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Her door was open and it took all of sixty seconds for a strikingly large man, she knew to be thirty-six years old, to appear in the entryway And true to his , his expression hard

"Hello, Ms Reynolds"

There was so about the way he said her name, the way it ca in her head "Please, have a seat, Mr Wilkins"

For a ht he’d frozen in place, turned to stone, before he gave a surprisingly polite, "Thank you," and claimed a visitor’s chair

"I assuet on with this He was a ti

"I’ll cut to the chase," he replied, bypassing a direct answer "I knohat Beverly did rong, but don’t you think you are being a bit harsh in your quest for the death penalty? I mean the woman was terrorized by her husband"

Lauren leaned back in her chair, carefully schooling her features into an emotionless mask "Have you talked to your sister’s attorney about this?"

He let out a bitter laugh "Funny That’s exactly what your father asked ed into this, but ed to clamp down on an obvious reaction "My father is a State Senator He can’t do anything to help your sister"

His lips thinned "So he says" He shrugged "I guess that means it’s all on you"

"Unless you have new evidence to present, Mr Wilkins, this case is in the jury’s hands"

He leaned forward and pressed his hands onto the desk "I’m Special Forces I ay on a mission I’m all she has since our father died last year She married that bastard when I was in deep co care of her, he beat the crap out of her Had I been here, thingson, things would have been different"

"I can see howyou," she said "And I understand But a man is dead and buried, Mr Wilkins, and his family is in pain They want his side of the story told"