Accused: A Rosato & Associates Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

that need to be separated. One, did Lonnie Stall commit the murder? That’s hard enough to answer, but the second issue is even harder. Two, if Stall didn’t do it, who did? It’s completely possible that we could find exculpatory evidence on Stall, but still not figure out the answer to question two. In other words, who-dun-it.”
    Mary took an emergency sip of wine, which tasted dry and bitter. “Then Allegra and her family are left with no answer at all, like the rug was pulled out from under them. I don’t want to break that kid’s heart.”
    “Don’t worry, sweetie, it’ll be okay.” Anthony put an arm around Mary and kissed her on the cheek. “Let’s go home, okay? You’re tired, I can see it.”
    “He’s right, Mare.” Judy looked over at Mary, with a sympathetic smile. “You’re going into your pre-case funk. You think we’re going to screw this up. You think we’re not going to be able to figure it out. You can’t believe we got ourselves into this in the first place. Stop now.”
    “I can’t.”
    “You must. Go home, crazy. It’s Monday, we’ll deal tomorrow.”
    “Wait, let’s do one thing before we leave.” Mary jumped up, fetched her messenger bag from the floor, and slid out her laptop. “When you’re nervous about work, the best thing to do is work.”
    “Now, babe?” Anthony groaned. “Can’t we go home?”
    “Soon, I swear, it won’t take long. I want to Google Fiona’s murder and get all the facts I can.” Mary checked the oven clock as she put the laptop on the table and opened the lid. “It’s only nine o’clock.”
    Judy clucked. “Boyfriend’s right. Let’s call it a day.”
    “Jude, you’re going to do this when you go home and so am I, so why not do it together?” Mary woke up the computer and navigated to Google. “I just want to read a few articles about the case. This will take half an hour, tops, and I’ll feel better if I can scope it out, so we can hit the ground running in the morning.”
    Anthony rose with a good-natured sigh. “Okay, I’ll go watch the game with the boys.”
    “We’ll be an hour.” Mary started typing.
    “We’ll keep it short,” Judy said, pulling over a chair.
    And the two lawyers got busy.

 
    Chapter Four
    “Thanks for hanging in,” Mary told Anthony, as he steered the Prius onto Twentieth Street, looking for a parking space near the house.
    “No, I get it. I knew it would take longer than an hour.”
    “But not by much.”
    “Easy for you to say. You ever watch a game with Feet? He never shuts up. They should call him Mouth.”
    “Sorry.” Mary’s head was swimming with details of Fiona Gardner’s murder, though the media seemed more concerned with the wealth of the family than the details of the case. “I learned a lot from the articles, though.”
    “How so?”
    “The headline is that Lonnie Stall was a waiter hired by the catering company that the family used all the time for their parties.”
    “Okay.” Anthony steered smoothly around the corner. There was almost no traffic and nobody was out on the street.
    “They were going to make a presentation and somebody at the party realized Fiona was missing. They found her dead on the second floor, in the corporate library, which had been cordoned off, and Lonnie was fleeing the scene. She had been stabbed once, through the heart, but they caught him.”
    “Sounds like he did it.”
    “Also he’s black.”
    “Who represented him?”
    “A guy I never heard of. I can’t wait to see that file.” Mary bit her lip, looking out the window into the night. It was dark and muggy outside, and she felt encased in the air-conditioned car, insulated from the grit of the city. They turned onto Twentieth Street again, and she realized they were on their fifth drive around the block. They lived in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood, which meant that they circled for a parking space like a spaceship in orbit, praying for a docking station. “Babe, now that I’m