Doctor’s office, masked and waiting.
Caucasian woman, mid 30s, with shoulder length blond hair, wearing blue T-shirt, khaki capris, and leather sandals. She coughs nonstop, mask tied, hands free.
The Final Detail, Harlan Coben (Island Books)
Page 77:
Again she didn’t answer. No need. Myron tried to put on his attorney skin for a moment. Clu’s having an affair was a very good thing for Esperanza’s defense. The more motives you can find, the more reasonable doubt you can create. Did the girlfriend kill him because he still wanted to be with his wife? Did Bonnie do it out of jealousy? And then there was the missing money. Wouldn’t the girlfriend and/or Bonnie have known about it? Couldn’t that be an added motive for murder? Yep, Hester Crimstein would like this. Throw enough possibilities into a trial, muddy the waters enough, and an acquittal is almost inevitable. It was a simple equation: Confusion equals reasonable doubt equals a not-guilty verdict.
The story was never told firsthand, just an urban family tale come to light every few years when she and her mother drove out of town to pick raspberries. This stretch of road always freaks me out, she’d say. It was paved now, but some twenty years ago it would have been soft gravel, her grandmother a new driver like many women who only learned after their husbands left or died. It would have been dark, real dark, and if it was customary to hit at least one deer in a lifetime, why should a man be any different?
Subscribe in iTunes | Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
