Chapter 369
Victor found me leaning over the railing while I cried.
“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Nothing …it’s stupid.”
“It’s not stupid if it upsets you like this,” he insisted. “Talk to me, my love.”
“Amy wants me to be her maid of honor, and she sent me a photo of the wedding dress she wants,” I said. “It’s the same dress I chose for our wedding that we had to cancel.”
Victor nodded and held me close. “That’s not stupid. Why don’t you tell Amy that’s the dress you chose? I’ll bet she’ll pick another dress because she loves you.”
“I don’t want to spoil her wedding,” I insisted.
“Sweetheart, you can’t be her maid of honor if everything about her wedding makes you cry.”
“I know,” I agreed. “Being jealous of Amy makes me feel terrible. But I can’t seem to stop.”
“Talk to her about it,” Victor advised. “Amy will understand.”
I hiccuped. “I’ll talk to her tomorrow morning. We meet for coffee after our first class of the day.”
“Now, come to bed,” Victor said.
“Or we could go for a quick run,” I suggested. I needed to run off my negative emotions.
“Let’s go,” Victor agreed before pulling the towel from around his lean waist and shifting into the black wolf.
“Wait for me,” I giggled as he leaped from the balcony. I called for Diana, and we joined him and Adam on a run around the estate.
As usual, Amy and I met for lattes at Perks, the campus coffee shop next to the cafeteria. We sat at a table near the window and watched the other students walk by.
I was trying to find a way to approach the subject of her wedding gown when Amy beat me to it.
“Daisy, please tell me what’s wrong,” she asked. “I can tell you’ve been upset since I told you Justin and I were getting married.”
“I am happy for you, Amy. I really am,” I said. “But I’m also jealous. I want to marry Victor more than anything else in the world. We keep getting close, but something always stops us.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Amy put a hand over mine. “How can I make you feel better?”
“I want you to marry Justin,” I said. “You deserve to be happy. But there is one thing that may help make me feel better.”
“What, sweetie?” Amy waited expectantly.
“The photo of the wedding dress you sent me last night,” I began, hoping she wouldn't get mad. “That’s the dress I chose for my wedding to Victor that I had to cancel because nobody would come.”
Amy’s mouth dropped open. “No wonder you are upset. I would be too. But don’t worry, I already changed my mind.”
Amy pulled out her phone and showed me a photo of another wedding dress with a much different design.
“What do you think of this one?” she asked.
The new photo showed a wedding dress with an A-line skirt and an illusion neckline.
“I love it!” I exclaimed. “It’s perfect for you.”
“I think it’s the one,” she said. “Gisele has one in my size. I should go to her shop and try it on.”
I’ll go with you this weekend,” I offered. “It would be fun to look at the gowns. I'd go today, but I have to be in the courtroom for Marlee in a few hours.”
“We need to choose a maid of honor gown for you,” Amy reminded me.
I gave Amy a genuine smile. “This is beginning to sound like it will be more fun than I thought.”
“I have a confession,” Amy said. “When you were planning your wedding to Victor, I was jealous of you.”
“You were?” It made me feel better to hear Amy say it. Being jealous of my best friend added to the guilt of my toxic emotions.
“Yep, and I'm sorry I said I wouldn’t come to your wedding. I should have agreed to come no matter what was happening.”
I shrugged. “It’s okay. It wasn’t the right time for Victor and I to get married. Our time will come.”
I felt a lot better since talking it out with Amy. Now, I was eager to help her plan her perfect wedding.
Amy chugged the rest of her coffee. “I gotta run, Daisy. Professor Charles gets in a twist if anyone is late for class.”
“I’ll meet you and Justin in the cafeteria for lunch,” I reminded her. “But I must be at the courthouse by one.”
I remembered Marlee’s housing situation. “Hey, do you have a bedroom for a woman?”
“Yep, I’ve got a single on the third floor available,” Amy replied.
“Save it, okay? I know someone who is probably going to need your help.”
Amy gave me a thumbs-up and a grin before heading to our separate classes.
The DA was stunned as he listened to Allen Cross address the judge. When he gave Dr. Mancini’s report on Lexi Krebs’s death with the lab results to back up his diagnosis of MMA to the judge, the DA leaped to his feet and objected.
“Overruled,” the judge said.
“But …but your honor,” the DA sputtered.
The judge looked at the DA suspiciously. “Dr. Mancini testified that he sent you a copy of this report and that the coroner originally agreed with him. Why did you proceed with charges against the defendant?”
“The doctor is lying,” the DA argued. “He was probably bribed.”
The judge raised his hand to silence him. “There needs to be an inquiry into this matter. I need more information and time to make a decision.”
The judge got up and left the courtroom, and the DA turned around and glared at me as I sat behind the Allen Cross.
He rose from his seat and began to walk out of the room, but he stopped beside me and grabbed my arm.
“You had something to do with this,” he growled as his fingers dug into my bicep. “I know you did, and I guarantee you will regret it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said sweetly and pulled my arm from his grasp. “I guess you didn’t get rid of every copy of the report.”
He glared at me. “I’m a bad enemy to make, Miss Wilson. So are other people who don’t like you. You’re going to regret this. Marlee Krebs is going to prison one way or the other, and you may go with her.”
“Is that a threat?” I asked, holding my phone a little higher as it recorded him.
“Is there a problem, Mr. Houser?” Allen Cross asked the DA. “If you have anything to add, you should have told the judge. But leave my legal assistant alone.”
I stood, and we walked away from the DA and out of the courtroom. Dr. Mancini was standing in the hallway.
“Do you think it was enough to free Marlee Krebs from prison?” he asked.
“I’m not one hundred percent sure,” Allen replied. “These things can go either way. Martin Houser has a lot of influence over the courts in Denhurst.”
“What does that mean for me?” the doctor asked.
“I’d like you to stay in protective custody until we know if I’ll need you at a trial,” Allen explained. “But Marlee’s trial is still scheduled to begin next week.”
“You won’t mind another few days at Alex’s, will you?” I asked.
“Of course not. Marlee Krebs does not deserve to be in prison,” Dr. Mancini said. “And I am very comfortable at your father’s home. Plus, Dr. Francis is covering for me at the hospital.”
“Then I’ll have your guards return you to Alex’s mansion,” Allen said and signaled to the two armed officers waiting nearby.
“Let’s go for coffee,” Allen said. “There’s another case I’d like you to consider helping out on. You were born for this type of work, Daisy.”
“Sure,” I agreed. He led the way down the street to a bakery.
“I’ll buy,” Allen said. “The coffee isn’t bad here, and they have the best blueberry scones you’ve ever tasted.”
He bought two coffees and two blueberry scones, and we sat where we could watch the entrance. Nothing was said out loud, but we both felt the need to be vigilant.
Allen took a folder from his briefcase and handed it to me.
“It’s another murder case,” he said. “A young Beta male is accused of a murder he claims not to remember. He has no criminal background whatsoever.”
I took the file as his phone rang. Allen spoke briefly to someone and seemed dazed for a moment.
“Keep the file and study it,” he said. We must go. The judge has decided on Marlee’s case.”
What does that mean?” I asked. “It’s been less than an hour!”
