Midnight Run by Linda Castillo

realize I’m an innocent man after all?”
    “Jack…”
    “Or maybe it was that kiss that brought you back for more.”
    “Stop it.”
    He turned to her and for the first time since she’d breezed into the cabin and started barking out questions, he noticed the anxiety etched into her features. “What’s going on, Landis?”
    Visibly shaken, she walked to the small table and lowered herself into a chair. Her eyes were large and dark when they met his. “Aaron Chandler was murdered last night.”
    The words registered like a slap. He recoiled as the repercussions penetrated a brain that didn’t want to believe. In the months Chandler had been his lawyer, they’d spent quite a bit of time together. Jack had come to respect him. He’d come to like him. Had the circumstances been different, he might even have called him a friend. He couldn’t believe he was gone. For several long seconds he could only stare at her, speechless. Aaron Chandler had been his last chance. The appeal had been filed. The framework for his defense had been laid. With Aaron’s murder, all of it had gone up in smoke….
    “Are you sure?” he heard himself ask.
    She nodded. “I’m sorry.”
    Jack couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe fate would snatch away the last remnants of hope. His last chance for a future.
    On an oath, he turned away and strode to the window, stared through the dirty glass at the frozen landscape beyond. All the while desperation clawed at his throat like a bloodthirsty animal. He felt sucker-punched and sick to his soul. He couldn’t believe Chandler was dead, couldn’t believe the timing of it.
    “That brings my defense to a grinding halt,” he said.
    “I’m sorry, Jack, but…it gets worse.”
    He turned from the window and looked at her. “What do you mean?”
    “The police found your prison clothes in Chandler’s office.”
    He felt a jolt, didn’t know if it was physical or emotional, but it was powerful enough to immobilize him. “Chandler was supposed to get rid of the clothes.”
    “Evidently, he hadn’t done that yet.”
    A terrible new realization dawned. “I’m a suspect.” He laughed, but it was a hoarse, humorless sound. “Jesus.”
    “I thought you should know.”
    Outrage and a damnable sense of helplessness surged inside him. He tasted bitterness at the back of his throat and felt the dark pull of a new and frightening suspicion burgeon. Raising his fist, he brought it down on the counter hard enough to send the jar of coffee crashing to the floor.
    “Jack, please…calm down.”
    Her words barely registered. He couldn’t believe Chandler was dead. A year ago, he would have laughed at the absurdity of the situation. Today, he knew firsthand how cruel fate could be.
    He wanted to lash out. At the system. At whomever had engineered this latest frame-up. He knew better than to take his fear and anger and frustration out on Landis. But she was the only person within reach.
    “Are you going to jump on the bandwagon the way you did the last time?” he snarled. “Or maybe you’ve already called the Salt Lake County sheriff’s office. Hell, Landis, if you really want to put a feather in your cap, maybe you should have called the media. I can see the headlines now. ‘Lady Justice Single-handedly Nabs Cold-blooded Cop Killer.’”
    She came out of the chair. “It was against my better judgment, but I came here to help you.”
    The words hung between them like a rain-laden storm cloud waiting to burst. Willing his temper to cool, Jack turned away from her, strode to the counter and leaned. “How was he murdered? When did it happen?”
    “He was shot and killed in his office last night.”
    “You said they found my clothes at the scene?”
    “Yes.”
    “How did you find out about it?”
    “Ian came to the cabin this morning to tell me.”
    A bitter laugh escaped him when he thought of Evan’s younger brother. “I’ll bet he was frothing at the mouth to get at