With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill
Page 26
“I’m starting to like this less. Is there any chance your client didn’t do it?”
“Like I say, he’s not really my client.”
“Yeah, yeah, fine. Any chance the perp whose sister hired you to be his mouthpiece did the dirty deed?”
“Yeah. A big one.”
“Well, there’s a refreshing admission from an attorney. A nice change from the usual stonewall. What’s the matter, didn’t they pay you enough?”
Becky’s face hardened, belied her tender years. “Let’s get one thing straight: I won’t whitewash this guy if he did it. If he’s as bad as they say, I don’t want anything to do with it.”
“What happened to innocent until proven guilty?”
“That doesn’t apply in this case.”
“Whoa! Somebody pushed your buttons!” Cora slipped down off the sill, took one last greedy drag, and flicked her cigarette out the window. “Let me be sure I got this straight. You want me to investigate this guy so you can make a decision as to whether you want to represent him?”
“I suppose you could say that.”
Cora frowned. “I’m missing something here. Tell me, where did this murder take place?”
“Right here in town.”
“Oh, really? Well, that’s what’s bothering me. How come I never heard of it?”
“Well, you’re relatively new in town.”
Cora blinked. “I beg your pardon?”
“This happened before you came.”
“Is that right?” Cora cocked her head. “You mind telling me exactly when this rape and murder took place?”
“Twenty years ago.”
WITH THIS PUZZLE, I THEE KILL A Bantam Book
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Copyright © 2003 by Parnell Hall
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