Twisted Reason by Diane Fanning Read Free Book Online

about coming to the woman’s rescue and the indignity of being blamed for hurting her. “I told the officers, I told the deputy. No one believes me.”
    “Like I said, Dr. Spencer, everyone says that. They don’t believe anybody. Let me see what I can do to get you out of here.”
    “Deputy Turner,” Lucinda shouted down the hall.
    Turner pulled away from the wall where he was leaning and let her out of the cell.
    “I need to get Spencer out,” she said as they walked back up the hallway.
    “Not up to me, Lieutenant. You gotta take that up with the judge.”
    “Can you get me in front of him before he adjourns for the day?”
    He turned his arm to look at his wristwatch. “I’ll call the clerk and see what I can do.”
    In a few minutes, Lucinda and Turner headed back the way they came, this time cuffing and retrieving Evan Spencer. They entered the Justice Center through another tunnel far less wide and welcoming than the public one Lucinda used earlier. They went up to the ground-floor courtroom in a secure elevator.
    Turner put Evan in the holding cell next to the courtroom and waited for the bailiff to call his name. When she did, Turner escorted his prisoner before the bench and Lucinda took her place at his side. The deputy recited the charges to the judge and introduced Lucinda.
    “What’s a homicide detective doing here on an assault case, Lieutenant?” the judge asked.
    “Your honor, I became involved with the Spencer family when I investigated the murder of Dr. Spencer’s wife about two years ago. I have continued to have a relationship with the young daughter of the accused – kind of an informal Big Sister type of relationship, your honor.”
    “What’s your relationship to Evan Spencer?”
    “He’s Charley’s father, your honor. He allows me to visit her.”
    “No romantic involvement between you and the good doctor, Lieutenant?”
    Lucinda clenched her jaw and bit off the angry words she longed to speak. If it were anyone but a judge, she’d let them fly. “No, your honor. None at all.” She glared at Evan daring him to contradict her.
    The judge turned to Evan and asked, “Is that correct, Doctor?”
    “Yes, yes sir, your honor. I tried . . .” he said with a shrug.
    Lucinda rolled her eyes. “Your honor, I have not—”
    “Lieutenant, you’re not the accused here. What do you want me to do?”
    “I’d like you to release Dr. Spencer on his own recognizance. I have serious doubts about the validity of the charges brought against him. And he is an upstanding, law-abiding citizen, deeply connected to his community, your honor.”
    “How about if I release him and hold you personally responsible for seeing that he returns to court?”
    Not exactly what she wanted, but Lucinda wouldn’t quibble. He’d be able to go home to his two girls and that was all that mattered. She nodded and said, “Yes, your honor.”
    “See the clerk,” he said and tapped down his gavel. “Next case, bailiff.”
    Turner unlocked the cuffs to allow Evan to sign his name under Lucinda’s signature. Evan and Lucinda walked out to her car.
    “I sure hope you don’t have any missions of mercy outside of the country planned in the near future.”
    “No. I haven’t been doing much of that. I’ve mostly been recruiting other doctors for Doctors without Borders but with one exception, I haven’t been out of the states since Kathleen died. I need to be here for the girls.”
    “Charley said Ruby was showing signs of improvement.”
    “Yes, well, she still sucks her thumb but her psychologist said a little emotional immaturity is to be expected after what she’s been through,” Evan said with a sigh.
    “Seems to have had the opposite effect on Charley.”
    Evan laughed, “Tell me about it. Sometimes she seems more like my mother than my daughter.”
    On the drive to Evan’s riverfront condo, they talked about Evan’s predicament and what needed to be done the following day. Lucinda promised to