Read Online Murder in the Courthouse by Nancy Grace - Free Book Online Page A

of lilac and deep purple. Using her pen, Hailey gently pushed open one of the levered closet doors to see clothes that looked like they belonged to Alton’s mom. She must have stayed here often before her death.
    Heading to the third bedroom across the hall from the guest room, it looked like Alton had turned it into an office of sorts. A blonde wood desk with a desktop computer sat in the center of double windows looking out onto the front yard through sheer, ivory curtains accented by deep gold rayon drapes on either side. A clear plastic carpet cover was positioned underneath a desk chair on rollers pulled in exactly to the center of the desk.
    Hailey naturally headed straight to the desk after first using her pen again to nudge open a single closet door beside the desk and peek inside at stacks of office supplies neatly arranged alongside boxes marked for the past ten years’ worth of tax returns.
    Out of curiosity, Hailey punched the “enter” button on the computer’s keyboard with her silver pen. To her amazement, she saw immediately Alton didn’t keep his computer in lockdown because the screen promptly lit up and his personal email appeared. The very first thing she noticed was a long list of sent mail to someone with a courthouse addy.
    The list was most recently accessed the night before. “Hey, Billings! Better come here!” she called over her shoulder.
    The heading of the last email read “Big Meeting Tomorrow.” As Billings stepped in behind her, Hailey punched a button and themessage appeared. It read: “Left a message with his secretary. All set for 2 PM . Nervous. Call me as soon as you can!”
    â€œHmm. Wonder what that’s all about.” Hailey studied the email as if somehow its meaning could mysteriously be extracted from its brief message. Could be anything from a dentist’s office for a root canal to buying an RV to a new job interview.
    Scrolling farther down, Hailey easily saw a bulk of the messages were to someone named Eleanor Odom. Eleanor had a courthouse address as well. The headings ranged from “the cookies were great” to ‘let’s meet for coffee in the cafeteria” to “lots of paperwork today!” Many of the emails to whomever Eleanor Odom was remained unopened.
    At that precise moment there was a large crash simultaneous with loud male voices. Hailey darted down the hall and out the kitchen door to find Trimble standing at the forefront of a tight knot of officers and crime-scene techs. At his feet was the actual garage door.
    Billings flew through the door right behind her. “What happened?” His voice was deep, loud, and harsh. Hailey turned just quickly enough to see barely controlled anger etched on his face.
    All the guys looked straight at Trimble.
    â€œI just wanted to see how it was tampered with . . . so I got the guys to loosen a few screws and plugs and . . .” his voice trailed off.
    â€œDon’t anyone touch another thing. Evidence is not to be tampered with in any way. Another mistake like this could cost us a guilty verdict. Trimble, go to the station right now and complete the paperwork. Myers, oversee the rest of the photographs and work this scene.”
    â€œYes, sir.” A man dressed in light blue jeans with a navy blue CPD crime tech shirt tucked in stepped forward. He was clearly in charge of the techs on the scene.
    Without a word, Trimble turned on his heel and stomped across Alton’s lawn to his patrol car. In dramatic fashion, he cranked up, reversed, and scratched off.
    Not another word was spoken among the rank and file there on the scene as several of the techs moved toward to the garage door lying on the driveway. Hailey spotted two of them pulling out plastic gloves.
    The garage door. This would have to be handled very delicately . . . and not just the door. Not a word of Trimble’s snafu could be openly discussed, as that type of conversation,