Page 98 of The 6:20 Man

“Why? Were you involved in her death?”

“I was not in any way, Helen, I’m telling you the truth. Why would I be out there busting my ass to find out who did kill her, if I’d been the one to do it?”

“Well, to make it appear as if you’re innocent.”

He knew she was right and it still pissed him off. “Well, I am innocent.” He hesitated.

“But what?” she said in a prompting manner.

“But I did have a relationship with her. We kept it secret because of the fraternization rules at Cowl.”

“Did you sleep with her?”

He took a moment to process this and form a response. “Yes. But only once.”

“Could you have been the father of the child she terminated? Because that would be a prime motive.”

“How did you know about that?”

“It’s all over the news.”

“No, I wasn’t the father.”

“How can you be sure?”

“She had the abortion in December. I started at Cowl in early February. I didn’t even meet Sara until then.”

“But do you have proof of that?” she said.

“How do you prove a negative?”

“You can’t, not in court, which means it’s irrelevant as a defense.”

Devine flopped back on the bed. “Great.”

She sat down next to him and patted his shoulder. “But it sounds like the cops can’t tie you to the murder forensically.”

He sat up and looked at her. “Not for lack of trying. And they might find another way.”

“Has anyone looked at a motive for someone killing her?” she asked.

“Just the pregnancy angle, I think. They seem to believe no one else in the whole world ever had sex with the woman other than me. And there’s something else.”

“What?”

“You can’t tell anybody.”

“I’m going to be a lawyer. If I can’t keep confidences, I won’t have a very long career.”

“I hacked into the firm’s security log entry system. The only card logged in during the time in question was . . . mine.”

She looked at him stoically, her gaze piercing.

“I wasn’t there, Helen. I swear.” He held up his security card. “And ask Will, he says it’s easy to clone one of these suckers. Even his little bay-bee cousin could do it, he says.”

“Go on.”

“Brad Cowl told me that he knew about my card being on the security log and also that there was video of me entering the lobby at the same time. But that can be faked, too.”