The Lemonade Crime Read Online Free PDF

his bike, and rode away.
    Evan was just about to push off on his bike when he saw Ryan and Paul walking together toward the path. He rode across the blacktop and crossed in front of them right before they came to the fence. Before Evan could say anything, Paul slung his arm around him, nearly knocking him off his bike. "Hey, Evan, I totally owe you one. Thanks for taking the blame, you know, when Charlie got off his leash."
    "Yeah, sure. No big deal," said Evan, shrugging. Evan and Paul did that all the time for each other: swapping the blame so that they wouldn't get in trouble with their own parents. Parents always went way easier on other people's kids than they did on their own.
    "You want to come over?" Evan said to Paul and Ryan, balancing on his bike without pedaling forward.
    Paul shook his head. "No, we're going to Scott's."
    Evan slammed his feet to the ground and stared at the two of them.
    "He said we could try out the 20/20," said Ryan. "It's supposed to be awesome. You should come, too."
    Evan felt like he'd been sucker-punched. "No way!" he shouted. He stared at Paul and then Ryan with an expression that said,
Traitor!
but neither one of them said anything in return. Finally, Evan said quietly, "I can't believe you're going over to his house."
    Paul shrugged. "He didn't do anything to us."
    "Some friend you are," said Evan.
    "C'mon, Evan," said Paul. "You don't even know for sure that he took the money..."
    "I know!" said Evan.
    "You should come," said Ryan. "Everyone's going over there after school."
    A picture came into Evan's mind of the whole fourth-grade class marching over to Scott's house. All his friends. And where would he be? He'd be at home, with his little sister. "Who?" he asked. "Everyone, who?"
    "All the guys," said Paul. "You know, me and Ryan and Jack and Kevin. All the guys."
    "Not Adam," said Evan, thinking to himself that at least he had one friend who was loyal.
    "Well, he's gotta help his mother with some stuff," said Ryan, "but then he's coming over after that. Like in an hour."
    Evan shook his head in disbelief. His best friend. Stabbing him in the back. He yanked his handlebars away from Paul and Ryan and rode off without saying another word.

Chapter 7
Due Diligence
due diligence (),
n.
Taking the time and making the effort to do a reasonably-good job at something; the opposite of negligence.
    "Can we take a break now?" asked Megan, sitting up on her knees. She held the blue marker in her hand as if it were a lighted candle. Her fingers were covered with ink in all colors, and she had a pencil stuck through the base of her ponytail.
    Jessie was lying on her stomach with her whole box of colored pencils spread out in front of her. There was no way they could take a break now! The trial was tomorrow. There was still so much left to do.
    She'd already interviewed the five witnesses who were going to testify—Paul, Ryan, Kevin, Malik, and Jack—to find out exactly what they remembered about the day of the crime when they were at Jack's house. She'd written out index cards for David Kirkorian that told him exactly what he was supposed to say during the trial.
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    WHEN! THE TRIAL BEGINS:
    You bang your gavel and say: "All rise! Court is in session. The Honorable David P. kirkoraian presiding."
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    IF SOMEBODY TALKS WHO'S NOT SUPPOSED TO:
    You say: "Order in the court! Order in the court! If you're not quiet, I will hold you in contempt!"
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    WHEN YOU SWEAR IN A WITNESS:
    You say: "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"
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    Now she was finishing up coloring the map that showed where each person would stand or sit during the trial. And she still had to write her closing argument!
    Jessie felt—for the first time in her life—as if she was about to take a test and she hadn't studied long enough.
    "Let's just work a little longer," she said. "Are you almost done with the nametags?"
    Megan showed Jessie the twelve jury