State's Evidence: A Beverly Mendoza Legal Thriller Read Online Free PDF

and got out a beer,
opening it and taking a giant swig in one motion.
    He thought about the sweet looking woman he’d
accosted at the park. She had not gone down easily. In fact, she’d
put up one hell of a struggle, battling him tooth and nails to the
very end. It had aroused him like never before.
    He loved a broad with spunk—especially one
who probably wouldn’t have given a Latino like him the time of day.
Not until he took it and her life, as a bonus.
     

CHAPTER FIVE
     
    Beverly had agreed to meet Grant at Eagles
Landing Medical Center’s emergency room, where Maxine Crawford had
been taken. It was what Grant called a preemptive strike, given the
attention Judge Crawford’s murder was likely to generate. The
Eagles Landing Police Department would be under tremendous pressure
to make an arrest and the Wilameta County District Attorney’s
office to get a swift and decisive conviction.
    All else would have to take a back seat for
the time being.
    The fact that Judge Crawford’s last trial had
taken place that very afternoon in a case Beverly had successfully
prosecuted along with Grant, meant that they would be on the hot
seat on this one.
    Was that trial connected to the judge’s
death? Beverly wondered, entering the doors to the ER. Maybe it was
some form of payback for upholding the guilty verdict against
Suzanne Landon. But who would do such a thing after the fact?
    Beverly had told Jaime she wasn’t sure when
she would be back, wishing the timing had been different. She was
confident that in his own way he understood that her career
obligations sometimes included working after hours and with little
to no warning. Fortunately Jaime had reached the age where he could
take care of himself for short lengths of time when she wasn’t
there, though she always tried to be there when he got home from
school and most evenings. She was proud of him for his maturity and
responsibility, even if he may have grown up a little too fast for
her comfort.
    There were still outstanding issues the two
of them would have to resolve. And one of them included Grant.
    Beverly spotted Grant pacing around in the
lobby as though he had lost his best friend. As far as she knew, he
and Judge Crawford were only casually acquainted, which was more
than her own relationship with the judge. She knew him only in the
courtroom. Even then, Sheldon Crawford struck her as somewhat
distant and unapproachable.
    When Grant saw Beverly he met her halfway,
giving her a lightning quick hug. “Thanks for coming.”
    Beverly nodded, while thinking that he looked
tired and ill at ease—unlike this afternoon when he was full of
life and comfortable with her...inside her.
    “Have you found out anything?”
    “Nothing.” He threw his arms up in disgust.
“The doctors aren’t talking about her condition. Maxine Crawford
could be dying in there for all we know.”
    “What did the police say?” Beverly could see
what looked to be detectives just down the hall. She thought she
recognized one as Detective Joe O’Dell of the Eagles Landing Police
Department’s, Homicide Division. They had worked together on a case
or two. He had proven himself to be a thorough cop and an excellent
witness.
    “Doesn’t look like she was shot,” said Grant.
“Just bruised and in shock.”
    Beverly curled her lashes. “Who wouldn’t be in shock , under the circumstances?” She tried to
imagine what it would be like to see your husband murdered right in
front of you. She wondered why the assailant didn’t kill the
judge’s wife, instead leaving an eyewitness to the crime who could
testify against him. Had Mrs. Crawford gotten a look at him? Was it
a male? Beverly had just finished a case where the culprit was a
female. Who says it wasn’t a woman who offed the judge? “Do you
think this could have had anything to do with the case we just
tried?” she asked.
    Grant scratched his cheek. “Hadn’t really
thought about it,” he said artlessly. “Judge