Free Midnight Run by Linda Castillo Page B

didn’t you just wait until your appeal came up?” she asked.
    “The retrial isn’t even on the docket. It could be months from now,” Jack said. “Someone already tried to put an ice pick between my ribs. The corrections officers weren’t too concerned.” He shrugged. “Sooner or later, one of Duke’s thugs would have gotten me. He’s got people in the prison system. Even incarcerated, he knew I could make trouble for him.”
    The thought of Jack dying in prison for a crime he hadn’t committed shook her with unexpected force. She grappled for the cool distance of the lawyer she was. But it was the woman who felt the pain.
    “Look,” Jack began, “I’m not going to waste any more of my life waiting for some lawyer or judge or jury to decide my fate. I’m innocent, Landis. If anyone can find the evidence to support the truth, it’s me. I’m a cop. I know what to do. I’ve got contacts. I’ve sure as hell got the most at stake.”
    She didn’t want to believe any of it. But a traitorous part of her heart jumped with a hope she didn’t want to define. “You’re going to get yourself killed,” she said.
    “That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
    Landis looked deeply into his eyes, searched his gaze. For what she wasn’t sure. He stared back at her, his eyes clear and filled with a hard determination. God, how could he look at her like that and not be telling the truth?
    Suddenly overwhelmed by the weight of the question, frightened by the terrible new suspicions roiling inside her, Landis stepped away from him. “I think you should leave now. Both of you.” She looked away, unable to maintain eye contact. She wasn’t sure what her eyes would reveal. Uncertainty. Regret. There were so many feelings battling inside her she felt as if she were about to come apart at the seams.
    Jack turned to Chandler. “I need a minimum of forty-eight hours. I’ll need a few hours to recuperate. I’ll spend the rest of the time digging. I’ve got a few leads to check out.”
    Groaning, Aaron removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Do you have any idea what you’re asking me to do?”
    “I’m asking you to do the right thing.” Jack’s jaw flexed with tension. “You know I won’t come up empty-handed.”
    Chandler scrubbed a hand over his jaw and shot Landis a sage look. “Are you going to refrain from speaking to anyone about this? Namely the D.A.? I can do without getting disbarred.”
    Landis risked a look at Jack. The reckless light was back in his eyes. He looked dangerous as hell and…hopeful. She wasn’t sure why, but that made her sad. Maybe because she knew what it was like to hope for something that would never be. “I’m going to forget tonight ever took place,” she said.
    Chandler turned to Jack. “I’ll give you forty-eight hours to come up with some evidence to clear your name. After that time, and whether or not you’ve been successful, you will turn yourself in. Understood?”
    Jack grimaced. “All right.”
    The attorney continued. “I’ll drop you at my summer cottage near Soldier Summit south of Provo. It’s secluded, so you won’t have to worry about neighbors. There should be some canned food and firewood. I keep an old pickup out back. Both the truck and the cabin are yours for forty-eight hours.”
    Jack started to speak, but Chandler cut him off. “I can count the number of people I trust on one hand. You’re one of them, Jack. But don’t cross me. If you don’t call me so I can arrange for you to turn yourself in within the allotted time, I’ll deny this conversation ever took place, and I’ll do whatever I have to in order to protect myself.” His eyes swept from Jack to Landis. “Agreed?”
    Jack nodded.
    “Let’s get this show on the road.” Chandler extended his hand to Landis. “It was a pleasure, Ms. McAllister.”
    She gripped his hand, but couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d just made a deal with the devil. “I don’t