The Hidden Girl: An absolutely gripping mystery thriller (Agent Tori Hunter Book 3) by Roger Stelljes

Author:Roger Stelljes [Stelljes, Roger]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781800199552
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2021-10-06T23:00:00+00:00

“Oh my God,” Tori murmured in shock. “You withheld evidence.”

“And let me guess, Pen. The assistant county attorney was Todd Strom,” Braddock added.

“Yes,” Murphy replied. “And I didn’t know it then, but I suspect that the IT employee who removed system evidence of the calls and email from Portage County was Dan Newman. Jim Hunter arranged that, and I never asked him who did it.”

“Nor did I,” Cal said.

“But look, at the time, I thought there were valid reasons not to disclose this,” Pen argued. “I’ll defend that decision to this day. There were enough differences in the murders for me to credibly argue that we fully disclosed what we investigated. We didn’t investigate the Portage case. We took a few phone calls is all.”

“You know where you make that argument, Pen? In court,” Braddock asserted. “You disclose it and then you take all the persuasive ability you clearly possess and argue it’s irrelevant and get the judge to rule it inadmissible at trial. You don’t get to pick and choose which laws and rules you comply with and which ones you don’t. You don’t withhold evidence. You know why? Because eventually it gets out. And if this gets out, then every case Cal or Sheriff Hunter ever investigated, and every case, Pen, every single one you prosecuted or presided over as a judge, is open to scrutiny. Every case!”

“I think you’re overreacting…”

“I’m overreacting? Are you kidding me, Pen! Five people are dead because of what you pulled twenty-four years ago. I’m not going to sit here and say you and Jim Hunter should have seen this coming all these years later, but you’re both sure as hell responsible for it.”

“Now hold on a minute,” Tori said. “My father was a good man.”

“I’m sure he was,” Braddock said, then looked to Cal. “You knew about this?”

Cal nodded slowly.

“Cal wasn’t part of the decision twenty-four years ago. That was Jim and me,” Murphy said.

“But I knew. And I knew how risky it was,” Cal said. “I could have done something, I could have challenged Jim, or gone around him, but I didn’t.”

“Fine, Cal, you knew. But it wasn’t your call. It was ultimately my call. My call,” Pen insisted. “I decided, but we had to tell you because you knew all about the case in Wisconsin.”

“And Sheriff Hunter?” Braddock asked.

“Jim went along. He agreed.”

“Could you have done it if he hadn’t?”

“No. But he and I were not going to let Barr walk. The man was guilty. He was a killer. He killed Julie and Jerry Bauman. Besides, there were notable differences between the crime scenes. I legitimately viewed the Plover case as unrelated and prejudicial to our case if it were disclosed.”

“Well, if that isn’t just a bunch of lawyerly bullshit,” Braddock snorted.

“You weren’t there. And you aren’t a prosecutor.”

“You’re right, but now I’m dealing with the ramifications of what you decided to do. I’m stuck with the mess you and Sheriff Hunter created.”

“Obviously, in retrospect, maybe they were wrong,” Cal said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.