Deadly Charade Read Free

the judge and gaining leniency for themselves or another. Others just looked pissed or hopeless. There were several kids crying or running around, too. She knew most of them, like the fancier clothes people wore, had been brought along in hopes of eliciting sympathy, as well.
    And don’t you just sound optimistic about life? one part of her asked.
    The other part of her shrugged. The truth was the truth, no matter how unsavory. Didn’t mean she was completely jaded. In fact, her ability to see things for what they were without letting it affect how she treated others would serve her well as a judge. If the citizens of Sacramento County elected her, of course. Although her boss, District Attorney Norman Peterson, believed she was a shoo-in and had finally convinced her to join the judicial race, Linda’s past might be more of a sticking point than he believed.
    People often asked Linda how she could do her job, day in and day out, and still maintain some level of optimism about the state of humanity. It wasn’t easy. Felony arraignment calendar was a morning-long runway show of the most desperate, dangerous and sometimes stupidest human beings possible. It was a constant reminder of the frailty of life and how it could be changed forever by a crackhead in need of a fix or a husband enraged by his wife’s relationship with a coworker.
    Beatings. Shootings. Robberies. Rapes. Thefts. Gang crimes. Committed every day by everyday people with jobs, friends, families and pets. You learned that the age, gender and the socioeconomic class of victims ran the gamut. No one was safe when it came down to it.
    Not Linda’s father. And not even Tony, the sweet-faced man she’d once loved to distraction. So much so that she’d stayed with him far longer than she should have.
    Linda cursed softly and swiftly shook her head as if doing so would actually keep thoughts of Tony at bay. It had been difficult to keep him from her mind on his birthday last month. It was even more impossible now.
    Mark Guapo, the drug lord Tony had informed on two years ago, the same drug lord whose men had almost beaten Linda to death six months later, had recently been released from prison. The reversal wasn’t based on anything that had happened at trial, but on a faulty search warrant. Guapo could still be retried for his crimes, but the tainted evidence would have to be excluded. Linda had already spent the past few days trying to determine if they had enough for a retrial, but understandably, she’d also been plagued with concerns about her own safety.
    And that of Tony.
    Despite Linda’s best attempts to protect Tony, Guapo had still managed to figure out that Tony was the CI who’d helped put him away. They’d gone after not just Tony, but Tony’s family, too. Now, Tony, his sister Mattie and his niece Jordan were in hiding in the Witness Security Program; Guapo wouldn’t be able to find them.
    As for her? Recently free, Guapo would likely be on his best behavior, so chances were she was probably safe, too. Safe but still furious. She’d worked so hard to get Guapo behind bars. And Tony had risked his life, given up so much of it. It seemed the height of unfairness that Guapo had managed to play the system and was now walking the streets as a free man.
    Not for long, she thought. Not if she had any say in it.
    She paused at the courtroom doors, pushing away thoughts of the past and lost second chances. She’d almost gotten used to lugging around the heavy banker’s box filled with files, but opening doors was always tricky. She balanced the box on her hip and reached for the outer courtroom door just as a male hand reached over her shoulder to pull it open.
    It was Neil Christoffersen, one of her fellow deputies.
    “Good morning,” he said with a smile, before taking the box from her. He immediately handed her a cup of coffee. It was the way he normally approached her. He’d proffer her coffee and they’d end up talking about work or