Chapter 13 #2
“What do you mean?” Sheridan leaned closer to her over his desk, appearing genuinely interested in what she was saying.
“Well . . .” She paused, thinking through how she could explain the key points in a way that wasn’t overwhelmingly technical. “As you know with any homicide, the intent is important for deciding what degree it could be, and whether it’s murder or manslaughter.”
He nodded along, likely already knowing these basics from the police academy.
“So,” she continued, “for first-degree murder, the prosecution has to prove that the defendant intended to kill the victim. Here, we’re proceeding based on the belief that McGuinness murdered Tripp willfully, deliberately, and upon premeditation.
Typically, you could do this by pointing to how the victim died, any motive the defendant might have had, if he took steps in advance to prepare for the murder, those kinds of things.
But all we have now is conjecture. The cause of death is drowning, which in itself doesn’t necessarily show there was any kind of deliberate intent on McGuinness’s part for killing him.
Motive? No idea. McGuiness certainly never shared any with the officers when he was interrogated.
And, as we’re not entirely sure of the events that led to Tripp being in the water, I can’t even prove to the jury that Tripp was on the boat that night, not really. ”
She chuckled sarcastically to herself and buried her face in her hands with a groan. “Basically, this case is fucked before it’s even off the ground, unless I can find any witnesses, convince them to speak with me and testify.”
“Well. From that explanation, I can tell you that if anyone could put together a successful case, it’s you.”
She snorted and lowered her hands to look at him. “You don’t even know me.”
His lips twitched as if he wanted to smile, and he said, “No, I don’t know you. Yet.”
He winked, and she had to bite down on the inside of her cheek to stop a smile from forming. She glanced at the clock on the wall behind Sheridan, surprised to see she had already been there for a while.
“I should go.”
Slowly standing, she moved to grab the box to return it to the evidence locker, but Sheridan stopped her with a hand on hers.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I’ll bring it back safely.”
Kelsi thanked him and moved to the door. Sheridan stopped her again by grabbing her hand lightly. He released her quickly when she stopped and turned back to face him, question in her eyes. He looked slightly nervous as his eyes flicked back and forth between hers.
“I was, er, wondering if you might like to get dinner with me sometime?” He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, a slight flush creeping up toward his ears.
Kelsi froze, not sure how to proceed. She hadn’t been on a date since she and Tom had broken up, and while Sheridan was definitely attractive in that golden-boy, was-probably-the-popular-high-school-quarterback kind of way, she wasn’t sure if it was too soon after the engagement to be going out with anyone new.
Kelsi was quiet for a long moment, and Sheridan’s eyes betrayed his worry that she was going to reject him.
“Look,” he said, “I would be lying if I said I’m not interested and hope you would be too, but I also haven’t been here in this town long and don’t know too many people our age yet.
So, if we go out and there isn’t any kind of romantic connection, it would still be a great night out with a new friend. No pressure, okay?”
She hesitated a little longer. She didn’t want to lead the man on, but she was in a funk.
Kelsi thought back to what Abby had said—she needed to get back out there.
There had to be a baby step (or a belly flop) into the deep end.
She thought of Dylan, of seeing him and remembering the good and the bad and the in between, and knew she needed to do this for herself.
She needed a sexy distraction from the man who made her forget herself, no matter that the thought made her slightly sick to her stomach.
“Okay, one dinner. And no pressure, okay?”
He beamed at her. “Deal.”
He passed his phone to her, and she typed in her number, calling herself so she had his number too.
She walked out of the station and only made it a few steps before her phone rang in her hand. Picking up, she said, laughing, “Haven’t you ever heard of playing it cool?”
Sheridan chuckled and said, “If you see something you like, why pretend you don’t?”
She rolled her eyes but couldn’t help the way her stomach swooped at the line. No man had spoken to her that way before.
“Anyway, are you free tonight?”
Kelsi paused, wanting for a second to say no and forget about the whole thing, but Abby’s voice in her head screamed, The only way to get over a man is to get under one!
“Yeah, tonight’s good for me.”
She could hear his smile through the phone as he said, “Great! Does the Silver Dollar work? I can pick you up around seven?”
The Silver Dollar was the best spot in town for seafood, and she was genuinely excited about going. Her stomach growled at the thought of it. She glanced at the time on her phone, seeing that it was still only four o’clock, so she had plenty of time to go home and get ready.
“The Silver Dollar is perfect, but I’ll meet you there instead. Plan for seven still?” It was a first date. Her first in a long time. If it was terrible, she needed some way to escape halfway through.
“Sure, no problem. I’ll make a reservation.” He paused, then drawled in a low tone, “Looking forward to it.”
She winced, feeling a pit in her stomach. She wasn’t looking forward to their date nearly as much as Sheridan seemed to be.