First Degree by Robin James

Author:Robin James [James, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Robin James Books
Published: 2020-11-25T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

Court ended just after five. We’d tied up the last of the evidentiary motions and would start bright and early at eight the next morning. When I pulled up my drive, my heart sank. Joe’s truck was parked beside the barn.

I didn’t want a fight. I didn’t want anything but a cold glass of wine. As my tires crunched through the snow and I pulled into my garage, Joe came out the side door holding the latter. I smiled.

“A peace offering?” I asked.

“I didn’t know we were at war? Are we? It’s so hard to keep track.”

This got a laugh out of me as I tossed my leather bag on the hall table and took the wineglass from him. Kicking off my boots, we made our way into the living room.

The lake wasn’t yet fully frozen. That didn’t stop a few idiots on the north end from trying to set up their ice fishing gear near the shore. We went through this every year. Joe and Matty would stand at the shoreline spouting off about natural selection.

“Don’t ask me how it went,” I said as I plopped onto my couch. Joe took one of the new recliners I bought. There were two. I hated the things, but promised my brothers they could each have one. They spent about as much time here as I did when I was in trial.

Marbury, one of my two mutts, jumped on the couch beside me and curled himself into a perfect ball. Within about thirty seconds, he’d worked up a doggie snore. His mother, Madison, took a spot on the floor at Joe’s feet.

“I let ’em out when I got here,” he said. “Marby took a big dump right outside the back door. Careful if you go out that way. I’ll shovel them a path later.”

“Thanks,” I said. For all his bluster, Joe was a big softie when it came to the animals. They knew it.

“How’s Emma holding up?” I asked.

Joe sipped a beer he had nestled in a Yeti cup. “She asked me the same thing about Cole.”

“About as well as he can,” I said. “We’ve got a rough couple of days ahead. And that’s really all I want to say about it.”

“I have to ask,” he said. “Are you going to call her as a witness?”

I drank my wine. “I don’t know yet,” I said. “She wasn’t with him the night Lauren went missing. She didn’t go to that party. Thank God.”

“Do you think Johnson will call her?” Joe asked.

“Not if he’s smart,” I said. “She’s been consistent in her defense of him. Rafe would have no reason to give her an opportunity to do that. For my part, she can’t offer admissible testimony as to Cole’s character. There really isn’t anything legally relevant she could say on that score.”

“Good,” Joe said. “I don’t want her to have to go through that.”

I let the silence settle between us. “Joe,” I said. “If I can find a way to get my theory about Rudy in …I may have no choice.

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