Tourist Trap (The Rebecca Schwartz Series, Book 3) by Julie Smith

Author:Julie Smith [Smith, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: mystery, Rebecca Schwartz series, amateur detective, female sleuth, women sleuths, Edgar winner, cozy, romantic suspense, serial killer, San Francisco, lawyer sleuth, legal thriller, courtroom thriller, comic thriller, comic mystery, funny
ISBN: 9781617507939
Published: 2012-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

13

And that wasn’t the fun part of the evening; it was just one laugh after another when I tried to do my duty as a citizen and tell the cops what I knew about their case. “Miss Schwartz,” fumed Martinez, “you gotta be nuts, coming to me with a thing like this.”

“A thing like what?”

“You’re the defense lawyer in the Trapper case, right? Well, naturally you’re gonna do anything you can to get your client off.”

“What!” I was on my feet, no longer wishing for Nikes, grateful instead for any height I could muster.

“Look. So you trumped up the call. I’m not gonna arrest you for giving false evidence— I’m gonna forget the whole thing, okay? Maybe you’re not nuts. Maybe you’re still a little inexperienced; maybe you didn’t know any better. But you gotta be nuts if you ever try anything like this again.”

I deliberately put my purse and briefcase on the floor; if I continued to be tempted with a ready weapon I was most certainly going to commit assault on a police officer. I had once been to jail and I wasn’t going back even if I had to deprive myself of the supreme pleasure of belting this android. I cleared my throat, but still my voice sounded husky. “Inspector Martinez, I came to you out of courtesy— because the Trapper case is your case. I answered a call for Rob Burns tonight—”

“Very convenient.”

“— that I thought might have some bearing on this case. I could have gone to someone else in the department, and I will if you decline to take my information. Meanwhile, I’ll ask you to apologize for your insulting implications.”

“Apologize!” I believe the sound he made next could be accurately called a hoot. Even the colorless Curry seemed amused, though there wasn’t a peep out of him; just a malicious set to his mouth.

“I believe,” I said, not quite calmly, but not yet losing it, “I believe you accused me of giving false evidence.”

“False evidence!” Martinez was beginning to guffaw; Curry joined in, but they still weren’t satisfied. “Hey, Franklin! Hunt! Listen to this.” A couple of bored-looking cops turned his way. “Schwartzy here’s the lawyer for the Trapper so guess what she tries to pull?” Tears were starting to run down his cheeks. Apparently, he was just realizing he could dine out on my story for weeks. “She says the Trapper called her constant companion, Rob Burns—”

“Rob and I haven’t even spoken—”

“And she just happened to intercept the call.”

Franklin: “You gotta be kiddin’.”

Hunt: “Some people’ll do anything.”

Curry: “I never yet met a lawyer told the truth twice in the same day.”

There had to be ways around this. I could call Martinez’s superior. I could repeat the whole preposterous conversation to Rob and let him write a story about it that would make Martinez sorry he ever tangled with the likes of Rebecca Schwartz. I could get my dad to— I stopped in mid-thought.

None of the above. I couldn’t turn to Rob or Dad.

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