A Score to Settle by Kara Lennox Read Free Book Online Page A

Christopher.”
    “Except that his prints weren’t found on the murder weapon.”
    Daniel pressed his lips together, and Jamie tasted victory. At last, she just might have convinced him he was on a fool’s errand.
    She tried to press her advantage. “I brought the case file with me. I’m ready to go step-by-step through the thinking process that led me to prosecute this case.”
    “I’d like that.”
    Jamie opened her briefcase just as her phone rang. It was rude to take a call during a meeting, but she was still waiting for that verdict.
    “I’m sorry, this might be important.” She quickly looked at the caller ID. “Oh. You may actually be interested in this.” It was Eddie, the evidence tech whom she’d bullied into taking another look at Frank Sissom’s clothing. “Yes, Eddie?”
    “I got the results on those stains. Put it through the spectrometer. It’s not toner powder at all.”
    Her stomach sank. Let it be dirt. Charcoal. Cigarette ash. “Well, what is it?”
    “Very fine metal filings. Ferrous.”
    This could not be happening to her. Metal filings? As in exactly what Daniel had predicted she would find?
    “Thanks, Eddie, I’ll get back to you.”
    “Well?” Daniel said. Then his face softened. “Jamie, what’s wrong? You’re pale. Did he say something to upset you?”
    Her lips felt suddenly cold, and she could barely form the words. “You said something about a s-serial killer?”





CHAPTER FOUR
    “W HO WAS THAT ON THE PHONE?” Daniel asked sharply. Whoever it was, he’d sure said something to shake up Jamie.
    “My evidence tech, the one reexamining Frank Sissom’s clothes. He found something no one else did—very fine metal shavings.”
    Daniel could hardly believe what he was hearing. His long shot had paid off. “Jamie, this is huge. Do you realize what this means?” In his exuberance, he threw his arms around the lawyer and hugged her. Finally, someone had listened to him about those damn metal shavings.
    “Um, do you always get this happy at the prospect of helping a client?”
    Suddenly self-conscious, he released her and scooted back a few inches on the enormous bench seat. “Sorry.” Had he been out of the social scene so long, he’d forgotten how to behave appropriately with someone he barely knew?
    Only, he felt as if he knew her. Over the past twenty-four hours, he had delved deeply into Jamie McNair’s background, and his admiration for her had only grown.
    Her roots had come from anything but privilege. Her single mother had raised her in a one-bedroom apartment with a series of low-paying jobs. Her father was completely absent—Daniel hadn’t even been able to learn his identity.
    Yet Jamie had gotten herself an education with a lot of hard work, scholarships and student loans. Still not rolling in dough, judging from her off-the-rack plum-colored suit and a pair of slightly scuffed black pumps—recently polished, but in need of new soles.
    Not that she didn’t look stunning in that color. She would look stunning in just about anything.
    Daniel forced himself to focus. “You don’t share my optimism, I take it.”
    “Frankly, I’m too shocked to know what I feel. The black, powdery substance on Frank Sissom’s shirt was written off as copier or printer toner. No one ever questioned it or analyzed it until now. It didn’t seem relevant.”
    “I’ve learned it’s those tiny, overlooked elements that can make or break a case. So, are we on the same page now? Same offender?”
    “It warrants looking into,” she said with some degree of resignation. “One thing I can’t help but notice—Frank Sissom was murdered a scant two months after you were released from prison. If we have a serial offender, who’s to say it isn’t you?”
    Daniel felt a prickling of fear. He’d never even considered that he could become a suspect. But he grabbed a bottled water and took a sip to relieve his suddenly dry mouth.
    “Why would I push to exonerate