Chapter Twelve

From the moment they'd entered Declan's office, Eli could see the old Clare again from his memory. She was smiling, radiant. She even flirted a little bit, but it didn't bother Eli. He clearly saw a wedding ring on Declan's finger, and it was apparent that he was happy. Clare was just trying to keep him comfortable and hopeful on taking the case. Getting him to remember the gold old day's back when they were at Degrassi. Eli kept pace with the conversation, but kept his distance. This was Clare's case, after all. Not his. He was just here for moral support.

"I still can't believe how good you look." Clare sighed finally, once she had run out of small talk. "You look like you haven't aged at all."

Declan smiled politely, holding out the case folder. "It's been fun catching up with you, Clare, but we still have some serious business to discuss."

Clare nodded eyes downcast. "Have you had time to look through the folder?"

"I have." Declan said, frowning slightly. "It's a very messy case. Well known author caught with a married woman, Husband of said wife shot dead in the author's apartment." Declan shot Eli a glance. "I'm sure you've been getting all sorts of hell for this."

Eli nodded silently. He had been getting repeat calls from his publisher, his editor, public relations, and all of that. None of which was good. He nodded again, dismissing those stressful phone calls. He needed to be in decent spirits, for Clare's sake.

"Is there anything you can do?" Clare asked, looking up from her hands that were clasped loosely, and nervously Eli noted, in her lap. "Everyone else said there was nothing that they could do."

"It said in one of the reports that you had documentation and proof of Jake Martin's abusive nature. That would give what you say some serious credibility if you could provide that for me."

Eli had almost forgotten about this box of evidence that Clare claimed to have. If she did in fact have it, she could put the nails in the coffin of this case faster than she ever dreamed possible. He glanced over at her, unsure if she was just making this up or not. Her hands unclasped and she beamed happily.

"I can send it to you as soon as you'd like."

Eli could see out of the corner of his eye Declan's features darkening. He was probably angry that Clare hadn't brought them along with her to the consultation. In order to save face with Mr. Coyne, Eli said, "Oh, shoot. You forgot them in the living room, didn't you?"

A moment of uncertainty swept over her features which a quick glance at Declan managed to halt. She nodded, even managing a small blush. "I'm sorry, Declan. We were in such a hurry. We forgot them."

The anger melted away, and he nodded. "Just bring them with you to the next consultation." He looked down, writing something onto a note before handing it out to Clare. "I expect to see you this Friday. We're going to start preparing for the case."

Clare's eyes instantly exploded with tears of joy and she sprung from her chair, wrapping her arms around Declan's neck. "Oh, thank God! Thank you! Thank you!"

Eli stood up, gently prying the ecstatic Clare off of Declan after a good two minutes of thanking God and thanking Declan. Eli held out his hand and Declan shook it. "Thank you." Eli said simply, and guided Clare out of the office and down the hall. She continued murmuring to herself until her cell phone began to ring. She pulled it out, frowning.

It was her mother calling.

"Hey, mom. What's up?"

"Clare, honey, your house is on fire!"