Always Have Hope (Emerson Book 3) Read Online Free PDF

bad for chambers to file such shoddy work, so Alex
had been asked to bring it up to snuff.
    It was tedious work, but it wasn’t like he had much
else to occupy his time. He had few friends and little chance of finding a
wife, since he was a man caught between classes.
    There was a knock on the door of his small office.
    “Do you have a moment, old boy?” Sir Wilfred
Hollingsworth, senior barrister in chambers, entered. He was the son of a
minor landowner in Derbyshire, but since receiving his knighthood had taken to
emulating the peers he so ardently admired. Alex didn’t have the heart to tell
him those same peers ridiculed him at every opportunity, though never within
hearing distance. That was because Sir Wilfred assigned cases and barristers
were not allowed to turn down assignments. If you got on Sir Wilfred’s bad
side, it could haunt you for years.
    It could even end your career.
    The fact that Sir Wilfred was seeking him out was
worrisome. When Alex was given a good case, he was summoned to learn about it.
But when Sir Wilfred came calling, it meant the case was virtually unwinnable.
It’s not that Alex didn’t appreciate a challenge, but given his unpopularity,
if his record of wins changed he could very well lose his position.
    And he couldn’t afford to do that.
    “Good afternoon, Sir Wilfred,” said Alex, rising.
“Please have a seat.”
    “It seems you’re rather busy,” said Sir Wilfred. “Are
you rewriting another one of Darlington’s briefs?”
    Alex shrugged. “It is in the best interest of the
Crown.”
    “Good of you to pitch in, but I’m afraid you’ll have
to put it aside. We have a case for you that’s frightfully important.”
    Alex could only wonder what was wrong with it.
    Sir Wilfred continued. “Seems there’s a Mrs. Pierce
who’s offed her husband. A fairly open and shut case. It shouldn’t be too
difficult for you.”
    Now Alex was very suspicious. “Why did she kill him?”
    “Haven’t the faintest idea. Word is he used to slap
her around here and there, though he was completely within his rights to do
so. She was his wife, after all.”
    Alex stiffened. He abhorred violence against women.
And though the law did give a husband the right to physically discipline his
wife, he thought any man who would do so was hardly a man. And if this Mrs.
Pierce had killed him to stop it, then he didn’t believe she’d committed a
crime.
    Unfortunately, the law disagreed with him. And it was
his job to prosecute transgressions.
    Sir Wilfred helped himself to some brandy. “Why so
glum, Lewis? I would think you’d jump at something like this. It’ll give you
another win. You need that after the Kasey debacle.”
    Alex’s last case had involved the son of a viscount
who’d been charged with raping a housemaid. But halfway through the trial the
poor girl recanted and, though Alex had fought to prove witness tampering, the
bastard had been found not guilty.
    “What’s this Mrs. Pierce’s story?” Alex asked.
    “She’s the sister to the Earl of Ridgeway and the
unacknowledged half-sister to the Earl of Layton. And both earls will be very upset
that we’re going after her.”
    Alex couldn’t blame them. If he had a sister, he’d do
anything to protect her. Though it was too bad they couldn’t have done
something when her husband was beating her. He didn’t know either of the
earls. No doubt they’d gone to Oxford. And he didn’t care if he made enemies
of them. But he did worry about a woman who’d had to kill her attacker.
    “Tell me why she’s a suspect.”
    “Not a ‘suspect,’ Lewis. She did it, mark my word. They
found her covered in blood, kneeling over the deceased. If that’s not enough
to convince you, the man didn’t have an enemy in the world.”
    “It sounds like he had at least one.”
    “Yes, the wife. You’ll like this part, given your
love for the common man…her husband was the son of a merchant and she, of course,
is the daughter of an