Stump Speech Murder by Patricia Rockwell Read Free Book Online

uncharacteristically quiet, escorted the visitor in and then turned and carefully shut the door behind her.
    “Pamela,” said Willard, “I’d like you to meet Martin Dobbs.  Martin, my colleague Pamela Barnes.” Dobbs, a neat, slender black man, dressed in a navy blazer and grey trousers, immediately reached out to shake Pamela’s hand with both of his. 
    “Dr. Barnes,” he greeted her. “I can’t tell you how much it means to me to hear that you are interested in helping James.”
    Pamela looked at her two colleagues quizzically.
    “Pamela,” said Joan, “remember, I told you about Martin.  He’s James’s campaign manager.”
    “Actually,” interjected the energetic Dobbs, “not only his campaign manager, but also his business partner—and long-time, best friend.  James and I were roommates in college and we’ve been sort of tied at the hip ever since.  It sort of seemed natural that we would open our own law firm together after we both graduated from law school at the same time.”
    Pamela looked at the new man and finally began to place him from yesterday’s rally.  She remembered him standing beside James Grant throughout the young politician’s speech and the television interview that followed. 
    “Mr. Dobbs,” she said to the newcomer, “yes, now I remember you.  Actually, Joan took me to the rally in the park yesterday.  I believe I remember seeing you there.  Would you like to sit down?”  She gestured to the group and Dobbs and Willard immediately plopped onto Pamela’s comfortable sofa and Joan took up her typical post in the straight back chair near the door.  Pamela returned to her desk chair.
    “I was there all right,” Dobbs responded, laughing.  “Wherever James goes, I go.  If you must know, James was originally going to hire a campaign manager.  Really!  Well, I wasn’t going to have that.  I told him, if he had the gumption to run against Brewster—then he was getting me for a campaign manager.  And, believe it or not, I think I’ve done a pretty good job.”  His cheerful, expressive face suddenly fell—in rhythm with his powerful shoulders.  His eyes latched onto Pamela’s like a vise.  “Well, at least I thought I was doing a pretty good job until yesterday.  We were ahead of Brewster in the latest poll—not much, but a little.  Then it all fell apart.” 
    “Pamela,” said Joan from across the room by the door, “Martin appealed to Willard and he to me for help.  You said yesterday at the rally that you were going to work on James’s campaign . . . .”
    “Oh, wonderful, Dr. Barnes!” interrupted Dobbs with a small bounce on the sofa cushion, “we can use all the help we can get.  Of course, I didn’t expect things to get so bad . . . .”
    “. . . and I know you’d never renege on a promise,” continued Joan, pointedly at Pamela.  Pamela cringed.  Joan would hold her to her unenthusiastic commitment from yesterday and somehow would now force her to help this man and embroil her in a criminal investigation.
    “I was happy to help with Mr. Grant’s campaign,” said Pamela politely to the group, “but I’m not sure there’s anything I can do for him in these new circumstances . . . .”
    “You mean, now that he’s been arrested for murder,” said Dobbs, shaking his head forlornly.
    “Martin,” chastised Willard, turning to the young man next to him on Pamela’s couch.  “You cannot give up.”
    “I agree,” urged Joan, bending in towards the two men. “Surely this is all a mistake.  I can’t help thinking that some horrible error has been made.  I told you that, Pamela.”
    “I wish you were right,” sighed Dobbs, “but if there is some horrible mistake, I don’t know what it is.  Stacy was murdered—and for all intents and purposes—it certainly looks like James did it.”
    “It wouldn’t be the first time that an innocent person was falsely accused,” argued Joan, clenching her fists in