The Accused by Jana DeLeon Read Free Book Online

why he found that remotely attractive. Clearly he had issues. Danger attracted him. Nice, pretty girls with a good sense of humor bored him.
    “So who is she?” William asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.
    “What? No one.”
    William wagged a finger at him. “I saw the look on your face. You went someplace where you were thinking about a woman—maybe one thin enough to fit in that slot.”
    “The woman I was thinking about would blow up the slot with dynamite and stroll through. She’s also the reason I need to talk to you.”
    “You’re speaking of Alaina? I haven’t seen her since she was a child, of course, but her mother was quite beautiful.”
    “She’s beautiful...and prickly and not much on giving information.”
    William smiled. “Got under your skin, did she?” He rubbed his jaw a moment. “I suppose with her being an attorney, she’d be naturally cautious, especially with anything she considered personal or outside of the scope of your business with the estate. Is there anything in particular that concerns you?”
    “Yeah.” He told William about what he’d seen in the house and his failure to find any good explanation.
    “And you don’t accept that it could have been tricks of light and shadows, as Alaina suggested?”
    Carter blew out a breath. “I should. I mean, it’s far more logical than someone walking around the house but not leaving a trace in all that dust....”
    “But?”
    “But I know what I saw and it wasn’t a shadow.” He paused for a moment, trying to think of how to sum up his assessment in a way that didn’t make him sound crazy. “Look, something’s not right. I can’t put my finger on it, but I’m as certain about it as I was that the Danish would be superb.”
    William nodded. “I believe you. You are your mother’s son after all. I’ve always figured it was only a matter of time before you tapped into the same perception she has. So what can I do to help?”
    “I want information.”
    “About?”
    “We can start with Ophelia LeBeau and Trenton Purcell.”
    “Okay. What would you like to know?”
    “I don’t know exactly. Just start talking and maybe it will come to me.”
    William nodded. “Ophelia was one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen—Alaina looks a lot like her from the pictures I’ve seen—but it wasn’t just the outside. She was beautiful inside, as well. I think perhaps her big heart proved to be her undoing.”
    “How so?”
    “She loved Marcus LeBeau, the girls’ father, as deeply and long as the Mississippi River. You could see it all over her face every time she looked at him. And the feeling was mutual. Marcus adored Ophelia and doted on his daughters. When he was killed in a boating accident, I think her heart broke in two.”
    “Enter Trenton Purcell?”
    William nodded. “It’s my opinion that Ophelia would never have taken up with him if she hadn’t been grieving Marcus’s loss. And I also think she wanted the girls to have a father. It was the worst mistake she ever made.”
    “So I take it you didn’t like him either?”
    William flushed a bit, his expression slightly angry. “Trenton Purcell was the biggest bastard I’ve ever come across in all my years on earth. And I trust you won’t repeat what I’ve said to your mother...at least not with those exact words.”
    “Don’t worry. I think you two are in absolute agreement on this one.”
    “Yes, well, I tried to talk Ophelia out of marrying him—I suggested she live with him rather than making it legally binding. Probably not my kindest moment, but with her own father deceased and my firm managing her estate, I felt responsible.” He sighed. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t successful—not in convincing her to forgo legally binding herself to him or in trying to get her to address the issues of the estate to protect her daughters.”
    “I don’t get that part. If she loved her children so much, why wouldn’t she want them