Anything but Mine Read Online Free PDF

weight. He leaned closer, touched her hand, and she forced herself not to jerk away. Fear trickled through her. She straightened slowly, sliding her hand from beneath his. With her movement, his face relaxed and a slight smile touched his mouth. “You understand that, don’t you, Autry? It’s a matter of principle. You’re defending me on one, even with everyone turning against you. We’re in this together.”
    Together. The word shuddered through her. He was so smooth, so intense. Was this the Jeff Schaefer who’d smiled and charmed the girls, luring them to their deaths? In her diary, Amy had written of loving him. Had that smile and sincerity made her believe he loved her too?
    She stiffened her spine, straightening further. “All right. If you don’t want a plea, we won’t take the deal. I feel bound to tell you, though, that I’ve never defended a capital case.” Heck, she’d never defended a murder case. Lots of assaults, a couple of rapes and tons of petty crimes, but never a murderer. “Maybe you need a different attorney, someone with more experience. The Public Defenders Network has a capital specialist out of Atlanta. I could call him.”
    Schaefer shook his head again. “No, I don’t want anyone else.”
    “But—”
    “I want you.” His voice throbbed with energy again. “I know you.”
    A frisson of fear moved down her spine. She didn’t want the man before her knowing her in any way. If she were brutally honest, she wanted nothing at all to do with him, and maybe Stanton and the rest of the town were right—she should recuse herself from the case.
    Only that was the easy way out and it went against everything she believed. The system worked, but sometimes that meant taking the good with the bad.
    Sometimes it included walking hand-in-hand with evil, whether she wanted to or not.
    She swallowed. Letting him see the fear and doubt wasn’t an option. “Okay. We’ll do it your way. I’ll stay on the case and we’ll go to trial.”
    His slow, satisfied smile only increased the constant nausea brewing in her stomach. “Thank you, Autry. You won’t regret it.”
    “Well, I hope you don’t.” She dropped her pad in the briefcase. “I need to call Tom. I’ll also begin putting together a list of possible defense witnesses. We’ll have to turn that over to the DA’s office, but we’ll get theirs as well.”
    “I want you to let me know what you’re doing along the way,” Schaefer said, his voice sliding into smooth and polite again. A boyish grin, full of sheepishness, curved his mouth. If she’d been nineteen and mad about older guys as Amy had been, that expression might have blinded her too. “I want to be involved.”
    “Of course.” Lifting her case, she pushed to her feet. She wanted away from him, as much distance as possible between them. “I’ll be in touch.”
    She rapped at the door and the seconds crawled until two deputies appeared, one to unlock the door, the other to escort Schaefer to his cell. As they passed, Schaefer’s scent, a blend of harsh soap and the permeating disinfectant, washed over her. Bile flooded her throat. Lord, that smell would be all over her.
    She barely made it to the ladies room in the lobby, outside the lockdown doors. Retching, a hand pressed to her pounding heart, she emptied her stomach.

    “Mrs. Milson, you remember me. Sheriff Reed.” Stanton held his badge and ID aloft so the elderly woman could inspect them through the screen door. “You called the department to report someone missing.”
    Mrs. Milson peered at him, her thin brows drawn down, almost disappearing behind her huge, thick glasses. “I did no such thing.”
    Patience. Stanton smiled, hoping it looked like a smile and not like he was baring his teeth. “With all due respect, ma’am, you talked to Roger in dispatch not twenty minutes ago. Said you needed us to check out a missing person.”
    Still frowning, Mrs. Milson stared at him, tapping a finger against her