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have similar jobs.” With her smile fixed, she pinned me with a look. “Tyler is a media consultant and you’re in public relations,” she said, lock-jawed. She gazed up at him. “Rosalyn works directly with customers for a small, family-owned firm.”
    She hated that I was a waitress. In her eyes, I was nothing but a failure. I knew she resented me for letting her down, for not living up to my potential. I should be used to it by now, but sometimes it still got to me.
    “You know,” Tyler said, “We should get together. Your company could probably benefit from a media push.”
    “I’m sure we could. Do you have a card?”
    As he reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet, I glared at my mother.
    She glared right back. “You two enjoy the party.” She melted through the crowd.
    Tyler, the media consultant, and I did small talk. Then he went in for the kill. “We should have dinner one night this week.” He pulled out his phone and checked his schedule. “Does Wednesday work for you?”
    Before I could come up with an excuse, my own phone rang. “Whoops. Got to take that. It’s probably work. Busy, busy.” I slipped past him and down the hall. As I made my way to my father’s study, I dug my phone out of my purse and glanced at the screen.
    “Hey, Dane. Any news about Janelle?” I shut the office door behind me, closing out the chatter and the Christmas carols as interpreted by a string quartet.
    “Sorry to interrupt your evening,” he said.
    I walked past my dad’s desk to the medical books lining the shelves, and let my fingers trail over the spines. “I’m at my parents’ Christmas party. Interruptions are welcome.”
    “I’m afraid I have some bad news. My boss is after me to cut a deal for Janelle. It’s a slam dunk for the DA, and as far as my firm’s concerned, it’s low priority. Plus, I’m not billing her my usual fee, so the firm’s losing money.”
    My hand fell to my side. “What are you saying? You’re not going to defend her?”
    “I am defending her, but I only took this case as a favor to you, Rose. There’s no benefit in dragging this out. Besides, Janelle can’t afford months’ worth of legal fees.”
    I felt numb. “What about the other suspects?”
    “There are no other suspects.”
    “Not true. Crystal Waters, Asshat’s ex-girlfriend, got into a fight with him a couple days ago. There’s a suspect.”
    “Janelle had an argument with the victim thirty minutes before the police arrived and found him bleeding from a head wound. Her fingerprints are all over the weapon. There’s nothing I can do with that kind of evidence.”
    “What about innocent until proven guilty? Because she’s poor, she isn’t entitled to a good defense?” He was her lawyer, he should be fixing this, not giving up. “What about a private detective or something?”
    “Janelle can’t afford it and my boss is breathing down my neck to end this,” he said.
    “Tell him to go to hell, Dane. There’s got to be something you can do. You can’t send an innocent woman to jail.”
    “I’m not the one sending her to jail. I’m telling you, if we take this to a jury, she won’t stand a chance. A plea is her best bet.”
    I stumbled to a chair and sat down. “How much time will she get?”
    “If I can persuade the DA to play ball, I’m hoping for two to six years. But if he doesn’t make it…”
    “She didn’t do this. She doesn’t deserve to spend two days in jail, let alone two years. And what about her kids?” 
    “They’ll become wards of the state. Most likely they’ll go to a relative, but if not, they’ll be put into foster care. I’d be doing her a disservice if I didn’t try to get her a deal.” 
    Stunned, I gazed at a glass paperweight on my dad’s desk. Janelle was in worse trouble than I thought. If I didn’t find out who put Asshat in a coma, she wouldn’t just miss Christmas with her kids, she’d miss their childhoods.

Chapter 5

    I couldn’t go back