AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We don’t know that, Mrs. LaShaun.”Yeah, right.
“Bullshit!”
Katherine had never been one to mince words. One of the things he liked about the woman. “I’m sorry about your daughter, Katherine. Ididtry to help her. Erin—”Don’t think about her now.“Erin and I did everything we could.” It just hadn’t been enough.
Her gaze fell. “Erin Jerome fought for my daughter even when Sylvia wouldn’t fight for herself.” Soft. Sadness passed over her face. She sucked in a sharp breath, and her shoulders shoved back even as her chin came up with new determination. “Get your subpoena if you have to! Do it! But I’m not tellin’ you another thing!” Then she turned and stormed into the house, slamming the back door behind her.
Well, well. Katherine was hell-bent on protecting someone. From the look on her face, she thought thatsomeonemight have been involved in the killing.
Who? Who would Katherine protect? Only her boys. Just the boys.
His eyes narrowed as he stared at the back door. “Kristen, get the DA. Let him know we need that subpoena yesterday.” Ben kissed the rest of his vacation goodbye and got ready for his business of murder. Murder—just what he did best and?—
Voices. Shouting, the snarls of fury drifting on the wind.
His stare snapped to Kristen’s.What the fuck?
He vaulted off the back porch. She was with him, her smaller body hurtling behind his. They rounded the house. Good, more police tape was up. That should keep the gawkers back, for a while anyway.
“Get out of my way! Don’t you know who I am?”An asshole was all but screaming at one of the uniforms, shoving a long, thick finger at the young guy’s chest. “I’m?—”
“Judge Lance Harper.” Bastard extraordinaire. Ben braked to a halt and glared at the idiot who would no doubt be headlining the local news for the next three days.
The judge’s head jerked toward him and his muddy brown eyes glared. “Greer.”Sounded more like a curse than a name because, yeah, there wasn’t exactly a whole lot of love lost between him and the judge, arrogant SOB that the man was.
Ben braced his hands on his waist, knowing the move would show his holster. Shooting the judge probably wasn’t an option, but a man could dream.
Oh, yes, he could dream.
“I’ve got this one,” Ben said to the uniform. “Langley…” Kristen’s gaze was on the judge. “Go make that phone call,” he directed.
From the corner of his eye, he saw her head bob and then she backed away.
The judge’s hands fisted. “I demand that you tell me what is going on here.”
“Ah, you demand, huh? Since when do you have the right to demandanythingat my crime scene?” What was the judge even doing there? No way was this the man’s business anymore.
A muscle flexed along Harper’s jaw. “Cartwright told me about the body on the property.”
Did no one in this city believe in keeping things under wraps? This was a murder for shit’s sake! “His mistake,” Ben managed, the words grating in his throat.
“It wasmycase, detective. The man was in my courtroom, he was?—”
“You let him walk.” A mistake. Not Harper’s first, not his last, and the judge’s insanity on the bench was only part of the reason why Ben couldn’t stand the guy.
The other reason? Ben had once had a lover leave him...for the judge. The guy might be old, but the bastard was hell with the ladies.
Very slowly, Harper’s fists unknotted. “You think you know me, don’t you, detective?”
No, he didn’t know him particularly well. Didn’t want to, either. “I’m working a murder, Harper. I don’t have time for your BS.”
Harper’s chin rose. “I didn’t want to let that bastard walk, but I had no choice.” He shook his head. “When the wife changed her story, what was I supposed to do? There wasn’t enough evidence to hold him.”
“You know he probably killed Sylvia, don’t you?” Ben fired right across his words. “He walked, and he killed her.” That knowledge had burned in Ben’s gut more nights than he could count.
Harper’s Adam’s Apple bobbed. “I-I know.” A rasp. Remorse?What?From Harper? Their eyes locked. “What I do in this world isn’t easy,” Harper said. “Justice never is.”
Ben thought of those dirty bones. Of the boys who’d grow up without their mother or their worthless excuse for a father. “Go home. There’s nothing left for you here. This isn’t your case anymore.”
