“He didn’t do it. He couldn’t have.”
Mitchell offered her a tight-lipped smile as he patted her hand. “I appreciate your candor, as always. It will be excellent to have his wife at his side if this becomes more public.”
Julia shook her head. “It won’t. He couldn’t have done it. I have proof.”
Mitchell straightened in his seat, his brow furrowing. “Proof?”
Julia licked her lips, sliding her sweaty palms down her pants. “Yes. And that’s where my request for legal advice comes in.”
He squeezed her arm. “Whatever you say stays between us as your legal counsel.”
She lowered her voice, leaning closer to her. “Grant couldn’t have killed Lydia because…I visited her after he did, and she was very much alive.”
Mitchell bobbed his head, puckering his lips as he considered it. “All right. That certainly will clear his name, but it paints a target on your back.”
“I know, but I have to tell them about my visit,” she insisted, her gaze unwavering.
He sighed as he shook his head, a frown deepening the lines on his face. “This really puts you in the crosshairs.”
“Mitchell,” she said as he rose, “I’m not leaving here without clearing his name.”
“Understood. Give me a minute. I’ll see if I can get us a private space to talk options.”
She nodded as she slid back into the chair. Her heart continued to hammer as he approached the door leading to the interrogation rooms and disappeared inside.
The uncomfortable seat did little to ease her tension or anxiety. She pictured Sierra, so angry with her mother that it led her to do something that couldn’t be undone. She wouldn’t let her pay for it if she had.
Mitchell appeared again, drawing her attention as he motioned for her to follow him. They settled in an icy cold interrogation room.
“Tell me everything.”
Julia nodded, her hands pressed against the cold metal table, allowing it to tether her to the reality of the room. “Grant may have visited Lydia tonight, but when he left, she was alive. I saw her after…very much alive.”
“What time did you visit her?” Mitchell uncapped his pen and pressed it against his legal pad.
“Quarter after six. Which should be a full forty-five minutes after Grant was there.”
He snapped his gaze up to her. “You seem sure.”
“I am.”
“And you’re willing to swear that you saw her alive?”
She nodded. “Yes, I am.”
“Did you kill her?”
Julia pressed her lips together as she stared at the scuffed table.
“Julia? Anything you say to me is between us.”
Her forehead pinched as she tried to find her way through the maze of her thoughts. “Mitchell, it’s really complicated.”
“If you go through with this, if you tell the police you were thereafterGrant, they are going to naturally ask that question. If you’re banking on them thinking you’re only covering for Grant to weave confusion into the narrative, don’t.”
“I’m not lying.”
“I didn’t say you were. And there will likely be some security footage to corroborate all of this.”
