Verdict in Blood Read Online Free PDF Page B

smile hadn’t lost its wattage. He was wearing black motorcycle boots and he had his helmet in his hand. Over his shoulder I could see the kind of sleek, lethal cycle that Angus lusted after. I thanked my lucky stars he wasn’t home.
    “I apologize for barging in on you like this,” Eric Fedoruk said. “Holiday weekends should be off limits to everybody except family and friends. But Justine’s death has throwneverything off balance, at least for me.” His sentence trailed off, and he shook his head in disbelief.
    “Come inside where it’s cool,” I said. “Or at least
cooler
. Isn’t this heat unbelievable?”
    “And getting worse, according to the last weather report I heard,” he said. “Mrs. Kilbourn, could I trouble you for a glass of water? I’ve been out riding, and throwing a six-hundred-pound bike around in this heat really takes it out of you.”
    I led him into the living room where Hilda was waiting. When I came back with the water, I started to excuse myself, but Hilda motioned me to stay. “Joanne, if you have a moment, I’d like you to hear this.”
    Eric took the water and gulped it gratefully. “Thanks,” he said. “I was just telling Miss McCourt that I’ve been on the phone all morning with Justine’s colleagues. I think we’re all just beginning to realize how completely we failed her.”
    I sat down beside Hilda. “In what way?” I asked.
    “Isn’t it obvious? Someone should have stepped in – faced the fact that Justine’s mind was deteriorating and forced her to get some professional help. As people who work in the legal system, we were all aware of how dangerous that crowd she was associating with were.” His gaze was level. “Mrs. Kilbourn, I know there are some ex-cons and gang members who turn their lives around but, believe me, they’re in the minority. I don’t know whether it’s bad genes, bad breaks, or bad judgement, but many criminals simply lack the kind of control they need to keep their violence in check. Look at them sideways and they snap.”
    “And you think one of them snapped and killed Justine Blackwell.”
    “I’ve talked to the police. Justine was bludgeoned to death. Doesn’t that sound like the murderer just went crazy? We blew it. We should have intervened. I guess wejust didn’t want to deal with what was happening to Justine. I know I didn’t.”
    “Because you and she were so close,” Hilda said.
    A look of pain crossed Eric Fedoruk’s face. “Not as close as I wanted to be. Justine didn’t let anyone get too close. It’s just that I can’t remember a time in my life when she wasn’t there. I grew up in the house next door to hers on Leopold Crescent; I articled with her old firm after I graduated from law school; I represented clients in her courtroom. She was absolutely brilliant. That’s why all this is so …” He fell silent, fighting emotion.
    In the course of her professional life as a teacher of high-school English, Hilda had dealt with more than her share of the agitated and the overwrought. When she spoke, her voice was as crisp as her monogrammed blouse. “Mr. Fedoruk, I understand that you’ve sustained a loss, but you don’t strike me as the kind of man who would come to a stranger’s home to vent his grief. What is it that you want from me?”
    He flinched. “All right,” he said. “Here it is. Miss McCourt, last night at the party, Justine told me she was going to ask for your help with a certain matter. Did she have time to talk to you about it?”
    “You’ll have to be more explicit,” Hilda said. “Justine and I spoke about many matters last night.”
    Eric Fedoruk hesitated. I could see him calculating the odds that, in divulging information to Hilda, he might lose his advantage. Once he’d made his decision, he waded right in. “What Justine said was that, as her lawyer, I should be aware that she was about to ask you to assess her capacity to handle her personal affairs.
Did
she ask you to