1 Death on Eat Street Read Online Free PDF

poured coffee into their cups.
    Ollie laughed. “You were gonna be the next DA. Someone set you up to take the fall for ‘irregularities.’”
    “What irregularities?” I asked.
    “Miguel was accused of falsifying evidence in a big murder trial. Remember the one about the girl getting killed on the tourist ferry? That’s the one.”
    “Thanks for reminding me,” Miguel added.
    “What? They dropped the whole thing—
after
the election. It was all a ruse to keep you from beating the old DA.” Ollie slurped his coffee.
    “Is that really what happened?” I asked Miguel.
    “I’m afraid so. Maybe not as dramatic as Ollie tells it. I left the DA’s office after that. I’m happy working for myself now.”
    “Sure you are. Like a shark is happy in a big tank at SeaWorld.” Ollie slapped Miguel on the back, knocking him forward.
    Lucky he wasn’t drinking his coffee
, I thought. “At least you were innocent.”
    “It didn’t
feel
like it at the time.” Miguel held his cup while I poured more coffee into it. “I’m warning you that there could be some tough days ahead when you might question if you really are innocent.”
    “Thanks. I’m glad you can represent me.”
    He raised his dark brows. “That means the interview is over?”
    “It was just a
ruse
to find out all that stuff.” I borrowed the line from Ollie.
    “You know, it’s not too late to change your mind,” he said. “I have plenty of work to keep me busy. You might be better off with Dirk Gordon.”
    “Hell, no!” Ollie declared. “She’s not better off without you. You got me out of a dozen scrapes I probably didn’t deserve to get out of. You can get her out of this one, Miguel. She’s a good girl who works hard.”
    Looking past them through the windows, I saw a woman in a suit approaching the front door to the diner. She was accompanied by a uniformed officer. All the good energy that had welled up in me after sharing jokes and stories with Miguel and Ollie fled like the darkness before sunrise.
    I remembered how tired I was and how overwhelmingly unfair all of this was. The weight of it crashed down on me.
    “What’s wrong?” Miguel asked.
    “I think the police might be coming to arrest me.” I nodded at the windows behind them.
    “Don’t worry,” he said. “Be calm. You didn’t kill anyone.”
    I heard him, but my heart still beat a terrified tattoo in my chest.
    “Zoe Chase?” the woman in the pretty brown suit asked as soon as she opened the front door.
    “That’s me.” I waved at her.
    “What did I tell you about saying anything without my permission?” Miguel got to his feet and approached them. “Detective Latoure. I assume you have news for my client.”
    Detective Patti Latoure nodded, shaking his hand. “Miguel Alexander! I haven’t seen you in a while. You’re representing this woman?”
    “It’s been a few months. Your news?”
    “It looks like Terry Bannister was shot with a .22-caliber pistol close up. The medical examiner is working on time of death and whatnot. Does your client want to make a statement tonight?”
    “My client and I are conferring at the moment. We’ll be glad to come down to police headquarters first thing in the morning. This has been a traumatic event for my client. I assume you know that she’s Anabelle Chase’s daughter. She’s not a flight risk.”
    The detective studied Miguel with sharp blue eyes that seemed to see everything. Her hair was pale blond, scraped back from her tired face. “Her mother told me the same thing. Let me assure you, Miguel, as I did Mrs. Chase—Zoe isn’t a suspect. We’ll be expecting the two of you in the morning. I want to hear all the details then, all right?”
    “Absolutely,” Miguel promised. “Everything that’s fit to tell.”
    Detective Latoure agreed in a voice dulled by too many rules and not enough patience. She and the officer went back out to the crime scene, which was finally beginning to clear.
    I collapsed on