Convicted Read Online Free

took to get past the story of the musical number in the alley, she handed the phone to me.
    â€œMrs. Harding, I know I’m a complete stranger to you, and you probably think I’m too young to know anything, but it’s really important that you take my advice.”
    â€œYes?” she said doubtfully.
    â€œIt’s my belief that while a show was being put on to distract Cokie, something was taken from you. Some cash, perhaps, or more likely some jewelry, or something else that’s valuable and portable. If you haven’t discovered this for yourself, I’d bet you anything that either your daughter-in-law or Mindy—perhaps even your son—will ask you about some valuable object, you’ll go to look for it, and it will be missing. My theory is that it is still in the house, and has been placed somewhere that will ensure that Kayla will be blamed. It may already be planted somewhere in her bedroom or in her purse or in her clothing.”
    There was a long silence. About the time I decided she’d hung up on me and the dial tone just hadn’t kicked in yet, she said, “As it happens, this morning I noticed that a diamond tennis bracelet is missing. And your advice?”
    â€œHave you said anything to anyone other than me?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œGreat. First, look for it now. It will be in Kayla’s room, but she didn’t steal it.”
    â€œI’m sure she didn’t. Why are you sure?”
    â€œShe wouldn’t need clowns.”
    â€œNo, of course not.”
    â€œYou could set a trap for those who planned this, or at least amuse yourself when they try to reveal its hiding place. I don’t have advice about that part. It’s your family.”
    â€œSad but true.”
    â€œI’m a little worried about you, Mrs. Harding. I think someone may covet your belongings, if you know what I mean, and greed can inspire worse things than false accusations or a clown show. Perhaps you might know an attorney or someone who could let the planners know that this didn’t work, and that if anything happens to you—”
    â€œThank you for your concern, Miss Kelly. I’ll think over my options. Tell Cokie I’ll see her at the canasta game next week.”
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    I NEVER GOT THE DETAILS about what Mrs. Gertrude Harding did from there, but I do know that within a few weeks, her son filed for a divorce from Lina, who did not contest it. She took Mindy with her when she moved to Florida. Cokie later told me that Kayla and her father were spending more time together.
    I also learned that there had been a change in management at one of the rental company locations.
    I eventually tracked down the clowns. In my freshman year of college I had dated a stage manager, and while that didn’t last long, the friendships I’d made with other theater-arts majors had fared better. I asked a few of those friends to let me know if anyone had bragged about a strange gig that involved clown costumes, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and a rental van.
    In about three days I had a list of names, and a couple of my actor friends arranged a meeting with them.
    A few minutes’ conversation made it clear that the clowns had no idea that they might have been accessories to a burglary, or potentially, even a murder. When I pointed this out, I could tell that for the near future, the alleys of Las Piernas were safe from other spontaneous musical productions. I also pointed out that they had frightened Cokie, and made her feel ridiculed.
    â€œSo what are you going to do about it?” the beefier of my actor friends asked them.
    They shrugged and looked helplessly at me.
    â€œShe does a lot of stuff for the old people on her street. Maybe you could apologize, and then offer to help her do errands for them for a week or something.” I smiled. “If that happened, I might not give any names to the police or the rental company.”
    That was 99.9 percent