lost touch years ago. Maybe she isn’t the same person you used to know.”
I shook my head and shrugged off his hand, denying his words with a vehement “No.” More vehement because I had wondered the same thing myself and didn’t want to believe it. I couldn’t believe it. Maybe I didn’t know everything about Molly, but I knew enough to be sure she was no killer.
“She didn’t do it,” I said and met Malone’s gaze, seeing my own bespectacled eyes reflected in his glasses. “Molly told me what happened, that Bud forced himself on her and she fended him off. She might have cut him with the knife, but he was alive when she left. She heard him shouting.”
“So she says.”
“She didn’t stab him to death.”
“It may have been self-defense.” He rubbed his chin. “She’s a very pretty lady. If the guy got rough with her, it makes sense. It’s a common enough scenario. Juries usually take pity on the woman and sentences aren’t so stiff.”
“She’s innocent, for Pete’s sake!”
“I’m only being realistic.”
“Pessimistic is more like it.” My hands curled to fists, and it was all I could do not to swing at him.
A half-smile took shape on his mouth. “You’re amazingly loyal, Ms. Kendricks. And different than I expected.”
“Oh?”
“I know your mother,” he explained, tugging on his earlobe. “She has quite a reputation at the firm. I thought you’d be more like her.”
“A demanding diva, you mean?” I filled in the blanks. “Dressed to the nines? As you can see, I rarely wear haute couture.” I swept a hand over my paint-smudged sweatshirt and blue jeans, an outfit that Cissy wouldn’t be caught dead in.
“Your words, not mine.” He smiled fully now, not embarrassed in the least, which made me believe he might have more backbone than I’d suspected.
“Fair enough.”
“Listen, Ms. Kendricks . . .”
“Andy,” I said instinctively, and I felt my anger draining away as quickly as it had surged.
“Andy,” he repeated, nodding. “It doesn’t look good, but I’ll see what I can do for Ms. O’Brien. I promise.”
He appeared so earnest and well meaning. Somehow I knew he was doing the best job he could.
I glanced toward the door through which they’d taken Molly, and I felt wiped out. My head was heavy, my mind unable to focus. Perhaps someone would shake me, and I’d wake up to find this was all a bad dream.
The fatigue must’ve shown in my face because Malone said gently, “You might as well go home. There’s nothing you can do here.”
I didn’t even look at my watch, but figured it wasn’t yet seven. I’d promised to go over to Molly’s apartment complex and get David from the landlady. It would give me something to do, something to keep me from feeling completely useless.
“I’ll stick around until they take her to Lew Sterrett, then I’ll head downtown myself and handle her bond hearing. Though I don’t think they’ll let her go. She has no family in town, no one except her son. There’s nothing to say she won’t flee.”
“Whatever she needs, I’m good for it,” I told him. “Do you have to use a bail bondsman? Where do you find them anyway? Are they listed in the phone book, like plumbers and florists?” I was babbling, and I might have gone on forever had Malone not placed a hand on my shoulder.
“I’ll call you if the judge grants her bail, okay? But don’t bet on that.”
I started to protest, then shut up. I couldn’t argue with him. If I were in Molly’s place, I might take David and run as far as I could without a second thought.
“You have to trust me, Andy.”
I nodded, wondering if that would be enough.
Chapter 4
T he sun had risen to flesh out the deep purple of dawn, tinting the air a soft blue and shell pink.
I got caught up in traffic on Belt Line, each green light way too short, the lines of cars far too long. I turned on the radio to KRLD but only half-listened to news updates and weather