One Chance: A Thrilling Christian Fiction Mystery Romance Read Online Free PDF

before pressing charges against Doug.
    Jacob knew that look. He knew her. "You look like you don't want to believe this is happening," he said.
    "No, I don't," she said. "I really don't. But I guess I don't have any other choice."
    He leaned closer and looked into her eyes. "There's something about this that's bugging you. I can tell. What is it?"
    She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I keep coming back to the fact that Pete didn't see who was driving. I know it was Doug's truck, and all that. But Doug swears he didn't do it. And I believe him."
    "Our Doug? Come on, Penny, I like him too, but how can he be so sure? If poor Pete in there is the town drunk it's only because he beat Doug to the position first." he said.
    "He swears he wasn't drunk before he got to The Last Chance. He told me all about it and I believe he's telling the truth. I talked to him for a long time this morning. I'd know if he was lying."
    The look that Jacob gave her spoke volumes. "You spoke to him this morning? I thought you were home?"
    "Uh, yeah," she said. "I was. I brought him to my house to keep an eye on him. He's there now."
    "I'm not really sure how I feel about that, Penny."
    "Jacob, come on. It's Doug. Our Doug." She touched his cheek gently. "You've got less than nothing to worry about."
    He squeezed her knee, trying to be reassuring. "I know how much you love your friend, Penny. It shows. And I trust you, I do. But you have to be ready for the very real possibility that he did do this to Pete. And I don't want you tangled up in that if that's what shakes out of this."
    "We've been inseparable since we were about five years old. I won't just give up on him. He's the closest thing I have to a real brother," Penelope said, almost tearfully.
    A moment later, the ambulance from Grace Memorial Hospital in Gainesville pulled up to the curb outside the clinic. Penelope rose and opened the double doors for the EMTs, and then left to check on Doug's story of how sober he was the previous evening.

CHAPTER 8
    Penelope's first stop on her way to verifying Doug's story was The Pizza Palace. The owners of the place had tried to get a Pizza Hut franchise, but when the big chain had turned them down they had opened their own version under a slightly different name. The waitress, Mandy Blonkin, told her she had worked a double yesterday and, yes, Doug came in about six and, yes, he only drank one beer with his pizza. In fact, he didn't even finish it before he left forty five minutes later. And he hadn't left her a tip.
    Next, Penelope went to Ricky's Pub over on the east side of town. Ricky was there doing inventory before the meager lunch crowd came in. And all he could say was the place had done a banner business last night, best he'd seen in a long time, and there was no way he would be able to tell Penelope if his own mother had been in there.
    Well. One for two. It was starting to look like Doug was in the clear, but if that was true, then did that mean Pete was lying? Nothing about this was making any sense.
    She asked Ricky if she could get the surveillance footage from outside the bar for last night. Ricky looked a little sheepish and told her that the cameras out there hadn't worked in months. They were just there for show.
    So much for that idea. That would have at least told her if there was damage on Doug's truck before he left for The Last Chance Tavern. She worked the problem over in her mind on the way back to the station.
    As she walked into the building, waving to the front desk receptionist, Penelope had more questions than answers. The truth was always somewhere in the middle of everyone's version of events. But where was the truthful middle ground in this instance?
    And the facts, rather than making things better, were making the puzzle harder to solve. There had to be a piece missing and Penelope was determined to find it to prove her friend was innocent.
    *
    Some time later she stepped out the back door for some air.
    Lord,