Tell No Lies Read Online Free

where she was heading. Jack grabbed her arm and pulled her closer.
    "Cool it with Frank, will ya?" he whispered so the others wouldn't hear.
    "All in good fun, Jack. Not to worry." And then she said again, "I'll be back."
    After she left, Frank came to Jack's side of the table to say goodbye. He placed his hand on Jack's shoulder and leaned close to his ear. "She's crazy about you, Hilliard. Someone better warn Claire."
    Jack felt a blush rising. "It's a threesome, Frank, didn't you know?"
    Frank laughed appreciatively. "Well, as Maria says, lucky you."
     
    By the time Jenny returned from the bar, most of the lawyers at the table had scattered. Maria was still there, talking quietly to a woman from the Public Defender's office.
    Jenny snapped her fingers as she sat down to break Jack's reverie. "What are you thinking about?"
    Jack shrugged.
    "The next election?"
    "No." He waved to Maria as she and her friend left the table.
    "I don't believe you."
    "Jenny, why are you pushing this?"
    "Because you could do it, and you know it." Her voice was low but insistent. "Didn't you see the look on Mann's face when I said your name? He knows you could do it, too, and it kills him."
    In all the years Jack had worked in the DA's office, he had given only a passing thought to becoming the District Attorney. He'd always dismissed it, though, because Earl was so clearly that man. Jack had figured it would be at least ten years before Earl retired, before anyone would have to think about his successor. Anyway, as Frank had so bluntly pointed out, Jack—unlike most prosecutors in the state—was deeply opposed to the death penalty.  It was an obstacle that wasn't going away.
 
    "I think I need another drink, too," he said.
    Jenny followed him to the bar. "You'd be the perfect man, Jack," she said, her voice a little boisterous from the martinis she'd been drinking.
    "You're crazy, Jen. And you're drunk."
    As he stood at the bar trying to get the bartender's attention, she leaned in closer.
    "You're only partly right. I'm drunk, but I'm not crazy." Jack smelled alcohol on her breath. It mixed with her perfume, a musky scent he'd noticed before. "Juries love you—your track record speaks to that. Earl would most definitely support you. What more could you ask for?"
    Jenny shrugged her shoulders, lifted her glass, and raised it in a mock toast.
    Jack laughed. "It's that easy, huh?" He put a tip down on the bar and turned away with his drink in hand. "Jen, you're forgetting something." He loved to prove her wrong; she was always so confident.
 
    "Yes, Mr. Hilliard?" She raised her eyebrows, grinning back. She knew what he was doing.
    "Would you vote for a prosecutor who didn't support the death penalty?"
    Her grin disappeared, and despite her contrary position in the countless arguments they'd had over the issue, she answered without hesitation. "If that prosecutor was you, of course I would."
    They stood for a moment, staring at each other. Jack instinctively reached up and moved a stray hair away from Jenny's face, but then remembered this wasn't Claire he was standing with. What was he doing?
 
    "Sorry," he whispered.
    Jenny pretended not to have noticed. "Jack, you're a good man," she said, still serious. "You do what's right, what's good. You wouldn't be swayed by politics or by friendships. You have a moral code you live by, and God knows that's a scarce quality among the attorneys in this town. You'd make an excellent DA." She paused and furrowed her brow in thought. Then she laughed. "Drunk or sober."
    Jack relaxed a bit, relieved that the smart-ass Jenny he knew had returned.
    Maria approached them as they moved away from the bar. "There's a bunch of us going to the club downstairs in a little bit. I'm passing the word."
    "Let's go. It sounds like fun," Jenny said.
    "No, I've gotta get home soon."
    She grunted in exasperation. "Come on, Jack. Your boss just made the biggest announcement of his career. He'll want to celebrate. You