Page 113 of Hard Evidence
“Don’t shout at my fiancée,” Zach shouted at Brax.
“Not me,” Grey told him.“I wasn’t there.”
“Believe us, we know that,” Dawson said.
“All I meant was?—”
“That one of us is lying, that’s what you meant.”
Holtz banged her glass on the table to stop the squabbling and motioned to Ari.
“Please continue.”
“What I’m trying to say is that I know there’s a surveillance video from the house, but I haven’t seen it, and I can’t be sure what it shows or doesn’t show.But if the police investigated Ruby’s case with the same diligence they’re applying to Amie’s, then there are probably some issues.We’re aware that at least one of the detectives worked on both murders.”
“We believe there are gaps,” Holtz agreed.“We’ve filed a petition for the evidence to hopefully get clarity over what’s included and what’s missing.”
“Such as the DNA testing records showing Levi’s semen inside Ruby?”Jez asked.
“He doesn’t deny that they had sex; he denies that he raped her, and we note that the only other DNA evidence presented at trial related to a pubic hair found on Ruby’s sheets.No saliva, no blood, no fingernail scrapings.Do you have a copy of the surveillance video?”
“No, but I’ve watched it.Could anyone else have gotten into the house?Unlikely, but not impossible.There were two blind spots.”One by the tower because a bush Ruby planted had turned into a triffid, and another to the rear because the gazebo was in the way.There had been no way to get in through the back because the basement window was painted shut, and the windows at the front had been secured from the inside when they found the body.Could the culprit have climbed in through an open window and closed it behind them?Possibly.However, that was only half the puzzle.“But what they couldn’t do was leave the same way.The windows were all latched from the inside, and they didn’t go out through a door.We watched the footage for two and a half days straight.Nobody but us came or went, and then the house was crawling with cops, crime scene techs, and every reporter in Virginia.”
“We still want to see for ourselves.”
“Nolan, perhaps you could ask your wife for a copy?”Serafina suggested, and Jez snorted in surprise.How did she know about Alexa and Nolan?They’d been married for less than a month.
Brax answered for Nolan.“It’s cute that you think Alexa will do anything he says.”
And Nolan wasn’t happy.“She stays out of this.”
“Agreed.Levi was very clear on that.But he also told me she’d be the one who kept the video, and if she gives it to us, that would be easier than this situation dragging on for months through the legal system.”
Sure, Serafina could have it.The video would only show her what the rest of them already knew—that the call came from inside the house.Plus Echo could add a little extra something to the download link when she provided it.Fuck that guy in the Pac-Man shirt.
“After you’ve been to the police and made a statement about the orchid, I’ll get her to send it.”
“You’re bargaining over evidence?”
“You should be making the statement out of civic duty.It’s theJusticeProject, remember?”
Serafina sighed.“I’ll go.But I want the video first.”
Nice try.“Statement first, then video.”
“Fine.”
“I’d like a copy too,” Ari said.“Ever since I heard about the case, I’ve been curious.”
“If you do start digging around, just be careful,” Serafina warned.Was that a veiled threat?
“Why do you say that?”Jez asked.
“Because Levi nearly got killed over this last month, and we think someone’s been tracking us.Or maybe that was you?”
Of course they’d been tracking Serafina, but Jez thought back to her first day in Richmond.She’d had that prickly feeling, the one that meant someone was watching.The sensation quickly faded, and she’d dismissed it as paranoia lingering from a tricky overseas job, but what if…?
“We haven’t touched Levi.How can you be sure it wasn’t a regular jailhouse bust-up?”
