An Imperfect Process by Mary Jo Putney Read Free Book Online Page A

practice."
    She shrugged. "I'm ready. For years, every day has had six deadlines and endless streams of tense people. The adrenaline rush is addictive, but busyness is no substitute for a life."
    She might find it harder to recover from adrenaline addiction than she thought. He'd had a terrible time kicking the habit. Simplicity wasn't easy. Of course, Val was looking to slow her life down, not turn it off completely, as he had done. "Are you really going to concentrate on pro bono work?"
    "I figure on doing it about half time. We'll see." She drew her feet up onto the window seat and wrapped her arms around her knees. "I want to make a difference in people's lives, not just their pocketbooks. Not that there's anything wrong with prosperity, but I don't want my life to be about money. For years it has been, and I didn't even realize it until these last few days. I was always pushing, pushing..." She cut off her words, as if she had already said too much.
    She was wise to see the light before her life was in crisis. He had been less wise. "How will you find worthy causes to fight?"
    "They're finding me. I already agreed to take on one case, and I'll probably take another on after I've talked to the potential client—a single mother whose rich ex- husband keeps taking her to court for no good reason."
    "I hope you squash him like a bug. What's the other case?"
    "It's a tough one. Kendra, my assistant, asked me to see if I could do anything for an old friend of hers who's on death row. Daniel Monroe was convicted of killing a policeman. She swears he's innocent, but he's run out of appeals and the execution date will be set soon." Val grimaced. "I'll see what I can do, but it would take a miracle to save his life."
    The words death row hit Rob like ice water, shattering his relaxed mood. "Are you sure your friend isn't indulging in wishful thinking about his innocence? Most convicts will swear on a stack of Bibles that they were railroaded."
    "Kendra says she was with him the night of the murder."
    "The police didn't believe her?"
    "They thought she was lying to protect her boyfriend. I'm sure that happens, but Kendra doesn't lie. If Kendra says he was with her, he was."
    So maybe this really was an innocent man wrongly convicted. "What was the case against Monroe?"
    "I haven't seen the files yet—this only just came up—but Kendra said that he was convicted on the testimony of the three eyewitnesses."
    His mouth twisted. "Eyewitness error is the most common cause of unjust conviction."
    "Yes, but it's awfully hard to disprove." Her arms tightened around her knees. "If a victim gets up on the witness stand and says, "That man there did it,' juries believe. A mistaken witness can send an innocent man to his death."
    "When a crime raises public outrage, everyone is desperate to see the killer punished," Rob said cynically. "It's too easy for police and prosecutors to settle for the first plausible suspect and not look any further."
    She studied his face. "You know something about crime and punishment."
    His gaze shifted away from her. 'I've done some reading." Which was true, though most of what he knew had been learned the hard way. "How will you go about this? As a capital case, I imagine it's been pretty thoroughly hashed over."
    "I'll start with getting the case files from the public defender's office. Then I'll try to interview everyone significant in the case—the defense lawyer, the prosecutor, the police, the eyewitnesses, and hope they're all still alive. I'll have to tear apart every shred of evidence and look for weaknesses."
    She halted. "No, that's not where to start. First I have to visit Monroe at the penitentiary. All I know about him is through Kendra. I want to meet him for myself, then find out if he wants me to act for him. I really can't do anything without his agreement."
    Rob's desire for detachment fought a brief but fierce battle with a compulsion to get involved in this case. "Take me with you. Maybe I