Proof of Innocence by Patricia McLinn

Author:Patricia McLinn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romantic, Suspence
ISBN: 9781944126308
Publisher: Craig Place Books
Published: 2018-05-23T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

“Well, well, well.” Dallas murmured. “We arrive at last.”

“Wade said he and Laurel were working on a charity event, and according to the sheriff’s report, Laurel confirmed it,” she said.

She hadn’t known then how unlikely it was that Laurel Blankenship bothered to work on a charity event, but she did now.

“You knew he was having an affair with Laurel,” she accused Carson.

His silence sat dense with unvoiced thoughts.

She faced Dallas. “Why the hell didn’t you use it at trial?”

From the back of Carson’s head, his gaze dropped to his hands, bringing his wrists together.

His hands had been tied.

Bull.

“You let your client dictate that you would not use that information? C’mon. Reasonable doubt for tossing some mud, and you wouldn’t use it?”

“Tossing mud?” Carson repeated, low and cool. “No. Smearing Pan.”

“But you’re willing to have it come out now? Why?”

“You think after that—” His head jerked back toward Shenny’s. “— it won’t come out? If Barry has been blackmailing Wade and his leverage is gone because the authorities know, that affair will be too juicy a piece of gossip to keep to himself.”

“In addition,” Dallas said, “if Charlotte did, in fact, know her sister’s amorous partners, that’s another means for the information to emerge.”

“If she knew and hasn’t said—”

A horn blared. Maggie jumped, looked over her shoulder at a rusted white pickup. She gave an apologetic wave for blocking the exit.

As she faced forward, Carson’s profile brought back a moment in the trial.

The one moment during her cross-examination he had not met her gaze fully.

The one moment when he had looked toward his attorney.

The moment when she had asked if he and Pan had talked about her marriage.

Q. Did you also talk about her marriage to Richard Wade at that time?

A. Pan did.

Q. Pan did? You were silent on the subject?

A. Yes.

A waitress from Shenny’s had already testified she’d observed Pan weeping and had heard her refer to my husband. Maggie had thought Carson was being cute, acknowledging the bare minimum of what was already in the record.

Had he, instead, been reminding his attorney of the limits of what he would testify to?

“There was one thing in the original file that was interesting. Pan went to Rambler Farm the week before she died and had a long conversation with Charlotte. Perhaps another try at Charlotte is in order.”

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