Dark and Deadly 00 - Secrets Exposed Read Online Free PDF Page A

hurried towards them. Her father got a glimpse of her movement and pointed at her. “No, I am fine.” He coughed again, and scowled at her. The nurse looked at him with a keen eye, and then stepped back to her original spot. Lindsey suspected she had backed off only because his coughing had subsided.
    He settled back in his chair. “How are things at the firm, Lindsey?”
    “Oh fine, I guess,” she said, not up to the conflict of saying otherwise. Not after his little attack. “Ms. Moore hasn’t changed a bit. I love her as much as ever.”
    He smiled softly at the mention of his long-term assistant, surprising Lindsey once again with the play of emotions in his usually cold eyes. “Yes, she loves you too. Change She’s always asking about you. How’s everyone else at the office?”
    Lindsey leaned her bottom against the tree trunk. “Fine,” she said with a shrug. “As far as I can tell. You know I really haven’t had time to figure out much of anything.”
    He nodded and coughed again. “Yes, I suppose that’s true.”
    She cleared her throat. “Daddy, I do have a few questions.”
    His eyes narrowed. “Ask away.” His tone was cautious, contradicting the lightness of his words.
    “Tell me why you think Williams is innocent.”
    He seemed to relax, his shoulders dropping a bit as if he had been holding himself stiff, waiting on her first question. “For one thing, the evidence is circumstantial. In my opinion, our wonderful police force had a lot of public pressure and needed someone to call guilty. He is as much a victim as the murdered girls.” He looked at Lindsey’s darkened expression and added, “Well, not as much of a victim, of course, considering he’s alive and they aren’t.”
    Lindsey nodded and pushed away from the tree, dropping to the grass Indian style, glad she had on slacks. Her expression was thoughtful as she pushed her fingers into the grass beneath her. “But there hasn’t been another victim since he was arrested, correct?”
    He grimaced. “Oh, come now, Lindsey, surely you don’t think that means anything? Any smart person would take the arrest as a sure-fire way to get the heat off. I suspect the real killer moved along to another state or is simply sitting back laughing.”
    “He? Are you sure it’s a he?”
    “The police profile says yes.” Ticking off items with his fingers, he went on, “White male, mid-twenties, likely to have a middle class background, white collar. Autopsy reports support the profile.”
    Lindsey took in the information, feeling an odd familiarity to the Hudson case. She sucked in a deep breath and then exhaled before continuing. If her father noticed, he didn’t show it. “That said, have you gotten any certain evidence of his innocence?”
    “Very little so far, I’m sorry to say. I fell ill just after taking the case.” He started to cough again.
    Lindsey hated the gruff-sounding cough. Leaning forward on her knees, she patted his back. “Daddy, are you okay?”
    “Yes, yes fine. Stop acting like a worrywart. Now, back to Williams. I wouldn’t have taken it if I didn’t feel he was innocent. Have you reviewed the file?”
    Lindsey moved to a squat position, feeling a nervous need to reposition herself, and then leaned back on the heels of her feet. “Not in detail,” she said, and quickly thought up an excuse so he wouldn’t guess she had been avoiding the case. “I haven’t had time. Just wondered what your thoughts were, is all.”
    He frowned and succinctly reprimanded her. “Don’t you think you need to get the man’s defense going?”
    Lindsey clamped her jaws together. He had a lot of nerve acting as if she was slouching on a job she didn’t even want. Irritated, she blurted out her next question. Speaking without thought wasn’t her style. But then she wasn’t quite herself, and she knew it. “Why did you part ways with Mark Reeves?”
    His eyes darkened. “I don’t want to talk about that man. Not now. Not