Page 25 of A Trial of the Heart

Chapter

Twenty-Five

Shiloh:

The last two weeks of my life had been going well.

My work life had been stress-free, and the sneaking Rashad and I had been doing hadn’t been noticed.

Though Rashad and I had been sleeping together on a regular, I was still heavy into the case.

The case seemed cut and dry from the surface, but the further I dug, I noticed it was a lot of inconsistencies that didn’t add up.

I hadn’t told anyone except LeeAnn about my assumptions.

I wanted concrete evidence before I spoke up about my findings.

“Good afternoon. My name is Shiloh Monroe, and I am the district attorney with the commonwealth office. Is Ms. Anita Robinson available?” I spoke into the receiver of the phone, while I sat behind my desk staring at the screen with Anita’s information on it.

I could hear the lady on the phone speaking, but her voice was muffled which meant she’d more than likely covered the phone. “Give me one moment please.”

“Okay.”

Seconds later, I heard the horrible music that sounded like the music in a long elevator ride. It felt like I had been on hold for some minutes due to the awful music. Truth was it was only a few seconds.

“This is Anita Robinson. How may I help you?”

“Good afternoon. This is Shiloh Monroe with Whitlock and Associates. I was wondering if we could set up a time to meet. I could come to your office or you to mine.”

“What is the matter that needs discussing?

I cleared my throat “Mr. Kyan… I’m sorry. It’s about Rashad Carter.” I corrected myself, realizing she probably didn’t know him as Kyan.

I couldn’t see Anita, but her heavy sigh and hesitation gave me a good idea of how her expression was.

“I’m really not trying to get in the middle of that,” she whispered.

Her whispering threw me off. Was she trying to hide from someone? Whatever the reason was didn’t bother me. I had questions, and she seemed to be the one that could answer them.

“It would only take a few minutes. I just have a few questions.”

It sounded like the phone was rattling before I heard Anita click her tongue at the root of her mouth.

“Meet me at Fat Tuna at 5:30 p.m. Come alone, and you have five minutes tops.” The sound of the dial tone blared in my ear. It was as if I was the police, and Anita was an informant that didn’t want to get caught snitching.

Things with Rashad may have been deeper than I knew, and I hoped Anita could give me the information I had been lacking.

Sitting on the patio of Fat Tuna, I impatiently awaited the arrival of Anita. She’d told me 5:30 p.m., and it was ten minutes past the time. Maybe she decided not to come, I thought, looking to my phone. I was about to say fuck it when the potent smell of expensive perfume crowded my nose.

“Shiloh?” I heard the second I looked up.

My eyes took a bit to adjust to the sun, but when they did, I was met with a beautiful woman that didn’t look anything as I had expected. She had a low Caesar with waves. She was tall with beautiful brown skin and a thick body I knew men drooled over. She resembled a perfect painting.

“That’s me.” I stood.

“Anita Robinson.” She extended her hand my way with a smile, and her dimples sunk into her cheek. Her gapped teeth added to her natural beauty.

“Thank you for meeting me.”

The smile dropped. “It’s not something I wanted to do. But hey, here we are.” She shrugged.

Anita looked around anxiously, which caused me to do the same. Was she being followed, and were we in danger?

“Is everything okay?” My eyes still jumped everywhere hers did.

She focused back on me. “You have five minutes.”

She didn’t even bother answering me. That put me more on alert. Something was seriously off, but I had only been allotted five minutes, and I didn’t want to waste the time standing there in a panic.

“Okay. We can sit…” I gestured to the chairs.

Anita looked around once again before she slid into her seat. “Okay, so what is it?”

I cleared my throat, sitting on the edge of my seat. “How do you know Rashad?”

“I don’t really know him. He dated someone I thought was a friend.”

“Care to elaborate?”

Anita scoffed. “On the friendship? Absolutely not.”

I wanted to probe more on the friendship. Her response alone had my interest piqued, but the sour expression topped it off. I chose not to ask any questions because the friendship wasn’t the reason I was here.

“Rashad is charged with numerous charges. Do you think he is guilty?” It really didn’t matter if she did or not since she clearly wasn’t the determining factor.

Before Anita answered she chuckled softly, and her eyes bounced around before she focused on me, leaned in, and gestured for me to also come closer.

“I don’t know much about Rashad, but from the few encounters I have had with him, he did seem like an upstanding, legit guy.

The thing is… who he got mixed up with has some really big ties, so he is guilty before the trial starts.

I’m unsure what your connection is with Rashad, but if I was you…

if you aren’t too deep in this shit, I would haul ass. ”

Just as I was about to ask her why, Anita’s eyes shifted behind me, and they grew in size, causing me to look over my shoulder. Whatever she saw, I was too late to see.

“Everything okay?”

Anita stood abruptly. “I have to go.”

“Wait. Wait.” I stood with her. She’d given me five minutes, and I’d barely gotten two and still was left with many questions.

“No!” she damn near shouted raising her hand. “I have nothing else to say, except run.” She spun on her heels hurrying away.

Looking around, I noticed a few people staring in my direction.

“What the fuck?” I mumbled. I was more confused than when I first arrived.

Rifling through my wallet, I pulled out a ten-dollar bill, dropping it on the table to pay for the sweet tea I hadn’t even touched.

With confusion, I headed for my car with so many things on my mind.

I needed to call LeeAnn. I needed to talk to somebody.

Just as I was about to call her, I spotted Rashad.

A smile crossed my face. It was crazy the effect this man had on me.

I wanted to do things for and to him that I had never imagined, and I didn’t even mind it.

He had me on a high I never wanted to come down from, and I couldn’t even tell everyone about it.

Just as I parted my lips to call his name, the smile dropped, and my heart rate increased.

A woman stepped in front of him, hugging him tightly, and he seemed to relax under her touch.

My skin felt hot, and my heartbeat was so intense I literally could hear it on the outside of my body.

“Wow.” I found myself mumbling as the hug lingered, and Rashad’s hands dropped to her plump backside, palming it.

Was Rashad being around the reason Anita ran off in a hurry?

Who was the woman Rashad was with, and why were they so comfortable with each other?

Had he still played in my face? I had so many questions, and standing where I was wouldn’t get me the answers I wanted.

Pissed, I headed their way but quickly stopped.

“What the fuck are you doing Shiloh?” I asked out loud as my feet planted where I stood. Here I was, a thirty-year-old successful lawyer about to show my ass in these folks’ street. Crazy how good dick, dope conversation, and a sexy man had me ready to risk everything I’d worked for.

Watching Rashad and the female whose face I never saw before walk away hand in hand stung, but it made my job a lot easier. The pain was real, but it was clear he knew how to finesse a situation, and though he had me blinded before, I could see clearly now.