Today’s excerpt is from Pool
Of Blood, Book #3 of the Becker Trilogy. Bob, Michelle, and Lorri visit Lorri’s
brother in prison. Enjoy and have a fantastic day.
m.j.
After Bernard
was seated, Lorri introduced Bob and Michelle, explaining that Michelle was
their new attorney, and Bob was a private detective already working on the
case. At Bob’s request—made on the plane
during the flight—Lorri did not mention the involvement of Jim and Holly, nor
the assistance given by Gus.
Bob and Michelle
had already agreed Bob would handle most of the interview, with Michelle asking
anything she wanted along the way. Bob
looked Bernard directly in the eyes, as Bernard returned the look. Bob nodded, “Bernard, the first question I
want to ask you is, did you kill Hillary Snodgrass, or have anything to do with
the murder?”
“No. When I arrived at her home, she was already
dead. I made sure by checking her
pulse. When I did, I noticed she was
already cooling down. I mean her body
temperature was down from normal.”
Bob was pretty
sure he had not been lied to, so he continued, “What was the argument that you
two got into hours before her death about?”
“We, the three
of us…me, Hillary, and Wilfred Clinton…were working on—and had perfected—a new
social media program. Wilfred wanted to
sell the concept as an improvement to one of the major players in the
field. I wanted to just start up our
own. Hillary was sorta sitting on the
fence, but I’m sure she was going to go along with me. The argument had really been about me not
showing up at her place to spend the night the evening prior to her
murder. Just for spite, she threatened
to side with Wilfred. I knew she wasn’t
gonna do it—or was at least sure she wouldn’t—but thought I better try to make
peace, so off I went to her place…only to find her dead.”
“Tell me more
about the thing you were working on—some particulars, please.”
Before the
questioning had started, Michelle had started a recorder running, after getting
Bernard’s approval. Now, looking more at
the recorder than at Bob, Bernard explained the system in as much detail as he
could remember, while trying to make it understandable to non-experts in the
field. When he finished, he tilted his
head as he looked back at Bob, then added, “Funny thing about our system. A guy who knows computers pretty well just
checked in here last week. He was
telling me one of the social media programs up and running had recently had a
major upgrade. He explained it as well as
he could. Sure sounded like our
program.”
Bob sat upright
as he asked, “Which one? I mean which
social media deal are you talking about?”
Bernard told
him, then asked, “You think it might be our system?”
“I don’t
know—but I’m damned sure gonna find out.”
Bob asked
several more questions, before Michelle took a turn. When she finished, Michelle told Lorri to
chat with Bernard for awhile, but explained that since this was an attorney
visit, she would have to stay in the room.
She also slid papers to Bernard to sign, appointing her as his new
attorney.
Lorri and
Bernard then talked for several minutes, with Lorri telling Bernard about the
happenings of the previous day—including the bungled appeal, the shooting, and
the Beckers letting her stay with them for safekeeping. When she told Bernard about how nice they had
been about her money situation, he held up his hand for her to stop talking.
Bernard looked
at Bob suspiciously. “Why so nice to two
people you don’t even know…or at least didn’t twenty-four hours ago?”
“Because we can,
for starters. Also, if you being in here
is a miscarriage of justice, I’d like to see it corrected. On top of that, if my wife was shot at
because she was approached by Lorri, I’m plumb pissed. If not, Lorri’s life is changed just because
that might be the case. In which case, I
don’t want her to suffer because some nut took a shot at Michelle. For what it’s worth, I’m inclined to think
you are innocent. If so, let’s get the
right guy in here in your place.
Obviously Michelle agrees, or she wouldn’t have asked you to sign papers
hiring her as your attorney. We talked
about this in bed last night, and Michelle is gonna do one of these pro-bono deals. My time spent is also free of charge. Okay with you?”
“Yeah, thanks. Though I still don’t really understand, but I
do appreciate it.”
When the three
visitors were ready to go, Bob held out his hand. “We may not be in touch for a few days. I really do need to get to the bottom of who
in the hell is targeting Michelle, and why.
But we’ll be working your case along the way. Take care.”
Bernard shook
Bob’s hand, then Michelle’s, before kissing his sister goodbye. As they left, he again thanked Bob and
Michelle. Bob just waved over his
shoulder with his free hand, as he held Michelle’s arm on the way out.
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