Reasonable Doubt. Tracey V. Bateman

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СКАЧАТЬ balled his fists to keep his hands from trembling. “I’m free to go?”

      “For now.”

      Feeling his bravado crumbling, Justin rose on shaky legs and followed Bob, praying to God he wouldn’t pass out before he made it through the door.

      They walked shoulder to shoulder down the long hallway. A blast of cold air shot into the building as Bob opened the heavy glass doors. In the parking lot, Justin expelled a pent-up breath. He shook his head. “I don’t get why anyone would say I left the center that night, when I didn’t. Do you think it’s a case of mistaken identity?”

      “No,” Bob replied in a flat, hard tone. “I think someone is setting you up. There’s no telling what evidence has been planted the police haven’t run across yet. But eventually, they’re going to find a convenient piece of proof that you killed Amelia.”

      “But I didn’t.”

      “You and I know that. And whoever killed her knows it, but that won’t convince a jury. Eyewitnesses and circumstantial evidence convince juries. The cops have those things. We have nothing.”

      Deputy Keri Mahoney opened her mouth wide to take a bite of her on-the-go burger when her cell phone rang to the tune of “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” She jumped, and ketchup escaped the bun, globbing onto her uniform before she could stop it. “Great.” Why had she ever allowed Dad’s southern-belle fiancée to program that stupid song into the phone? It nearly sent her through the roof every time it rang.

      Negotiating the hamburger to prevent another glob of ketchup from plopping onto her clothes, she tried to snatch her cell at the same time. Impossible. With a growl, she pulled into the nearest parking lot and located the phone.

      “Yes?”

      “Kere?”

      Swiping at the ketchup stain on her tan slacks, Keri scowled.

      “Who else?” she barked.

      “Sheesh. Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed or what?” Her sister Raven’s voice only irritated her more, but she fought to keep her temper in check.

      “What’s up, Rave?”

      “Are you sitting down?”

      “Yeah, I’m in the Jeep.”

      “It’s about Justin Kramer.”

      She stopped swiping and gave Raven her full attention. “What about him?”

      “I think the KC police are getting close to an arrest.”

      Swallowing past the sudden thickness in her throat, Keri managed to croak, “How do you know?”

      “Eugene. Who else?” Raven’s contact at the Kansas City PD. A dispatcher with a crush on the annoyingly gorgeous TV reporter.

      “Is it still off the record?”

      “Yeah, for now. But he said Justin and his lawyer spent the better part of the afternoon in an interrogation room with the detectives working his wife’s homicide.”

      “I just can’t believe it,” she breathed, almost to herself.

      No longer in the mood for lunch, Keri wrapped her barely eaten sandwich and stuffed it back in the bag.

      “I absolutely don’t believe it,” Raven said emphatically. “Justin Kramer is no killer.”

      “Not when he was fourteen, you mean.” But considering he’d never bothered to come back as he’d said he would, how could she really know if he was capable of murder at the ripe old age of twenty-nine?

      “She can’t make you go. It’s not fair.”

      Fourteen-year-old Keri Mahoney sat on the bank overlooking Bennett Lake and swiped at the tears on her freckled cheeks. She stared glumly at the shallow, gray water gurgling over opaque brown stones in the summer breeze. The brilliant sun reflected off the creek—a mocking contrast to the dismal reality stretching before her.

      Justin Kramer sat beside her, equally sullen, snapping twigs and tossing them into the water. One by one the pieces disappeared, carried away by the current. Keri knew exactly how they felt. Helpless, hopeless…drowning.

      Justin sighed. “Aunt Toni says we might come back for a visit sometime.” But his voice didn’t offer much hope, as if he couldn’t quite convince himself they’d ever see each other again.

      “Who am I going to talk to when you’re gone?” She hugged her knees to her chest and buried her face in the rough denim of her jeans. “You’re the only friend I have.”

      “You still have Jesus.” The statement might have sounded stupid coming from anyone else, but Justin’s words rang with sincerity. Keri had the familiar, unsettling sense that Justin knew God as no one else did—better than she did, anyway.

      Feeling the warmth of his palm on her back, she looked up, drinking in his tender expression, memorizing the smooth contours of his handsome face. Black hair, freshly cut, swept across his forehead and around his ears. His nose was just wide enough to even out his face, and his square jaw made him the most handsome boy in class. Not one eighth-grade girl could dispute that fact.

      Keri couldn’t help the pride that accompanied her relationship with Justin. She barely gave a thought to her own looks when Justin looked at her. He never mentioned her freckles, skinny legs or coarse, orange hair. Every girl wanted to be pretty, but Justin didn’t care if she wasn’t, so Keri didn’t, either. Not much.

      Beautiful blue eyes pierced her very soul. Words had never been necessary between them. Even now, though he didn’t speak, Keri knew he was thinking about his parents. How could he not, when the only life he’d ever known had been snuffed out along with their lives only a week ago?

      Why did God have to take both of his parents away? Why couldn’t at least one of them have survived the car accident?

      “Justin!” Hidden by the trees surrounding the creek, they heard Justin’s aunt calling from the cabin. “Where are you? It’s time to go.”

      Justin’s hand tightened around hers, and Keri rested her head on his shoulder. He slipped his arm around her, drawing her close. It was the first time he’d done that, and Keri felt her heart pound at the grown-up gesture.

      Rather than feeling awkward, it felt right, as though she belonged in his embrace. She’d always thought they’d marry some day. Only now…now he was going away.

      “Promise you won’t forget Jesus,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper.

      Keri’s heart sank. For once, why couldn’t he talk about something personal? Confess undying love. Kiss her. She loved Jesus, too, but there was a time and a place.

      “Justin Michael Kramer, get up here this instant or you’re going to be in big trouble, young man!”

      Reluctance clouded his eyes and he pulled away. “I guess I better go before she explodes a vein.”

      A sense of panic СКАЧАТЬ