Love at First Flight Read Online Free PDF

that had been running around in his mind
during the endless morning.
    Ladies
and gentlemen of the jury, we have before us what's commonly known as an open
and shut case. An eyewitness will testify that she saw the defendants shoot the
three victims. We'll introduce ballistics evidence that ties the gun registered
to Marco Benedetti to slugs recovered from the victims. We can prove that both
defendants fired a gun that fateful evening. You'll hear testimony from friends
of the victims who heard them arguing with the defendants earlier in the day.
So you 're probably asking yourselves: if this case is such a slam-dunk,
what're we doing here? (Insert dramatic pause.) We're here because the
Constitution of the United States gives everyone—even two cold-blooded
killers—a day in court. Your job is to make sure they spend the rest of their
days in prison.
    I've
got to write that down! Spotting a pharmacy across the mall's main
thoroughfare, he walked over to buy a notebook and pen. He had almost managed
to get the whole thing on paper when Paige stormed up to where he sat on a
bench next to a fountain.
    “Michael! What are you doing?”
    “Hang on a second.”
    “I will not hang on a second! Why did you leave like that? What's wrong
with you? Don't you care about the things we'll have in our home?”
    “Um, no, not really,” he said without
looking up.
    With a furious sweep of her hand she
knocked the pad off his lap.
    Leaning over to retrieve it from the
floor, Michael wanted to reach up and throttle her. God, she could be such a bitch sometimes! “Cut it out, Paige.”
    “You cut it out!” Her raised voice
attracted curious stares. “What the hell is with you this weekend?”
    “I'll tell you what's with me. I have a huge trial starting
next week. I told you this wasn't a good weekend for me to be here, but you and
your parents planned this party without even asking me.”
    “You know it was the only weekend we
could get the club.”
    “Oh, well, if that's the case, who cares
if it's a bad weekend for the groom?”
    “I don't know why you're being so
unreasonable. It's like you don't even care about our wedding.”
    “I don't. I tried to tell you that last
night, but you didn't want to hear it. What I care about is the marriage, but I'm starting to seriously wonder if
I even want that.”
      She recoiled as if he had hit her. “Michael.”
    Her mother joined them. “Everything all
right?”
    With her hand resting over her heart,
Paige stared at her fiance in stunned silence.
    “Everything's fine,” Michael said. “Are
we done here?”
    “Yes,” Paige said softly. “We're done.”
    “Okay, then,” Eleanor said. “Let's go
home for lunch. I have the books from the stationery store at the house, so you
can pick the invitations this afternoon.” She rattled on without realizing the
happy couple wasn't listening.

    ***

    Michael struggled with his bow tie in
front of the mirror in the guest bathroom. He never had figured out how to tie
a bow tie properly, which was something every other man in Paige's life was
probably born knowing how to do. He hadn't had much need for that skill before
he met her.
    Taking another stab at the tie, he
thought back to the first time he ever saw her, across the room at a gathering
of third-year law students at the dean's house. She had come with her father,
the dean's friend, and Michael could still remember the lavender cashmere
sweater and matching wool skirt she wore to the late-afternoon cocktail party.
    The Admiral had been in full dress
uniform, and he somehow managed to command a room full of digni-taries. When
Michael's gaze connected with Paige, she smiled and rolled her eyes behind the
back of her father who gestured as he made an emphatic point in the
conversation he was having with the dean, the District of Columbia police
chief, the junior senator from Maryland, and the state's attorney from
Baltimore City.
    Michael tipped his head toward the bar,
inviting her