Violent Crimes by Phillip Margolin Read Free Book Online Page B

without parole, no plea to manslaughter. Your client is going to die for what he’s done.”
    â€œJesus, Larry.”
    â€œI assume you received the discovery.”
    â€œYes. Thank you for being so prompt.”
    â€œI intend to follow the letter of the law in this case. You will receive everything you are entitled to when you are entitled to receive it. If you have any problem with the way I’m conducting this case let me know. I am going to cross every t and dot every i , and when you go through the transcript during your preparation for your client’s appeal of his sentence of death, you will discover no errors. Your client will go from our jail to death row and stay there, thinking about what he did to Miss Larson until his miserable life ends in the death chamber.”
    Neither Amanda nor Mike was a decent cook and their jobs often kept them in their offices well past five o’clock, so they ate out a lot. On the day of Tom Beatty’s arraignment, the couple met for dinner at an Italian restaurant on Morrison. Amanda was a hearty eater, so Mike knew something was up when she spent the first ten minutes picking at her food and staring at the table.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” Mike asked when he couldn’t stand it anymore.
    â€œOff limits,” she answered.
    â€œI want to help.”
    Amanda looked up, and Mike could see she was in distress. “I can’t, Mike. When we started dating we agreed that we wouldnever discuss our cases if the discussion might create an ethical conflict. If I told you what’s bothering me it would put you in a bind. You could be accused of helping me.”
    â€œLet me guess. It’s the Beatty case.”
    â€œI told you, I can’t discuss it.”
    â€œLarry is stonewalling you. No plea bargaining, right?”
    â€œGoddamn it, Mike.”
    Mike didn’t let Amanda’s anger faze him. “Larry has a hard-on about this case. It’s a vendetta. I didn’t want him to prosecute it because he’s too involved personally but I was overruled. You are going to have to live with the fact that this one is to the death, literally. So stop worrying about how unfair Larry’s attitude is and fight for your client.”
    Amanda stayed angry for a few seconds more. Then she looked embarrassed.
    â€œYou’re right, Mike. Thanks for giving me a stiff kick in the butt.”
    â€œWell, it’s a very nice butt so it’s my pleasure.”
    Amanda laughed. “You know what I like best about you? You’ve always been there for me, even when I treated you like shit.”
    Mike smiled. “It’s worth the abuse. You’re very special.”
    Then Mike stopped smiling and looked uncomfortable.
    â€œThere’s something we need to discuss,” he said. Amanda heard a slight tremor in Mike’s voice, which surprised her. If there was one thing she knew for certain about her boyfriend, it was that he was always self-confident.
    â€œWhat’s on your mind?” Amanda asked.
    â€œYou know I went through a bad divorce.”
    Amanda nodded.
    â€œThat’s the reason I moved to Oregon from California.”
    Amanda nodded again, not sure where this was going.
    â€œSo trusting someone—a woman—isn’t easy for me.”
    Mike paused and took a deep breath. “Look, I’ll just say it. I love you and I want to be with you and having two apartments, well, it doesn’t make sense because we each have clothes in the other person’s place and we’re one place or the other almost every weekend.”
    Mike paused again and took another breath. “We should move in together. You can choose the place; I don’t care as long as we’re together.”
    Amanda hesitated. Her romance with Mike had been rocky at times, especially when she had been traumatized by the events in the Cardoni case, but any of their problems had always been her fault. Despite that