Secrets Among the Cedars (Intertwined Book 2) by Sherri Wilson Johnson Read Free Book Online Page B

investigators came down here and tried to find it. When they failed, I decided to try to find it myself."
    "Why Cedar Key?"
    "I don't know, but this is where we’re concentrating our efforts because of what those two men said in jail. Where my team was concentrating its efforts. Everybody gave up but me. This guy is going to go free if I don’t find the gun.”
    “Providing he’s guilty.”
    “Right, providing he’s guilty. If he’s not guilty, then I don’t want to convict him of murder. He’s going to be charged with accessory to murder though. He’s going to go down for something. I’m just not one hundred percent sure what yet.”
    "I'm in. I know you can't tell me anything else until you check me out, so you go back and do that.”
    “Thank you. I only have until Tuesday night to find it. My D.A. says I have to be back in court on Wednesday morning.”
    “For the trial?”
    “For jury selection and then the trial, yes.”
    Phil cocked his neck. “That quick? It normally takes years on something like this.”
    Kathryn raised both palms in the air admitting her confusion regarding this turn of events. “Since the D.A. refused to offer a plea, the defendant has decided that a speedy trial would be in his best interest over a fair trial because he knows we don’t have a weapon, and he knows without it, we’ll have no choice but to drop the charges.”
    “Interesting. Sounds like he’s got you where he wants you.”
    “He thinks he does, and that’s why I’m determined not to let this case go to trial without the gun.”
    “Okay, I’m hooked. I'm going to Savannah tomorrow to check on my house, but I'll cut my trip short and be back by late afternoon."
    "How will you get there and back so fast?”
    “I’ll fly. We’ve got an airstrip.”
    Kathryn rubbed her hands together and smiled. “Thanks again for your help. I've got to find the evidence to put Louie Ezzo and his thugs away for good."
    #
    How was it possible that the first pleasant woman Phil had met in years was Maria's friend and also Uncle Louie's prosecutor? The woman he'd just committed to help solve her case. He should win an award for his bad luck.
    Phil leaned against his silver Range Rover Sport, too distressed to go inside his house after Kathryn dropped him off. "Come on, pick up the phone." He ran his fingers through his hair and waited for the ringing to stop.
    Sweat trickled down his face and back; a lump the size of Staten Island grew in his throat. He had better not get Pops’ voicemail. Of course, it wouldn’t surprise him if he did. They hadn’t spoken in over two months except through Ma.
    "Hey, son. Whatcha calling me on a Sunday for? You know I'm golfing. Or maybe you don’t know. How long’s it been since you had time to check in with your old man?"
    "Sorry, about that Pops. And sorry to disturb you while you’re golfing. This is important. Tell me what you know about Uncle Louie being in jail." Phil paced the path from his porch to his mailbox on Whiddon Avenue and back again. He kicked a rock, and it pinged off the street sign.
    "What's it to ya, Phillip? You don't practice law anymore. Remember?"
    "I know, I know. But tell me anyway." He shoved his left hand into his pocket and jingled his change.
    "You wanting to defend him?"
    Phil halted. "No."
    "Then why ya askin’?"
    "Pops, please. I've been hearing some talk down here, and I've got to know."
    “Talk down there in Cedar Key?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “All I know is he’s sittin’ in the Perkins County jail. He couldn’t get bonded out because they said he was a flight risk. Where’s he gonna go? Everybody he knows is in New York.”
    “Why did they arrest him?”
    “They say he murdered two guys there and two here in New York. So maybe they have enough evidence to hold him. I doubt they have enough to convict him.”
    “Why?”
    “Would your uncle let himself get one drop of someone else’s blood on him?”
    “Okay, so say he didn’t do it, but