a pillow was a very up-close and personal crime, not like shooting the victim from several yards away. Annie wondered if the woman seated across from her was capable of that kind of in-your-face violence. The case would be a fascinating one to investigate.
“What makes you think Ms. Jones is the best investigator available?” Cole asked Ryan.
Annie had no intention of losing this opportunity just because her presence made him uncomfortable. As his mother’s attorney, Cole would have to work with her on the investigation. If he wanted her fired, he was going to have to admit to Ryan, and his mother, why.
Before Annie could open her mouth, though, the waiter brought the iced teas they had all ordered. As he retreated, Ryan spoke directly to Cole. He must have sensed that the son would be a harder sell than the mother.
“Living in Denver, you may not be aware of the solid reputation Annie’s built for herself all through this part of Texas,” Ryan said. “I guess it must have been after your move that she left the police department, despite the protests of her superior officers, and opened her own agency.”
Surprise flickered across Cole’s face. Apparently he’d never bothered to find out the outcome of the charges filed against her within the department. This fresh evidence of his indifference to her fate hurt like hell.
“Since then she’s done some brilliant work on several difficult, high-profile cases.” Ryan turned his attention to Lily. “Honey, believe me, if anyone can give Cole the strongest ammunition to get you an acquittal, Annie can.”
Annie felt like squirming with embarrassment in the face of Ryan’s testimonial. Granted, she’d worked damn hard after her tattered reputation had been restored and she’d left the department. She’d still had a lot to prove—to her late father and to the people who had believed she’d disgraced both his memory and the badge he’d worn with pride. Case by difficult case, she’d earned her reputation and the hefty fees she now charged. Even so, Ryan’s wholesale endorsement made her uncomfortable. What if this time—when it mattered to him the most—she failed?
Lily took a sip of her iced tea and turned to look at Annie. “I suppose you know about the charges against me?”
Annie nodded. Anyone who hadn’t been lost in the wilderness knew Lily’s story. Since Ryan’s phone call, Annie had boned up on the case.
“Let me see if I’ve got it right,” she replied, deliberately pulling no punches. “The police think you killed Sophia because her refusal to give Ryan a divorce was preventing you from bagging one of the wealthiest men in the state.” She ignored Ryan’s gasp. “You had means, opportunity and motive, since you just happened to be staying at her hotel in Austin on the night in question. You told the police you hadn’t been in her suite, but they found your bracelet on the floor by her body. They say the two of you quarreled and you held a pillow over her face until she was dead.”
During Annie’s recital, Lily had paled, but she seemed to draw strength from Ryan. Her chin went up. “I didn’t do it. I could never take another person’s life.” Her gaze held Annie’s without wavering. “Do you believe me?”
Annie noticed that Cole had shifted closer to his mother as if to protect her. Where had all that loving support been when she’d needed it? “I don’t have to believe you to do my job,” she told Lily.
Angrily Cole slapped his hand on the table, making them jump. He had no intention of sitting quietly while this hotshot P.I. tried and convicted his mother of murder right here in the restaurant. Annie’s bald recital of both the facts and speculation surrounding the case had just handed him a concrete excuse to refuse to work with her on the investigation.
“I’ve heard enough,” he told Ryan, confident the older man would agree with him. “We’ll have to find someone else.”
To his surprise, his mother gripped his arm. “No, dear, I don’t think so.”
Cole knew that tone. Underneath the soft drawl lay pure steel. Still he argued. “You need someone who knows you’re innocent.”
She shook her head, a rueful smile curving her lips. “I have you and Ryan for that,” she said huskily. Then she looked right at Annie. “Miss Jones, I need a fighter on my side. I’d like you to take my case. If Ryan says you’re good, that’s enough for me.”
Cole’s automatic protest died in his throat. Under the circumstances, surely Annie would refuse.
Instead she smiled. Despite his annoyance, Cole felt his nerves leap in reaction. Working with her would be insane—just one of several reasons why she had no business on this case, but the one he could never verbalize. And what about the resentment she might still feel toward him over the past? What better revenge than standing by and watching his mother go to prison? Could the Annie he’d known have turned into the kind of person who would let something that evil happen—even contribute to it? Could he risk the possibility?
Before he could bring up his other objections, the waiter was back with their food. Grimly, Cole realized he might have better luck discussing the situation with Ryan and his mother later, away from Annie’s troubling presence.
As Ryan turned the conversation away from the case, Cole concentrated on his lobster salad and tried to resist sneaking peeks at the woman seated across from him, the thick brown hair he remembered so well pulled into a high ponytail that made her look younger than her twenty-nine years. He didn’t know which of the emotions churning through him was more disturbing—his guilt over the way he’d handled their breakup, the renewed attraction to her that threatened his focus now, or the certainty that being thrown together on this case would be a disaster not only for him but also for his mother, whose very life was on the line.
“I can take a cab,” Annie said, wanting nothing more than to get away from Cole long enough to catch her breath and beat her overactive hormones back into submission. Not that she was the least bit interested in him—she’d learned her lesson there—but a woman could admire a man on a strictly physical level as long as it didn’t interfere with the work at hand.
“Nonsense,” Ryan replied with the breezy confidence of the super-rich. “The ranch is in the opposite direction from your office, and Lily needs to rest. But Cole can drop you off.” His arm was curved protectively around Lily’s shoulders. “It will afford the two of you a chance to map out your strategy.”
Even Annie couldn’t argue with that. It was time to put aside her personal feelings toward her new client’s son and get busy. They had barely a month until the trial, and there was a lot to be done.
She glanced at Cole, who was watching her with an unreadable expression on his sharply chiseled face. Did he never relax these days? She remembered that he had a killer smile. The unfortunate memory jarred her back to reality.
“Good idea,” she agreed with a hint of challenge in her voice. “If you have time to get started right away, so do I.”
The flicker of surprise in Cole’s eyes was more than enough reward for her capitulation. “My mother’s out on bail,” he drawled. “I don’t have a lot else on my calendar right now.”
Moments later, the two couples had split up, the older pair heading for the car Ryan’s driver had brought around to the front door of the restaurant. Meanwhile, Cole led the way to the lot behind the building where his rental was parked. If his back were any straighter, Annie might have suspected his tailor had sewed a metal rod in his jacket.
“So
