence.

Kyle took a deep breath. He picked up the collection of papers and flipped through it. "Yeah, I can see why that would seem odd. The truth is, my father is a large donor to the city's Police Foundation Charity."

Andrea folded her arms and raised an eyebrow skeptically.

Catching her eye, Kyle leaned in earnestly. "No, I'm not joking. I mean he's a LARGE donor… Now, officially that doesn't get the family any special treatment. Unofficially… Someone will have spoken to the police commissioner on my behalf and encouraged him to keep a lid on things for now. I understand that only a handful of officers are aware of my involvement currently, and they've been instructed not to talk to the press or anyone."

Andrea couldn't believe that Kyle was talking about this so casually. This felt massively corrupt, that the rich got special treatment from the police and the opportunity to keep their names out of the news.

Kyle let out a sigh. "It's not like they're going to go easy on me at trial. They think I did it, they think they have an airtight case. Once the news is public, they're not going to let it look like they're giving me any favors. But for now at least, we have a few days before the story breaks."

Andrea realized that in all her focus on the case and preparing to talk to Kyle again, that she hadn't noticed the lack of reporting about the case. "Are you telling me that no-one knows about the murder yet?"

"Apart from a select few, yeah. As far as everyone else is concerned, Beatrix Davenport is still a missing person case."

"Even her sister?!"

Kyle had the decency to look guilty. "...Yes."

This was so wrong. Andrea had to stand up to pace back and forth across the small room. She couldn't believe that they were keeping the whole case a secret. She understood keeping the case out of the news while the investigation continued, and she supposed that she understood if they told Beatrix's sister, Yasmine, that she had been found that they couldn't expect her to keep it secret… but it still just felt so wrong!

"So when does she get to find out? When does Yasmine get to find out that her sister is dead?" Andrea demanded.

Kyle held his hands up in a placating gesture. "I know how you feel, I do! I don't like it either. But look at it this way… as upset as she is right now with her sister missing, is it going to be any better when she finds out that Beatrix is dead? And might the news not be a little easier on her if we can tell her who was responsible for Beatrix's death, and that they're going to face justice for it?"

Andrea spun and stared at Kyle. "You think we can find the murderer before the story goes public?" she asked. The idea was ludicrous.

Kyle nodded. "That's the hope. You know I talked to you about maybe going into politics in the future? Well, how many successful politicians do you know that had 'murder suspect' on their resume, even if they were exonerated? People have had their political careers ruined over less, this would kill mine before it even started."

"Besides which," he added, "I don't like to think about it, but if I end up in jail…" He looked at Andrea more seriously than he had since she had arrived that morning. "I'm a prosecutor, and if I may say so myself, a damn good one. I've put a LOT of people in jail, and at least some of them are likely to remember me…"

He shook his head sadly. "Right now they have me in an individual cell. But once I'm in with the general population…" He didn't need to finish the sentence. Andrea understood that with his conviction rate, a jail sentence could end up being a death sentence.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, as though contemplating the enormity of what they were going to try to do. "This isn't just a matter of winning at trial, Blondie. Ideally, we want to prove I'm innocent before it even gets to that point. If we can find the real murderer, even better. That way I wouldn't have to be a suspect at all. Failing that, we HAVE to get me out on bail. If the judge denies bail, they're not going to keep me here at the police station the whole time. I'll get transferred to the county facility… and if that happens, I might not even live to see the trial."

"…How long do we have?" Andrea asked in a quiet voice.

"Hard to be sure. Maybe a week? Probably less."

Andrea felt a little faint. She had been prepared for lengthy preparation before going to trial. Investigations, hearings, arraignment, discovery, deposition, jury selection… the process would have taken weeks for every step of the process, and the whole thing would have taken months.

Now it turned out that Kyle wasn't just trying to mount a strong enough defense to win the trial. He wanted to solve the murder. And more than his freedom was at stake.

Steeling herself, she sat down and started organizing the papers. "Then we had better not waste any more time," she said with determination.

Kyle smiled. It reminded Andrea that he could have had McCabe and his entire office full of lawyers working on this case, but Kyle had asked for her instead.

She was going to do her best to justify the faith he was putting in her.

"By the way, Blondie, if I'm being all open and honest with you, does that mean you're going to be open and honest with me?"

"Honest, always. Open? …Sorry Kyle, but I'm not the one on trial here. A girl has to have her secrets."

Kyle shrugged. "You get to have your secrets if you must, Blondie, but you don't get such interesting nicknames that way."

Andrea thought she might have to be a little more open with her personal life at some point, at least if she didn't want Kyle calling her Blondie forever.

But not right now. Right now, they had work to do.