Read Online The Guilty Plea by Robert Rotenberg - Free Book Online Page B

than delivering cool air. Despite the heat, Armitage wore a full suit, tie done right up.
    Ari Greene, in a pair of chinos and a short-sleeved shirt, stood calmly a few steps off to the right. His usual spot, slightly removed, everything in clear view. He carried his ever-present thin leather briefcase in his hand. Their eyes met for a moment and she flashed him a quick smile. Raglan hadn’t seen him since June, and Greene’s skin had a deep, tempting tan. Despite herself, she thought about his shoulders.Their first kiss had been in this office, right about where he was standing now.
    “Ari,” Armitage said. How convenient for him that Greene’s first name ended in a ee sound. No way even Armitage would call Greene Greeney. “Jennie tells me you two’ve done a few things together.”
    “A few.” He glanced back at her.
    “She’s not doing murder trials anymore, but she kindly agreed to come in and get things started with you.”
    Tell me about it, Raglan thought. Get things started with Ari.
    Armitage clapped his large hands together. Another one of his camp counselor habits. “Why don’t you two grab an empty office and go at it?”
    Go at it, Raglan thought. Hmm.
    They found an office with no windows. Someone had left a fan on, and it was rotating back and forth, doing nothing more than swirling hot air around.
    “How’re the kids?” Greene shut the door and slipped into a wooden chair tucked in the far corner.
    “Better,” she said. “Thanks for asking. How’s your dad?”
    “Difficult as ever.”
    “You make it sound like a good thing.”
    He laughed. “It is.”
    She’d tried to forget how much she liked his laugh. There was an awkward silence. Say something, Raglan told herself, her mind drifting. Like “Nice to see you, Ari.” Or “Ari, I missed you.” Or “Ari, you look so tanned.” She thought of their first kiss. It had been late at night, and they were working together. She’d shut the door and gone right over to him. He hadn’t looked surprised.
    Now Greene was talking to her. “We have to keep it totally under wraps,” he was saying. She nodded. Her heart was beating as if she were a teenager on a first date. Silly.
    “No matter what, it can’t get out,” Greene said.
    Odd he should bring up their affair now, she thought. He was usually so understated, and they’d taken such elaborate steps to be discreet. She was convinced no one knew.
    “The knife coming to us in that way. You never know how it’s going to help us,” Greene said. “Besides, the press would go wild with it.”
    Raglan kept nodding. What an idiot you are, Jennifer, she thought.He’s talking about the case. Not you. Fuck. Hope I’m not blushing. “Right,” she said. Remember, you broke it off with him. You wanted to be home. See the kids every day. Concentrate.
    He summed up the rest of the evidence. The marriage breaking up, Samantha’s e-mails and voice mails, the police warning her. On Terrance’s BlackBerry he’d found the e-mail telling Samantha he’d take the deal and inviting her to come to his house. E-mails back saying she’d be there in half an hour. No signs of forced entry. No apparent defense wounds on the body. The child saying his mother had been in his room last night.
    “Then this morning there was a call from your old boss, Ted DiPaulo,” Greene said. “He’s representing Samantha.”
    “Ted?” DiPaulo had been the head Crown before she got the job. He’d mentored her since the beginning of her career. Handpicked her as his successor.
    “Dragged me down to his office and had another lawyer give me the bloody kitchen knife wrapped in a towel,” Greene said.
    “That’s Ted. Always ethical. Wife have an alibi?”
    “Don’t know. DiPaulo’s stalling for time.”
    “Where is she?”
    “I thought DiPaulo had her in his partner’s office, so I put on a surveillance team. He just drove her home. We’ll follow her round the clock. I’ve alerted all the airports and the