Dead Presidents (An Aria Raymond Thriller Book 3) by Thomas Ransom (that summer book txt) 📕

it is odd that he decided to ask about you after all this time of not saying anything. I have been going to work regularly. Never even once did the guy ask about you. Everyone else did. That nosey lot, but Wayne. Never.”

“He was probably giving you some space. The rest of the people obviously wanted the latest scoop. He was being a decent guy.”

“Oh, stop taking his side!”

Aria chuckled again. Both of them were in the apartment for a final look. Aria sighed with relief. She was getting the apartment and moving out from that depressing place. She could finally start living her life again and leave everything else behind. She was excited to start working with Diaz. It was perfect! A new apartment and a thrilling job. Not to mention the lawsuit. Things were finally going well for her.

Diaz walked into the bar and immediately saw Sanjay sitting with someone. She ordered a drink for herself and made her way across the room towards their table. She recognized Jake. Diaz had talked with him a few times when she initially took on Aria’s case. She never really liked him. Diaz remembered he was sure Aria was the murderer and he would always make her feel like she was trying to defend a murderer with his sarcastic comments. Diaz, being in this field for a long time, was used to police officers and detectives passing snide remarks at the lawyers taking the case of the alleged culprits. That’s how it had always been. She never thought much about it but now when she looked at him, she felt anger bubbling inside her. He was one of the reasons Aria had to stay in that hellhole for months for something she never did.

“Hey! Come, sit down,” Sanjay said as soon as he noticed Diaz. “I will get you a dri…”

He was interrupted by a server placing a drink in front of Diaz and walking away. “I have it covered,” Diaz smiled. She shifted her gaze at Jake questioningly.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry! Nicole, this is Sergeant Jake. Jake, this is Nicole. I am sure you guys have met before…”

“Yeah, I had the pleasure of meeting him,” Diaz replied curtly.

Sanjay understood then that Jake didn’t make much of an impression on Diaz. Jake cleared his throat and leaned in, looking intensely at Diaz.

“Look. I know I didn’t do things the right way or maybe I followed the procedure a little to strictly and it ended up badly. I know I messed it up. I should have tried to investigate more. I … I should have listened to Sanjay… I just…”

Diaz was taken aback. She wasn’t expecting this. Not at all.

“I wish I could take it back. I wish I could have helped you guys to make it right, to get Aria out of that prison. But I was too proud to admit that I might have made a mistake. This is something that sticks with you… it stays with you throughout your career… and even after that. I know no matter what I say and what I do, I can’t take back what Aria went through. Honestly… I can’t even imagine what she must have gone through,” Jake sighed. Diaz looked at Sanjay and raised her eyebrow. Sanjay nodded knowingly.

Jake continued, “Okay. I will just come to the point now. I know you are trying to get justice for Ellen and yourself. I know you want to go after these people, and I want to help.”

“You do?” Diaz asked, once again taken aback.

“I know this case. I was leading it. I can go through everything once again from a fresh perspective and I am pretty sure we might be able to find something. There must be something in the evidence that could point us towards the right direction … give us some clue. I have a resource. I can even get the case reopened since it is clear that there is a connection between Coons’ murder and Whitney’s murder. I will reopen the case and go through every single piece of evidence and detail once again. I can help you with anything you need. Just let me know how else I can assist you,” Jake looked earnestly at Diaz.

Still surprised, she kept staring at Jake, until he said, “Well?”

“Umm… yeah. Sorry! I honestly wasn’t expecting this. I… I am glad that you want to help and happy that you realized the impact of what had happened,” started Diaz, “I do think it wasn’t entirely your fault though…”

“No. I know it was m…” Jake started, but Diaz cut him off.

“… it wasn’t,” She continued, “You were just doing your job. Trust me. We spent days trying to find something to get Aria out. These people we are dealing with are too cunning. They were always two steps ahead of us. Always. They wanted to make sure Aria got the blame and that’s what they did. They had planned everything. That’s the reason it took so much effort and time. Even then, we barely got her out. If David hadn’t actually fallen for Aria, and confessed about what he did, Aria would still be in jail. We got lucky there. They were coming after David too. It’s pure luck that we managed to keep him with us. See how they got rid of Whitney too? They knew she might crack and start talking like David did.”

Sanjay finally pitched in, “Yeah. I do believe they let David go because he didn’t know much about anything. Plus, he did murder Coons to protect Aria and they probably knew that even if he squealed, he would get life in prison and no one would be able to save him from that.”

“Exactly!” said Diaz.

“Yeah, but…” Jake started.

“Jake!” Sanjay chimed in, “Please, you can’t keep on feeling bad about this. You were doing your job. I would