Mistletoe and Murder in Las Vegas Read Online Free Page B

lust after a vacuum cleaner if it wore a blonde wig.”
    “Maybe I wasn’t...experienced enough. Before Jamoke I had one boyfriend in law school...can’t say we set off any smoke alarms.”
    “What’s with the we ? Maybe you did for him, but he didn’t for you. Bad sex happens.”
    “Let’s change the subject before I get more depressed.”
    “Okay. See the news last night?”
    “No, watched a movie.”
    “Another cowboy flick?”
    “Western film, yes.”
    After discovering a public domain vintage western film site with free downloads, she’d gotten hooked on the world of dusty streets, whistling winds and second chances. Especially second chances. If a notorious gunslinger could find redemption or a female rancher could save her herd of cattle during a blizzard, surely a dispirited defense lawyer could believe in herself again.
    “They give me hope,” Joanne admitted.
    “Nothin’ wrong with that. Anyway, last night on channel nine, Burnette announced he’s running for governor.”
    Joanne snorted a laugh. “Watch out, he’s going to fight even harder and dirtier now to win cases—needs to look like the hero prosecutor for the masses.”
    “Especially after he was forced to dismiss Sebastian’s case.”
    Joanne smiled. “My sweet revenge.”
    On November fifth, after Judge Fields charged Joanne with contempt and sent the jury home, a reporter in the courtroom drove to the neighborhood of a closed-down bar in Henderson, where Sebastian claimed to have been on the night of the crime and Joanne was not allowed to prove. After knocking on doors and asking if anyone had attended Las Vegas High School five or so years before and been friends with Sebastian Vaughn, the reporter found the witness, named Louis, who Joanne pinpointed in discovery. The reporter recorded her interview with Louis, who confirmed being with “Tater,” Sebastian, in the Henderson bar, thirty miles from the scene of the attempted murder. Louis expressed surprise that a reporter was asking him about that night because “I told all this to that investigator from the DA’s office months ago.”
    Things escalated quickly after that, culminating with a furious Sam Burnette filing a motion to dismiss the case.
    Nevertheless, Joanne’s circumstances didn’t change. Paul Ochs sent her an officious letter, cc’ing Roger, stating that although Sebastian Vaughn’s case had been dismissed, Joanne’s “outrageous and disrespectful behavior” at court destroyed his confidence in her abilities to be a public defender, and therefore her termination remained in effect.
    Like she had any desire to return to the tawdry crime scene of Roger and Tiffany’s office romance.
    “…your beige pantsuit with the gold buttons would be good to wear today,” Gloria was saying. “Professional, but cute.”
    “It might not fit…I’ve gained a few pounds.”
    “How ʼbout that maxi dress with the strawberries? Thought I saw it in your closet the other day.”
    Then Gloria repeated everything was going to be okay, she’d be there in twenty minutes, and to never forget that believing one is great in bed was half the battle.
    A short while later Joanne checked out her reflection in the dresser mirror. Spending hours yesterday in a steamy kitchen had frizzed her corkscrew curls to poodle-fur consistency, which with a touch of shea butter and some serious scrunchie wrangling, she’d coerced into a ringlety top-knot. The dress was a bit tight around her midriff, but pretty, although she had never noticed how the mix of her freckles against the strawberries was almost dizzying.
    She had inherited her freckles and red hair from her dad’s side of the family, but their freckles were normal. Hers were ridiculous. As if God got tired of doling them out bit by bit and dumped the rest on her. Then balanced things out by giving her wide-set green eyes and Angelina Jolie-size lips that today she slicked with pink gloss.
    All in all, she looked pretty good. This