Tell Me No Lies

“Yes, Your Honor, I would. Might I have a minute to confer with my colleague?”

“Do you want a recess?”

“I don’t think so. I need to confirm the relevance of a question I have for Mr. Cramden.”

In her no-nonsense way, Karen handed him the folder. “Got it. K-Mart store, last year. The amount was low, so he pleaded guilty to a noncriminal offense of disorderly conduct when he appeared before a judge at the arraignment. Though at that time he was indeed on probation, he was never prosecuted, therefore no one got him on the VOP. His daddy managed to make the charge go away.”

“Hooray.” Dan strode to the witness stand and stood in front of Cramden. The guy was at ease because he’d been informed before the proceedings got under way that Dan had no case. Which had been true up until a few minutes ago. “Mr. Cramden, were you ever arrested for shoplifting?”

“Objection!” Allison Markham, the defense attorney, was on her feet. A partner in a prestigious firm, she was one of the best criminal lawyers in town. “Mr. Cramden is not on trial for shoplifting.”

“Mr. Logan, are you going somewhere with this?” Judge Wicker asked.

“Yes, Your Honor.”

Sweat began to bead on Cramden’s face, and he frowned over at his father, who was paying Allison’s enormous fees. “I didn’t get a conviction for shoplifting.”

Dan held up the file. “I have here a document that shows you were involved in an incident at a K-Mart store.”

Cramden’s smiled disappeared. “That was nothing. I didn’t get charged with a crime.”

“Approach, Your Honor.” In her blue power suit, Allison was already marching to the bench. “What’s going on, Dan?”

“Your client was picked up at a local discount store for shoplifting. He stole a ten-dollar fishing pole.”

“Was he arrested?” the judge asked.

“No, he got off with noncriminal disorderly conduct.” He nodded back to the rows of spectator seats where the indulgent father sat. “A deal was made.”

Judge Wicker’s eyes narrowed on Dan. “You know, Mr. Logan, any case involving prosecution for ten dollars is liable to be thrown out of court.”

“Maybe not. Given the security tape and the testimony of the supervisor we just obtained, which wasn’t used before, a judge might reconsider opening the case. If he does, even prosecution for the incident constitutes a violation of probation.”

Though a judge might not consider opening the case, the defense couldn’t afford to take the chance that Cramden would go back to jail for ten years.

Allison’s face flamed. “I know nothing about this! The D.A. withheld evidence.”

“That came to us only minutes ago.”

“This is a witch hunt.”

Judge Wicker bristled. “Violation of probation, no matter how minute, is something my court takes seriously, Ms. Markham. I’m adjourning for today in hopes you and Mr. Logan can come to some agreement so we don’t have to go through a full-fledged trial.”

Stifling a grin, Dan knew he had the guy.

Allison came to the same conclusion. By four, they had a plea bargain and Cramden was headed back to prison for three years. Happy, Dan sauntered to his office. He was meeting Tessa at the library at five and they were going to the lake for dinner. Nick was taking the girls to SeaBreeze, a local amusement park.

Dan dropped down behind his desk. Tessa. Now that he had a minute to think, he played back what had happened in the week since her car accident. Most of the bruises on her face had faded, but the ones on her legs and butt were still nasty. Poor baby. Her mood had improved, too, and she was no longer blaming herself for the crash. He’d waited until last night to bring up the question he’d had about her past….

“Tess, honey, sit with me a minute.”

She’d been standing at the kitchen counter, and he had taken a chair at the table. “I should finish up the salad.”

“In a minute. The kids are watching a video. I’d like to talk to you about something.”

She had sat down. “What’s going on?”

“When you were in the emergency room, I overheard you and Janey talking about the car accident you had when you were nineteen. You said something about still feeling guilty.”

Her hands had clenched the skirt she wore. “Did I? I don’t remember.”

“Tess, love, you can tell me anything. We all make mistakes.”

There had been a wounded look in her eyes. “I didn’t have a happy childhood, and I had a worse adolescence.” She had drawn in a breath. “One of the reasons I didn’t want a relationship with you all those years ago was because you were always prying into my past. I hate it when you do this.”

The accusation had stung. Sure, Tessa had been more than wary of his attention when she worked at Chico’s Diner and waited on him. She refused—innumerable times—to date him. He didn’t remember one of the reasons being his interest in her past, though.

“No, I haven’t forgotten what happened eleven years ago. Or the fact that you only agreed to marry me because you were pregnant.”

Her face had shadowed at the reminder of the baby she’d lost.

“Dan, why are we going over all this? You know I love you, the kids and our life together. What possible reason could there be for you to delve into something so painful for me?”

“The car accident made you sad.”

“Right now, you’re making me sad.”

So he’d dropped it….

Tonight he hoped to make up to her for being so pushy. He should have let it go, he guessed. Sometimes, his overprotectiveness caused him to be too aggressive. Maybe he’d leave work early and pick up some flowers for her.

He was stuffing things into his briefcase when the administrative assistant, Wanda Anderson, strode into the office. “Dan, Mayor Nash is here to see you.”

“Why?”

Wanda shrugged. “He’s with two city councilmen. They said they want to talk to you right away.”

This was unusual. He circled his desk and went to the door to greet them, hoping this wasn’t bad news, hoping he got out of this meeting in time to meet his wife.

“THAT’S A WISE CHOICE, Chelsea. It’s one of my favorites in the series.”

Book in hand, the pretty blonde with world-weary blue eyes looked over at Tessa. “I already read Go Ask Alice and Jay’s Journal.”

Tessa nodded to the book. “Annie’s Baby is as well written as those.” She held the girl’s gaze. “Want to talk about anything, sweetie?”

Chelsea Chamberlain shrugged with typical teenage nonchalance. “Talk about what?”

Tessa had been working with this particular group of girls from Nick’s center every Thursday since September, and had gotten close to them. In the last few weeks, she’d begun to suspect Chelsea was pregnant. Tessa wondered how much to say. Kids hated to be pushed. She hated to be pushed. Something Dan did routinely, as he’d shown last night.