The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan

Author:Dervla McTiernan [McTiernan, Dervla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2022-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

Hannah

NINE

THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2019

They found a café that served an all-day breakfast. Sean ordered a breakfast burrito, Hannah a Cajun chicken sandwich, and then they waited, while Hannah thought about how hungry she was. She couldn’t remember if she’d eaten breakfast. The food came quickly, and it was really good.

“So let’s work it out,” Sean said. “What’s the time line here?”

Hannah had just taken a bite of her sandwich. She thought about it as she chewed and swallowed. “I think we don’t have a lot of facts to go on. We do know that Sophia lied. She said she wasn’t in touch with her brother, that she didn’t know where he was when clearly she did. Beth was able to give us his address. And Neil Prosper has that coffee chain. He’s obviously very wealthy. What are the chances he built that up without seed money from his parents? So I think she lied about Prosper being cut off by their parents too.”

“Okay, so we know that Prosper spent the evening of the murder with Dandridge. And that within a few days of Dandridge being arrested, Prosper had left town and essentially, as far as we know, never came back. And his family has very deliberately covered his tracks. Making him difficult to track down. So why would the Prosper family do that? Is it a reputation thing? They’re a wealthy old Virginia family. You think they didn’t want to be associated with a murder trial?”

This again. Hannah made a face. She couldn’t help it. She liked Sean, but this was just stupid.

“What?”

“I just don’t think we can jump to that conclusion.”

Sean looked interested. He sat back in his chair. “Tell me.”

“I just think there might be other reasons for him to run.”

“Like?”

“Well, I hate to say this, Sean, but I think Prosper running is a bad fact. Don’t you think Parekh looked worried when we told him about it? I mean, our client claims to have spent the night with this guy when the murder takes place, and then the guy runs. I don’t think that looks good at all. Innocent people don’t run. What if they did it together?”

“You think Dandridge and Prosper might have killed Sarah together?”

“I think, if I were the prosecution, it’s exactly what I would suggest the moment I see Prosper on the stand. He ran. If I’m the prosecutor, I’m going to want to tie Prosper and Dandridge closer together. It makes Dandridge look worse, that his alibi ran away, not better.”

Sean thought for a moment then shook his head. “Oof.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” He stood up, fishing in his pocket for money for a tip.

“Tell me,” Hannah said, her anxiety spiking. She should have kept her mouth shut.

“It’s just, I can absolutely see why Rob wanted you on the case. You have a different way of looking at things.”

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