Taken to the Edge. Kara Lennox

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СКАЧАТЬ here I chewed the polish off my nails.”

      Rather than berate him, Robyn just looked relieved. “Tell us what our next step is.”

      Raleigh was prepared for that question. She pulled her briefcase onto the table and extracted a thick sheaf of papers Robyn and Trina would have to sign, basically naming Raleigh as the attorney of record for Eldon and holding Project Justice and its agents harmless, whatever the outcome of their effort to free Eldon Jasperson.

      Trina peered suspiciously at her stack of papers. “This isn’t gonna cost me anything, is it? I mean, like, y’all do this for free, don’t you? Like a public service?”

      Robyn visibly tensed while Raleigh, used to such questions, quietly explained to Trina the foundation would handle all reasonable expenses.

      She worried at her lower lip. “My lawyer has told me not to sign anything without his okay.”

      “Jeez Louise, Trina, just sign the damn things,” Robyn said. “We don’t have time for more lawyers.”

      Trina looked chagrined. “You’re right, of course. Do you have a pen?”

      Ford fought the urge to reach over and touch Robyn’s arm, to soothe her jangled nerves. They were all going to be pulling their hair out by the end of this thing. No use going into it frazzled. But he didn’t dare touch her, not when he was so blatantly aware of her sexuality. He recalled her cold rebuff from high school and decided she might not welcome any friendly overtures from him, no matter how well-meant. She’d hired him to perform a service, nothing more, and he would do well to remember that.

      With the legalities out of the way, Raleigh took off. She had a court appearance the following day, and her role on this case was strictly advisory. He would bother her only when he had legal questions or requirements—or enough evidence to move forward.

      “She scares me.” Trina took a long draw from her beer, which the waitress had just delivered. “I’m glad she’s on our side. She should do something with her hair.”

      Robyn again tensed, her hands gripping her glass until her knuckles turned white.

      “Raleigh is what I call coldly efficient,” Ford said, attempting to ease the tension. “We’re lucky she agreed to squeeze us into her schedule today. Are you ladies hungry? I can order up some food.”

      “I don’t eat fish,” Trina said. “They got something else here? Hamburger steak, maybe?”

      “They have all kinds of things. I’ll get you a menu. Robyn?”

      “I’m not hungry.”

      “We’ll be working a lot of long, stressful hours,” Ford said. “I want you both to eat well and stay hydrated.”

      “You make it sound like we’re running a marathon,” Robyn said.

      “We are, in a way. Given the deadline.”

      At this grim reminder, Robyn sobered and Trina’s eyes filled with tears. “Try not to remind me, okay? I just get so upset every time I think about it.” The waitress brought menus, but Trina waved hers away. “I can’t eat, either.”

      With a sigh, Ford ordered himself an overpriced, rare tuna steak and a side of pasta. He tended to eat a lot when he was in the thick of a case.

      Once the waitress left, Ford cleared his throat. “All right then, let’s start at the beginning.”

      “What do you mean?” Trina asked.

      “We can start with the weekend of the murder.”

      “Kidnapping,” Robyn said in a firm voice. “Although realistically I know my son must be…gone, we shouldn’t assume anything. All we know for sure is that he disappeared.”

      “Point taken. Eldon had visitation with your son that weekend?” Ford asked. He knew the answers to most of the questions he would ask, but he wanted to hear them from the source.

      “Yes. He kept Justin every other weekend, and sometimes during the week, too. He seemed to enjoy the time he spent with Justin, never complained or tried to weasel out of it.”

      “He really did,” Trina agreed. “That kid was everything to him.”

      “And was there anything unusual about this weekend? Any confusion or resentment, any arguments?”

      “If you’ve read the trial transcript, you know that Eldon and I had an argument. But it wasn’t a big deal like the prosecutors made it. His mother was trying to tell me how to raise my child, and Eldon thought his mother could do no wrong.”

      “You can say that again,” Trina put in. “She’s a control freak.”

      “It was just the usual stuff all divorced couples argue about. Not a big deal.”

      “So Eldon picked up Justin after work, took him to his house, and…where were you, Trina?”

      “At a professional development conference. I was working to get my massage therapy license at the time.”

      “And this conference was…where?”

      “Corpus Christi, at the Sheraton Hotel. I tried not to hang around too much when Eldon had Justin, so they could do their father-son thing without the evil stepmother getting in the way.”

      “The police verified your alibi?”

      Trina nodded. “Oh, yes. A bunch of us from the salon where I used to work went to the conference together.”

      “Okay. So Eldon maintains that he was home, alone, with Justin on that Friday night. But for some reason he went out for pizza at midnight.” Ford consulted his notes. “A large half pepperoni, half black olive pizza.”

      “Black olive?” Trina snorted. “Who told you that? Eldon hates black olives. I’m the one who likes olives.”

      “I got it straight from the police report,” Ford said. That was when he realized Robyn was giving him urgent, covert hand signals to shut up—and he recalled that Trina knew nothing of the mystery woman Eldon had supposedly entertained that night.

      Well, here was the evidence, pretty obvious even to someone who didn’t know Eldon hated black olives. Most people don’t order a half-and-half pizza for one person.

      “That just goes to show you how incompetent the Green Prairie Police are,” Trina said, all but spitting. “I mean, if they can’t get a little thing like that right—” She stopped, thinking it through. Her eyes widened, and she set her beer bottle down with a clunk.

      Ford looked at Robyn, not quite sure what she wanted him to say. Personally, he thought they should put all their cards on the table and work as a team. But he didn’t want to be the one to spill it to Trina that her husband had cheated on her.

      “He…might not have been alone,” Robyn said gently.

      “That’s ridiculous!” Trina had turned pale under her tan. She scraped her chair back and stood abruptly, bumping the table and nearly upsetting their drinks. Several СКАЧАТЬ