The Advocate's Ex Parte (The Advocate Series Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

two?”
    “Howard and Wheeler were both on last week and they have hearings coming up again soon.”
    JP continued with his stack. Under King he placed Tran and Howard. He picked up the huge stack of Wheeler’s files. “I’m leaving these until last,” he said, as he placed them on the bottom of his pile. “That one is going to take a while. Why don’t we go through each case and you can give me a quick synopsis.”
    “Okay.”
    JP walked over to Sabre’s credenza and opened the door. “I need a legal pad.”
    “Sure.”
    He returned to his seat, took out his pen and wrote the date on the first sheet of yellow paper along with the name, Durham . He had beautiful handwriting, which had initially surprised Sabre because he was such a cowboy. But as time went on, she came to know his gentle, sensitive side that matched his script.
    “Durham, as you know, is the delinquency case. A double homicide. Matt is accused of bludgeoning two teenagers as they walked home from a school play.”
    “And we know what he is capable of,” JP said with a bit of an edge in his voice. “But he was in custody so he would have to have had an accomplice, maybe even more than one. Was there any evidence that a second person was involved in the murders?”
    “No,” Sabre said. “At least they don’t have anything that puts anyone else at the scene of the crime, but to tell you the truth, I’m not sure they’ve ruled it out either.”
    “That boy is frightening.”
    “I know.” Sabre didn’t want to talk about Matt Durham right now. The last encounter with him had left her very uncomfortable. She picked up the Durham file and stood up. “I’ll make you copies of this. You’re going to need it anyway.” She stepped toward the door on her way to the copy room but continued to talk. “Working our way through these files is going to take a while and I’m hungry. Do you mind if we get some food? We can get take-out. Maybe even have something delivered.” She paused for just a second without giving JP time to respond. “Oh, I’m sorry. You probably have dinner plans. Never mind, I’ll be….”
    “Food sounds great. Let’s order in.”

Chapter 5
     
    The Snow Pea Chinese BBQ had received their order for delivery. Sabre and JP continued through the files while they waited for their food to arrive. Sabre copied the Durham file, put the pages in a manila folder, and labeled it before she handed it to JP.
    “Thanks,” he said.
    JP picked up the first thin, pink file folder and wrote Fisher on the second page of his legal pad. “And Fisher is the baby born on drugs with the volatile parents?”
    “Right.”
    “So, how volatile? Any incidents or threats made?”
    “The father threatened the social worker when the child was taken from the hospital and placed in foster care.”
    “So, the baby never went home?”
    “No. And at the detention hearing the mother flipped out and started screaming, ‘You’ll all pay for taking my baby.’ That time the father tried to calm her down.”
    “Did anyone take her seriously?”
    “Not really. This stuff happens all the time. And I’m pretty certain she was high in court that day. Your typical meth freak behavior.”
    “So, both parents are suspect on Fisher.”
    “Pretty much.”
    JP picked up the next pink file. This one was a little thicker than the first, indicating it had been around a bit longer. He read the computer-generated label: “Martinez.”
    “Domestic violence,” Sabre said. “They had one heck of a brawl one night in front of her house—three kids all screaming, neighbors coming out of their houses. One of the Martinez kids called the police and reported it.”
    “Did they arrest him?”
    “Her.”
    “That’s a switch.”
    “They took them both in, but she was the only one charged. It was about the fourth time the cops had been called this year.”
    “But this was the first arrest?”
    Sabre nodded.
    “Because it was the woman—not the man—doing