Reasonable Doubt Read Online Free

hotel.”
    “I could sue you for violation of my civil rights. And don’t think I ain’t got a good lawyer.”
    “Yeah, a real good lawyer who couldn’t get you out of jail and won’t return your calls,” Keri muttered.
    He didn’t respond right away, and Keri found herself alone with her memories once again. The thought of her Justin harming anyone, let alone committingmurder was almost impossible for Keri to fathom, despite her years as a police officer.
    “I need an aspirin. My head’s killing me.”
    “Be quiet, Junior,” she said without looking up. “I’m busy.”
    There had to be a reasonable explanation. Justin wouldn’t kill anyone. Not her Justin. Someone was making a terrible mistake.
    At least that’s what Keri hoped. A desperate hope. She needed to believe him innocent. If the same gentle Justin who had saved her from bullies and brought her flowers and shared her one and only kiss was a wife murderer, she might as well let Junior out of his cell, hand him a bottle of booze and throw him the keys to his truck. Better yet, maybe she should just join him on his next binge. Belly up to the bar, boys. Here’s to the end of all my dreams….
    Tears pushed at her eyes, but she blinked them away, and forced herself to focus on her paperwork. She made it through the end of the stack before Chief Manning walked through the door at 7:00 a.m.
    “Morning, Deputy.”
    “Morning.”
    “I’m sure glad you’re here, Sam,” Junior called from his cell. “That girl ain’t got no heart. I been askin’ for an aspirin for the last hour, and she’s been ignorin’ me. Now I got me a headache the size of the Grand Canyon. I got half a mind to sue you both for prisoner abuse.”
    Chief Manning took the medicine kit down from the wall and chuckled. “Junior, if you sued us for all the things you threaten, you’d be a millionaire.” He grabbed a paper cup, filled it with water from the bathroom faucet, and crossed the room. “Here. Take this and be quiet for a while before you give me a headache.”
    Junior took the aspirin and water through the bars and grumbled all the way back to his bunk.
    Keri bit back a snide remark. The guy had been arrested for disorderly conduct and public drunkenness so many times he was a regular fixture at the jail. This time it was different, though. He’d nearly hit those kids. As it was, he’d wrapped his truck around a telephone pole.
    The stunned group of teens milling about the accident scene, with shock-white expressions on their faces, had effectively squelched her last remnant of mercy for the likes of Junior Connor.
    Why didn’t drunk drivers ever kill themselves instead of innocent people?
    She slid the last completed file into place, resisting the urge to slap her hands together to dust them off. Two weeks of solitude awaited her, and she had every intention of using the time to reflect, pray and discover exactly what God was trying to show her by sending discontent into her life. She’d tried to escape its iron jaws, but it gripped her unerringly and Keri was powerless to stop the pain. The melancholy persisted no matter how hard she tried, how long she prayed or how many miles she jogged.
    “Keri?”
    “What?” Keri blinked back to reality at the chief’s gruff call.
    “I asked if anything happened tonight.”
    With a sniff, she sent a dismissive wave toward the cell. “No. Just Junior’s whining. Most of the paperwork is finished.”
    “You still plan on spending your vacation at the cabin?”
    “I sure am,” Keri said, defenses on high alert. “This is our first time at the cabin in years. No phones, no faxes and no radio except in the Jeep, so don’t even think about trying to weasel me out of my vacation this year. I need it, Chief. Dad’s already up there. Even Denni and Raven are coming up to the cabin for Thanksgiving Day.”
    He heaved a heavy sigh and lowered himself to the chair with a grunt. “I know you need it, honey. I just have