Chapter 198

“We’ll need the blue and gold tablecloths,” I instructed Terri as she and a couple other employees packed the supplies for Lisa and Bob’s wedding. With only two days left until the wedding, we needed to make sure that everything was ready and available for use.

“Silk or lace?” Terri asked.

“Both. We’ll want to lay the lace on top of the silk, alternating colors.”

“Oh, that’ll look pretty.”

I smiled at the thought. Even if I was against this wedding, I still took pride in my work.

“I assume that we’ll want the blue and gold drapes as well,” Terri continued.

“Yes. The silk ones.”

“What about the napkin rings?”

“Gold napkin rings but blue napkins.”

“That’s a lot of blue and gold,” one of the other employees said under his breath.

Terri rolled her eyes.

“Ignore him. I like it. It’s very royal.”

“Thank you. That’s where I was going with this color scheme.”

I glared at the rude male employee. John, I think was his name.

“I’m just saying,” he interjected, “a splash of silver would—”

“Would disrupt the color scheme,” I interrupted. I turned to Terri. “Don’t forget the bubble wrap for the vases.”

“Of course,” she replied. “And which box do you want—”

My phone started to buzz. I held up one finger, indicating that Terri should hold her thought, and pulled my phone out of my purse. The caller ID said it was Noah.

“Hi Noah,” I answered. “What’s going on?”

“I need you to come to my office immediately,” Noah replied. His voice was more excited than I had ever heard it.

“Do you think it could wait?” I asked. “I’m in the middle of something right now—”

“Not if you want Bob behind bars.”

I stiffened, my grip on my phone tightening. My eyes drifted over to Terri and the other employees as they filled the boxes. They could get along without me for a little while.

“I’m on my way.”

Not thirty minutes later, I knocked on the door to Noah’s office.

“Come in!” he called from inside.

I entered the small office, not for the first time in past several weeks. We had met several there several times—when my schedule would allow—to go over details of both the money laundering and the murder case. I had become very familiar with the place that Noah called his “second home”.

It never ceased to amaze me how Noah could be such a skilled lawyer and yet be stuck in this box of an office. Only big enough for a desk, a couple chairs, one water cooler, and a couple bookcases, it was far from the corner office that all lawyers and businesspeople aspired to.

Noah always talked about making partner someday and moving up, but if his talk of office politics amounted to much, that seemed like a far-off dream. It was still nice to hear him talk about it, though.

I smiled at Noah as I took my seat across the desk from him.

“Good day, Noah,” I said.

“Good day, Crystal.”

“So, what was so important that you needed to drag me from my work?”

Noah ran his hand through his hair.

“I checked into our witness. He’s legit.”

My eyes widened. I leaned forward and gripped the arms of my chair tightly.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. His story checks out, and there’s no reason for him to lie just to get Bob into trouble. He is a completely believable witness.”

“Will he testify in court?”

“If we can guarantee protection for him afterwards. Did you check with Andrew on that?”

I had. Unfortunately, Andrew would only guarantee the protection if I gave his private investigator, Mr. Smith, all the information that I had on the witness, but eventually, we came to an agreement. Andrew wasn’t too pleased that my and Noah’s investigation had taken this turn, but he reluctantly allowed it.

“Yes,” I replied. “He will provide the protection if the witness testifies.”

“Then it is time for us to make our move.”

The air escaped my body. My heart beat hard against my ribs.

“Really? Now?”

“Yes,” Noah said, his voice growing animated in his eagerness. “We have the evidence, and we have the key witness. We need to strike while the iron is hot.”

Tears pricked the edges of my eyes.

“Crystal, are you all right?” Noah asked, moving to hold my hand.

I quickly withdrew myself and hugged my arms over my chest.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” I replied. “I just…I can’t believe that it’s almost over, after all this time, after all this waiting…”

“Well, we’re not out of the woods yet,” Noah warned me. “He has to be arrested first. Then we still have to go through the trial.”

My eyes darted to him.

“You don’t think that he’ll wiggle his way out of this, do you?” I asked, my voice suddenly panicked.

Noah shook his head.

“No, no. Our evidence is solid, and our witness is reliable. It would take masterful manipulation of the system for him to escape justice this time.”

“Then why did you—”

“Because we need to be prepared for anything. Remember Murphy’s Law: whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. We can’t get our hopes up unnecessarily.”

My heart sank. He was right, of course. It was too early to get excited about any expected outcome yet.

I buried my face in my hands and took a deep, shaking breath.

“I just want this to all be over,” I said, barely containing my tears.

I heard the scraping of his chair as Noah stood up and came to my side. He placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. When I looked up at him, he gave me a soft smile.

“It will, I promise,” he said. “We just need to be patient.”

Internally, I cringed. He sounded just like Andrew when he said that. I guess that only meant that they were both right.

I put my hand on his.

“Thank you,” I said, trying but failing to smile back. “I really appreciate all the help that you have given me throughout this process.”

“I just wish that I could have done more.”

I thought back to the time when I was accused of Mr. Brown’s murder, of how he could have helped me then, but quickly shook those thoughts off. It would do us no good to dwell on the past like that.

“I do have to ask,” Noah continued, “are you sure that you want to do this? To move forward with pressing charges against Bob?”

In hindsight, I should have consulted with Andrew. I should have at least thought about consulting with Andrew. After all, he probably had evidence that was beyond my and Noah’s reach and that could have solidified our case beyond cracking.

Yet I didn’t. I didn’t consider Andrew’s side of the story for even a moment. All I could think about was my desire to get Bob out of my life once and for all—and in the most horrific way possible.

“Yes,” I said, my voice firm. “I am certain.”