Nothing But the Truth by Carsen Taite Read Free Book Online

murder topping the list. Bond was set at five hundred thousand dollars. Within days, Edwards was back on the street. Jeff and his investigator had gone crazy trying to figure out how he came up with the cash to pay the bondsman the ten percent fee. If they could prove the money was from ill-gotten gains, they might have been able to get the bond held insufficient, but for now they had to settle for the stringent pretrial reporting instructions the judge had imposed. In addition to whatever his bondsman asked him to do, Edwards had to check in with the court once a week. He was forbidden from opening or closing any monetary accounts, and, just for inconvenience sake, had to undergo a weekly piss test.
    Ryan tossed the search warrant affidavit back onto Jeff’s desk. “You realize you don’t have any hard evidence.”
    “We’ll line up the evidence we’ve got. The jury will go in the direction we lead them.”
    “You hope.” Ryan knew the circumstantial evidence all pointed squarely at Edwards. At least for the theft/fraud. The murder was a different story. Mary Dinelli had been shot point-blank in the back of the head, but exhaustive searches for the weapon that killed her turned up nothing. There was no physical evidence to tie Edwards to the shooting or even the house where Mary had lived. But he had opportunity and motive to kill her. Their job would be to convince the jury to link the hard evidence on the theft case to the murder, and Ryan’s political future hung in the balance.
    The United States Attorney’s office had made a strong play early on to try the case in federal court. Insurance fraud and arson were both solidly within their jurisdiction. Leonard Duncan had taken the case directly to the court of public opinion to win his bid to keep the case in his courthouse. It turned out to be a life or death decision. The U.S. Attorney had to get permission from main justice in DC before they could seek the death penalty. In contrast, the Dallas County District Attorney merely had to get an indictment for capital murder to get the death penalty on the table. Since the case stayed here, Ryan was under pressure to deliver the ultimate result.
    “So do you want to bail now that you know it’s not a slam dunk?” Jeff delivered the challenge with a heavy dose of sarcasm. Ryan wasn’t biting.
     “No, but now I understand why Mr. Duncan thought you would need my help.”
    “Look, I worked this case up myself. I presented to the grand jury, I—“
    Jeff stopped abruptly, and Ryan heard motion behind her. She had chosen this time to meet with Jeff, hoping most of the morning docket would have cleared out. “We’re busy here.” Ryan didn’t look up and her tone was dismissive.
    “I know, I know, dispensing justice. Well, I have a bit of justice I’d love for you to dispense.”
    Ryan instantly recognized the voice. She could tell the person who spoke was smiling, but her voice was strong and commanding. Friendly tones mixed with firm resolve. She looked up into kind eyes, eyes that betrayed the voice. She comes across all tough, but she’s a softie underneath. Compassion. Ryan was at once pleased and dismayed to have discovered Brett’s primary weakness. She knew how to cure it. “What do you need?”
    Brett handed her a single sheet of paper. Ryan skimmed the contents and handed it back. “And?”
    “I don’t have enough info to fully evaluate the case, but I thought I’d check and see if you might be open to a waiver?”
    “We don’t usually do waivers on second degree felonies.” Ryan ignored Jeff’s stare. Brett was asking for a sweet deal in exchange for her client waiving the right to have her case heard by the grand jury. Waivers were popular with lower level felonies, especially drug cases. Those inmates would crowd the county jail while waiting for the drugs they were caught with to be tested by a lab before their cases would ever be formally charged. Brett’s request was perfectly