“Nothing went well.” She drained her mug and held it out to Eagle. “Could I possibly bother you for more?”
“Sure thing.”
Apparently, she’d used the brief time while he got her refill to pull herself back together because when she reached for the mug, he could see the tremors were gone.
“Okay.” He nodded. “Let’s go back to the trial.”
She took him through it all. The few witnesses who had seen Jeremy with the woman. The hotel manager who’d unlocked the door to the room and he and two men from hotel security had found him with the body. Some woman who’d testified she was the murder victim’s friend. That the victim had told her she was involved with someone, but she’d learned he wasn’t unattached. But she had been meeting him at the hotel to have it out with him.
“Did the roommate know the man’s name?”
Sierra shook her head. “Nobody knew anything. That’s what’s so scary. The prosecutor built a case that had Jeremy arranging to meet this woman after his dinner. To straighten things out, they said. In other words, to get rid of her. And he had a solid case, or at least everyone else seemed to think so.”
“But not you.”
She shook her head. “No. Not me. I know Jeremy, and they don’t.”
As she continued her story, Eagle agreed that something was definitely off kilter here.
“The appeals process gave us nothing. One was automatically filed after the jury verdict and punishment phase. I studied everything about reasons to appeal after that first one. His attorney told me none of the requirements had been met. He wouldn’t even try. He said the evidence was too strong and there just were no grounds.”
“I thought you could apply for an appeal if you could prove the original defense was flawed.”
“That’s true. I looked it up. But the other lawyers I contacted said the same thing, including the last one I went to New Orleans to see. He barely looked at the case file before telling me there were no grounds for one.” She ran her hand over her hair. “Eagle, I have so much stuff on my computer that I’ve managed to get hold of, and no one will take a look at it. And I have no idea why.”
“Okay. Let me refill our coffee again.”
He rinsed the mugs and poured hot liquid into them then placed them on a small tray. He also snagged some fresh muffins. Saint always stocked the pastry cupboard when they had a possible client and, right now, he was sure Sierra needed all the sugar energy she could get. He set everything up on the serving trays that were part of the seats, then leaned back.
“Now. Take me through it one more time and don’t leave anything out. Not even the tiniest detail.”
It took more than an hour, with Eagle asking questions about certain points, sometimes even repeating them. Finally he sat back in the chair, satisfied he’d gotten as much as he could for the moment. And that she was the real deal. From his years as a SEAL, he’d learned to distinguish bullshit from the real stuff, and Sierra Hunt was genuine. She wasn’t conning him for some undetermined reason, and both her fear for her brother and her story rang true.
Okay, then. Moving forward.
“You know, I didn’t even ask you if you live here too or somewhere else.”
“I do. He lives downtown because he likes the busy environment, and a lot of his friends live there, too. I live in South Tampa in a totally rehabbed Craftsman bungalow that I love. My office is in Midtown.”
“Are you an architect like your brother?”
She shook her head. “I’m a computer and information systems manager for an engineering design firm.”
“Wow.” He blinked. “I’m impressed.”
She scowled. “Because you don’t think it’s a job for a woman?”
He laughed. “Hell, no. If my partners thought I believed that, they’d disown me. One of them is engaged to a well-known romance author, another to a woman who researches trouble spots in the world and writes about them and the third is hooked up with a drone engineer.”
Sierra’s eyes widened. “Holy crap! Well. I take back my words.”
“So about your job. Did you get time off without a problem?”
“Actually, I did. My boss has met Jeremy, and he thinks he got a raw deal, too. He’s willing to work my projects around whatever I have to do.”
“Sounds like a great guy.”
“He is. I don’t know what I’d do if he didn’t give me the flexibility I needed for this. Oh, and one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I’ve had the feeling for weeks now that someone is following me, but nothing is obvious, and I don’t know how to check.”
“Following you?”
“Yes. As if to keep tabs on what I’m doing. Why would anyone do that if I wasn’t rocking the boat?”
“Good question.”
And one he’d discuss with his partners when they met to talk about their new client. And that would be ASAP.
In Galaxy, it had become standard practice for the partners when they took on a new client to meet at one of their homes to plot strategy and decide who would do what. That would be the first order of business. Was he taking this case? Hell, yeah! And not just because Sierra rang all his chimes, either. Her story made his bullshit meter fly off the charts, and not in her direction.
He glanced out of the small window. “It’s sunset already. Let me tell Saint to head home.”
Hope flashed in her eyes. “Does this mean you’ll take this on? That you’ll help me?”
“Hell, yes. I just don’t like the smell of this.”
In fact, the smell was so bad he wanted to hold his nose. She reached for her purse in the seat next to her. “I can write you a retainer check right now if you want. I don’t know what you charge but I make a really good living and I have some cash reserves. I—”
He held up a hand. “Let’s leave our fee out of it for the moment.”
“But—”
He gave her what he hoped was an encouraging smile. “We won’t bankrupt you, I promise. We’re in a unique position to pick and choose our clients not based on what they can pay.”
She frowned at him. “Listen, I don’t want you to—”
“It’s okay, Sierra. I promise it will all be good. Is that your laptop in the case next to you?”
“It is.” She nodded, then gave a tiny grin. “I never leave home without it.”
“Okay, I think what we should do is head to my place and order in some dinner. I’ll have my partners meet us there. We always dial each other in at the beginning of a case. And they should meet you. That work for you?”
“Uh, good. Thank you.”
They flew in silence for the next few moments, Eagle studying the woman across from him and hoping to fuck his hard-earned discipline could help him keep his dick in his pants. He didn’t ever remember having this problem before. No woman had threatened his self-control the way Sierra Hunt did. Or made him more committed to resolving her situation. And that was saying something, because Galaxy had a total commitment to each and every client they took on.
He was glad when Saint’s voice came over the intercom and derailed his thoughts.