Anne tilts her head in an endearing way and places both her hands on mine, gently rubbing them. “It’s all going to work out in the end. I promise,” she says, and I think she means it or at least believes it. How would Anne know if everything is going to work out? She’s my assistant. I’m the lawyer. I’m the one with the experience. I’m the one dealing with Sheriff Stevens. I’m the one with the cheating and potentially murdering husband. I’m the one going through all of this. I want to scream. I want to flip over my desk, but I won’t. I have to be calm and composed.

I take a deep breath before speaking. “This third set of DNA—I have to find out who it belongs to.”

“Why isn’t Sheriff Stevens looking into that further?” She releases my hands, and we lean back in our chairs.

“He says the case is closed.”

“Won’t the fact that we don’t know who that DNA belongs to bode well with the jury? Like a mystery—like it could be this other person? It’ll leave room for reasonable doubt.”

“It could, but it’s risky. If we know who that person is, we can build our case around it, pointing the suspicion at that person. I think I may have a lead.”

“Who?”

“Scott’s partner, Deputy Hudson. Heck, maybe they killed her together. They are each other’s alibis after all. But I think she was sleeping with his partner.”

Anne’s eyes widen. “Why do you think that?”

“Something Jesse said and the fact that no one ever saw her with a third man. If it were Deputy Hudson, they would have kept it a complete secret. Plus, the burner phone.”

“I mean if you can’t prove Deputy Hudson was the third set of DNA and Sheriff Stevens won’t cooperate, couldn’t you point the suspicion to Scott, her husband? The texts he sent that night were pretty damning.” Anne rubs her chin.

“That’s part of my case, but the prosecution will call him to the stand and try to paint him as a grieving hero. The jury will most likely feel sympathetic toward him and have respect for him as a member of the police force. We don’t have anyone saying otherwise, aside from Jesse—who was Kelly’s apparent stalker. His word is as good as worthless.”

“Is there a chance Scott did it?” Anne raises her eyebrows.

“As far as I’m concerned, there’s a chance anyone could have done it. Heck, Anne, you could have,” I say lightly.

Anne lets out a nervous laugh. “Why don’t you… umm… talk to D.A. Peters? Wouldn’t he want to know this?”