Accomplice Read Online Free

money into making that necklace valuable.”
    “Don't focus on the necklace. Focus on the girl.
Something tells me that she knows more than she's sharing.”
    “That is what you keep telling me, but we don't
have anything to take to a grand jury. If Jessica Kingsbury knowingly
participated in her husband's blackmail schemes, or his money laundering, or
God knows what else he was up to, then they covered her tracks better than
his.”
    The older man leaned forward at his desk, resting
his elbows on the cracked vinyl desk mat as he spoke. “Look, Charles Kingsbury
was smart. His little plaything, not so much. Just keep watching her. Without
her husband around to cover for her, she is bound to screw up.”
    Noah swallowed a sigh. “Sure, boss.”
     
    ***
     
    Jess ducked behind Tony’s hefty form as she
half-jogged up the steps of the courthouse. The screech of tires on the street
behind her threw a shiver down her back and she tried to ignore the voices that
called her name from the sidewalk below. Paparazzi. Just what her day needed.
One of her high heels twisted slightly, sending a sharp pain up her ankle and
she stopped to give it a shake.
    Light bulbs flashed. The din of voices grew
louder.
    “You all right ma'am?” Tony gently took her arm
and helped her up the remaining steps.
    “I will be better once this is all through.” After
this meeting with her step-son Brandon and his lawyer. After the lawsuit. After
she got her necklace back. After she figured out what to do with the rest of
her life. Then, maybe things would be better.
    “Yes ma'am.”
    Her lawyer, Leon Norrell, waited past the metal
detectors, his expression grim. His expression was always grim in public. “Good
morning, Mrs. Kingsbury.”
    She smiled at him, relieved to see the familiar
face. The crinkles around his eyes loosened just a notch. It was as much of a
smile as he ever gave.
    “I will wait with the car, ma'am.”
    She nodded to Tony. He had a concealed carry
permit, but his gun wasn't welcome inside courthouse and he wouldn't trust
anyone else with it. Besides, in today's verbal battle, Leon was the only
defender she needed.
    They headed up the elevator to an upstairs meeting
room, the kind used for arbitration. Which this was, of a sort. Brandon had
demanded that the judge allow him details of the robbery, claiming that he had
a personal stake in the goods that were stolen.
    “I am sorry that you had to go through the circus
out front. I tried to argue with the judge that an in-person meeting was
unnecessary. But Mr. Kingsbury's lawyer must have made a more convincing
argument.”
    “It's all right. Let’s just get this over with.”
    They walked down a terrazzo-floored hall and past
a secretary to their private meeting room. Inside was a conference table with
half a dozen chairs.
    Brandon Kingsbury stood silhouetted against the
tall glass windows that overlooked downtown Los Angeles. Jess's breath caught
for half a moment. Sometimes he looked so much like her late husband that it
hurt. Then he turned and the cruel gleam in his eye wiped away all resemblance
to the man she had loved.
    “Jessica, darling. How have you been?” The man
held out his arms as though expecting to hug her.
    She leaned her back against the wall next to the
door and crossed her arms over her chest. His eyes travelled the length of her
and as always she fought a wave of revulsion at his unmistakable lust. It was
one thing for a man to appreciate a photo of a naked woman. It was something
completely different to leer at another man's wife. His father's wife. And now
the target of his own malicious lawsuit.
    “Don't look at me like that, darling. We are
family, after all. You have had an exciting week, I hear.”
    After six years of nothing but crude remarks and
poorly executed attempts to corner her alone, not to mention one memorable knee
to his groin, did he really expect her to fall into his embrace?
    “Fine. Gentlemen. Ladies .” The word was a
sneer on