Page 81 of Nothing to Beat

Wouldn’t that be great, Alice, Carolyn, some Hollywood stylist with racks of clothes and accessories, and them, waiting for Ackley to show up and blast them all to hell.What if Ackley didn’t summon Porter because of her father?Maybe it was Joey.Maybe it was her.What had she ever done that LA’s DA might think to summon another prosecutor?It couldn’t be anything… this wasn’t a gang against her… Yet, somehow, she didn’t feel like this bolstered her team either.

Porter had been fine with her, great; they’d made good ground working together.In Chicago.Hmm, yeah, in Chicago.That felt an awful distance, in time and space, from their suite in LA.What might’ve changed since then?

“Do you have experience with DA Ackley?”she asked.

“We had one conversation, over the telephone.”

“Today?”

“No, months ago.Before I knew about Joey, before Trish agreed to testify.”

Curious.“Why did you call him?”

“I didn’t.He called me.”

“To…?”

“Tell me…” And the movement of his shoulders returned him to the awkward squirming of a few moments ago.“About Zairn’s involvement in Dayah’s death.His alleged involvement.”

“Which is false,” Breck was quick to add.“Zairn Lomond had nothing to do with Dayah Lynn’s death.”

“I’m aware of that now.”

“You weren’t then?”

“I didn’t know Zairn then, we’d never met.Roxie came to me after my conversation with Ackley about Dayah.Told me Zairn had nothing to do with it.”

“And you believed her?”

“I believed it after Zairn brought Trish to me and Tim.That was a long night.”

“You didn’t trust a woman you once loved?”she asked, the notion foreign to her.“You can’t have loved her very much.”

Porter shook his head.“It was a different time.Zairn and I were strangers.Roxie’s relationship with him was still… They weren’t public, but I could see she was infatuated with him.”

“You trusted the woman, but not her feelings.”

Was Breck aiming at her?“You better trust me and my feelings.”

“Sometimes with you I don’t know, Coy.”

Okay, the deadpan thing was funny when everyone in the room got it.Porter didn’t know Breck that well.

“Truth be told,” Porter said.“I was worried about her.Roxie.She’s usually got her head screwed on, doesn’t take any shit.With Zairn, I could tell it was different just from the way she talked about him.I didn’t want her to be taken in, I wanted to protect her.”

“From a potential murderer.”Breck got there before she did.“I can understand that.”

Okay, were they bonding now?This was no time for bromance.

“We have a meeting to get to,” she said because they had to be overdue for Ackley.“The only way we find out what is going on, is to get there and hear it from him.So can we…?”

Another tap of her non-existent watch.

“Yes,” Breck said, raising an arm, which she went to immediately, allowing his hand to settle on the small of her back.“We shouldn’t keep him waiting any longer.”

“Is Roxie coming to the meeting?”Porter asked.

Breck paused.“Do we need her?”