Just a Little Bit Guilty Read Online Free PDF Page A

observation. You'll get a couple of hot meals and a cozy bed for the night."
    He grinned. "Works every time."
    Vivian thumped her gavel.
    "I'll tell Nostradamus you said hello," he assured her as the police officer led him away.
    The defendant in the next case was late, so they shuffled papers for a minute. A pair of attorneys lounged by Vivian's huge desk on its carpeted dais. Detectives and police officers ambled in and out. A room full of more than twenty rough32
    Just a little Bit Guilty
    by Deborah Smith
    looking people waited to be arraigned over the course of the afternoon session. Tom Crawford, the court clerk, moved restlessly at the desk to her right. Angular, tall, sporting a short version of a Don King afro, Tom leaned toward her. He had a wicked sense of humor.
    "Did that good ol' boy who helped you out the other night chew tobacco and dip snuff?" he asked in a low voice, grinning.
    Shaking her head at the way the stores about Jake Coltrane were growing, Vivian sighed.
    "He was very nice and very polite. We could use more of that around here, you know."
    "I'd give twenty bucks to have seen his face when he unwrapped you. It's probably been years since he saw a woman wearing anything but overalls."
    "He didn't ogle me, if that's what you're hinting at. He was an old-fashioned gentleman," Vivian said firmly.
    "Heard he tried to hit on you. And you hit back." Vivian's stomach jumped. A detective who'd been listening plopped one arm on Tom's desk and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper.
    "I heard the guy's a cross between Larry the Cable Guy and Huck Finn." They shared low, masculine snickers. Vivian blanched.
    "That's enough," she ordered. "All right, where's my pimping case?"
    An undercover detective ambled through the double doors at the back of the small room, chewing gum. He wore army fatigues, a ski sweater, and sunglasses.
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    Just a little Bit Guilty
    by Deborah Smith
    "Your honor, are you waitin' on Schwartz, Malcom E.?" he asked.
    "Yeah."
    "Hospitalized." He put a finger to his chest and pulled an imaginary trigger. "Ka-boom. One of his ladies plugged him this morning."
    "One down," Vivian muttered under her breath. "Thank you, detective." Without missing a beat, she handed the Schwartz invoices to Cal. Shootings were so commonplace that Vivian didn't take time to register surprise or even curiosity.
    "My pleasure," the detective purred, looking at Cal. Vivian glanced up in time to see him leer at her. Men. Hormone- driven dogs .
    "Take your spastic eyebrows out of my court, Detective." He smiled. "Yes, Your Honor. Good work the other night, Your Honor. Heard you got your man."
    Before she could threaten to charge him with contempt, he disappeared into the dirty, concrete-walled corridor outside. Vivian turned over a cupful of pens with a disconcerted movement of her hand.
    Jake Coltrane might as well have branded her with a hot cattle iron. Everyone seemed to think she belonged to him.
    * * * *
    Jake stopped on the courthouse's stairs, keeping a tight grip on the big, muscle-bound young man who gasped beside him. An arrow on a red-lettered sign pointed to a scuffed, 34
    Just a little Bit Guilty
    by Deborah Smith
    steel door on the next landing. The sign cautioned: PUBLIC
    DEFENDER. NO WEAPONS.
    "Just leave me here and get somebody to carry me, man. I can't make it up any more steps," his captive whined. "We're never gonna find municipal court like this."
    "I'll turn you loose when chickens lay square eggs." Jake dragged the burly character back down the slick steps. The guy hobbled quickly, his hands and feet bound with rows of baling wire. Jake kept one rock-hard arm around his neck. They maneuvered up the last set of stairs, through the security door, then down a narrow, stained hallway into another part of the building, where Jake found a lobby. Jake was thankful no officers stopped him to ask questions. In the afternoon crowd wandering around this place we're about the most normal pair , he thought in