Mens Rea by Brooke Edwards

Author:Brooke Edwards [Edwards, Brooke]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2015-05-25T04:00:00+00:00

THE CASE is exhausting and nowhere near as easy as they hoped.

Ethan Tyler, Jake Bartlett’s lawyer, matches Derek blow for blow in the courtroom, and there are points where James is a little worried the two are going to come to literal blows.

In the end, when they get a six-week adjournment Derek tiredly admits that it could have gone a lot worse. Daniel squeezes his shoulder while Katie Arnold’s mother cries in the first row, and her father watches, with red eyes, as Jake Bartlett is escorted out.

James is suddenly bone-tired and wants nothing more than to hole up for the three days he has before his next shift. Derek catches up to him in the hallway outside.

He looks as disappointed and wrung out as James feels. “I’ll give you a ride,” he offers, and James nods. Neither of them speak, as James follows Derek toward his car, and the silence lingers after he starts the engine and pulls out of the lot and into traffic. James wouldn’t go so far as to describe it as awkward, but it isn’t comfortable either.

“We’ve got time to build a more solid case,” Derek says eventually. It sounds like he’s got a lump in his throat, and his hand is white-knuckled around the gearstick. “We’ll get him, James.”

James reaches out and squeezes Derek’s hand, just briefly, and then draws it back to his own lap. “We will,” he says but isn’t sure he believes it.

Derek falls silent after that, and the only sounds are the quiet ones coming from the radio and James’s short directions. Eventually Derek pulls to a smooth stop outside of James’s house, and the silence turns, charged with some kind of tension, as they both seem to wait for the other to break it first.

“I’ll see you Tuesday with Daniel for regrouping,” James says after a moment. His stomach feels heavy. “You did a hell of a job today. We’ll give you more to work with next time. Thanks for the ride.” He doesn’t wait for Derek’s reply, just gets up and out, and shuts the car door carefully behind him. It takes everything he has in him to not look back.

James has his keys in the door when he hears the engine cut out and the slam of a car door. “You know,” Derek’s voice says from across the front yard as James pushes the door open and steps in. “You are probably the most confusing person I’ve ever met.”

He looks angry when James turns around, striding across the lawn toward him, and James has never been more confused in his life. “I’m confusing?” he asks, one hand on the front door and the other on the wall adjoining. “I’m sorry but what are you talking about?”

Derek’s eyes are narrowed, mouth tight, and the muscles in his forearm draw James’s attention as he jabs a pointed finger in James’s direction. “I was convinced it was nothing,” he says. “I mean, I was pretty sure I imagined seeing you in the back during the whole Roseworthy case.

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