Notorious Read Online Free PDF Page A

to rule in our favor. All you did was piss her off and make us look bad.”
    â€œAt least I tried. You rolled over, and now our witnesses could be in jeopardy.”
    â€œOh, right, because Evan Diamond is planning to whack them? Please! Where do you come up with this stuff?”
    They’d reached the elevator to their building and Susan pounded the call button.
    â€œWhy else would he ask for the list early?” Melanie demanded.
    â€œMaybe he’s yanking our chains. That’s a specialty of his. Or maybe he actually wants to prepare. Did you consider that? I’d be more worried about that than about witness killings if I were you. The judge hates us. The public hates us. We’re gonna lose if we don’t get our act together and stop worrying about far-fetched—”
    â€œHow far-fetched can it be when Lester Poe was murdered thisafternoon, Susan? Maybe you’ve forgotten. I have his blood on my suit back at the office if you need a reminder.”
    â€œGirls, don’t fight,” Papo said, looking alarmed beneath a nervous smile. “We’re a team, remember?”
    Melanie was on the verge of tears, the sound of the bomb still ringing in her ears. Susan scrutinized her with narrowed eyes.
    â€œWas there something going on between you and Lester?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œEvan said Lester always talked about you. You two weren’t—he was opposing counsel. You weren’t involved with him, were you? I’m not asking because I’m mad. If you were involved with opposing counsel, you should disclose it or—”
    â€œOf course I wasn’t.”
    â€œOkay, good.”
    The elevator came and they all got on. Melanie glared at Susan.
    â€œThat was a low blow.”
    â€œI’m sorry. I didn’t think so, but I had to ask. Truce, okay? We’re both stressed out. We’re ten days from trial, and I for one am starting to think we’re gonna fall flat on our asses with the entire world watching.”
    To Susan, the only thing worse than losing a trial was losing a big, important trial with press attention. But Melanie had deeper concerns at the moment.
    â€œI’m not so worried about whether we win or lose. I just don’t want anybody else to die. Lester told me his office phones were tapped, and that we couldn’t use them to discuss Atari’s cooperation. He never came out and said it was Diamond doing the tapping, but don’t you think that casts some suspicion on him?”
    â€œNo. They share office space. Those are Evan’s phones, too. Why would he tap his own phones?”
    â€œMaybe they have separate lines.”
    â€œLet’s calm down and wait for the evidence before we start jumping to conclusions.”
    They’d reached the sixth floor, where Rick Lynch and his FBI team were waiting for Melanie in a conference room. The FBI had retrieved the videotape from a security camera near the Dumpster where the dead dog had been found, and they wanted Melanie to review it to see if she could spot the bomber.
    Melanie flung the door open and marched in. The men waiting for her all leaped to their feet. Along with Lynch and his counterterrorism agents, a group of top brass from the U.S. Attorney’s Office was there. Mark Sonschein, the chief of the Criminal Division, came over and gave Melanie a circumspect hug.
    â€œYou okay, kiddo?” he asked. Mark was Melanie’s boss, and known for being humorless and intense, but he could be a solid friend.
    â€œHanging in,” she said, extricating herself. “I’ll feel better once I’m working on finding Lester Poe’s killer.”
    â€œUh, yeah, about that,” Mark said. “You should know, I’m assigning a separate team to work the bombing investigation. You don’t have time. You need to prepare for trial.”
    â€œA separate team? But I was there. I saw what happened.”
    â€œAnother good reason