First Degree Innocence Read Online Free PDF

more empathy, but it was her court experience all over again. Her jaw tightened.
Susanna held out her hand. “Hear her out, you guys.”
    Carrie bolted to her feet and planted her palms flat on the table. “Laugh if you want to, but I am innocent. I’ll swear it with my dying breath.” She tried to swallow her anger. “The police think I drove a get-away car in a bank holdup, but I was home, alone, with no one to vouch for my whereabouts. I’m here simply because I couldn’t prove the truth.”
    “Yet another person screwed by their attorney,” Di stated flatly. Her vibrant green eyes and red hair were a great combination. Despite Carrie’s anger, she couldn’t help wondering what Di would look like after a visit to a beauty parlor. Striking, no doubt.
    “All attorneys are crooks,” Ruthie spat, snaring Carrie’s attention away from her daydreams. “Mine talked me into a plea bargain that turned out worse than what I’d gotten without it.”
    “I know what you mean, Ruthie,” Celia piped up. “It’s like the joke says, ‘what do you call a thousand attorneys at the bottom of the sea? A good start’.”
    Everyone chuckled, especially Celia, laughing loudest at her own joke. Her large belly jiggled like gelatin. Carrie began to feel more relaxed. Maybe not everyone in the place was as bad as they seemed. Certainly no one had reason to be pretentious. Ruthie had a missing front tooth, Celia was overweight, and everyone dressed alike. There were no fashion statements made here. Carrie needed to shake the pre-conceived notions she got from watching too much TV. Old prison movies were her forte, but it was time to face it. Joan Crawford wasn’t the warden and none of these women looked like Bette Davis on her worst day.
    “Uh oh,” Di’s words snagged Carrie’s attention. “Here comes Jet.”
    The hair on the back of Carrie’s neck bristled. She pictured a sleek airplane and transformed it into a woman’s image—thin, racy, and decorated from countless battles. In her mind, the woman had dark hair and ebony eyes.
    “Well, well, well, it seems we have a newbie.” A taunting voice came from behind. “I thought I’d wander over and introduce myself.”
    Carrie wondered if she dare glance over her shoulder to see if her imagined person fit the description. That annoying little voice that borrowed her inner ear from time to time advised her to act normal. She tried, but it was difficult pretending nonchalance when her heart’s thundering sent adrenalin pumping through her veins. Trying to find a stance to belie her nervousness, she crossed then uncrossed her arms, feeling as though she had somehow developed an extra one. She tried the old “hand on the hip” position, but slid her arms to her sides, thinking perhaps it was too defiant for the moment. The release of her pent-up breath sounded abnormally loud in the immediate silence. What kind of woman intimidated everyone this much?
    Carrie turned. “Hel…hello.” Her voice faltered while she swallowed her surprise. The dark-haired woman could have stepped right out of Carrie’s mind. Eyes as black as a moonless night, slightly hidden by bangs overdue for a haircut, cast a penetrating stare at her. Jet’s tattooed arms drew Carrie’s gaze—battle decorations, just as she’d pictured. She glanced back to the flawless olive skin on Jet’s face, too awed to speak. The silence was deafening. Why didn’t someone say something?
    “This is my new cellie, Carrie Lang. Carrie meet Jet.” Susanna’s half grin revealed her edgy nerves.
    Carrie thrust out a shaking hand. “P-pleased to meet you. I’ve heard lots…” She wanted to bite off her own tongue. Surely Jet knew what type of things Carrie had heard. The last thing she wanted to do was set her roommate at odds with the notorious Jillian Duke…or put herself in jeopardy, for that matter.
    Jet laughed, softening her chiseled features. “I’m sure you’ve heard horrible things about