Lie or Die: A Shelby Nichols Adventure Read Free Page A

all of those boxes, I could be here all day, and probably tomorrow as well. Even though it meant more billable hours, I’d rather not spend them this way. “Um…I only need what you’ve got on his family and friends, not the actual case information. Does that make sense? I just want to talk to anyone who knew him, like his employers. That sort of thing.”
    “That sounds like the police investigation,” he said. “I think that stuff is in this box here.” He picked the box up like it weighed hardly anything, and carried it out to a room with a copy machine and table. “You can look through it in here, and make whatever copies you need.”
    “Great. Thanks so much.”
    “No problem. I hope you find something.” He was thinking how disappointed he was to never finish the case. Keith Bishop was killed before the trial barely got started, and all his hard work went down the drain. Of course, it had saved everyone a lot of money now that he was dead. The alleged assassin that killed him…what was his name? Ah, Mercer…was dead too. It seemed like a lot of people had died over this money, and the man responsible was still out there. Anyone who got close to the money was dead. I seemed like a nice lady…he hoped it wouldn’t kill me too.
    “Thanks,” I said with a bright smile, mostly because he thought I was nice. As he left the room, I opened the box and shuffled through the files. There were several that had what I needed, and I made lots of copies. By the time I was done, I had a pretty big stack.
    I talked to Don, and he helped me put all my copies in a box. Like a true gentleman, he even carried it to my car. Who said lawyers were bad? Of course, since I was married to one, I was a little biased. Still, I didn’t like all those nasty lawyer jokes, or come to think of it, the dumb blond jokes either.
    That reminded me of Felt, and I wondered if he had done all this, too. He was at the courthouse, dressed as a woman, the day Bishop was killed. Why was he there that day? He couldn’t have known that Mercer was hired to kill Bishop until later, and that’s why he started following him. But why was he there in the first place? I could probably ask, but I doubted that he’d tell me the truth. Of course, what did that matter? I could read his mind. I smiled with satisfaction. This was the right business for me.
    I started up the car and glanced at the clock. Making all those copies had taken me longer than I thought. It was close to two in the afternoon, probably too late to go out to lunch with Chris. So I went home instead. I staggered under the weight of the box, but managed to carry it all the way into Chris’ study. I figured since he wasn’t home during the day, I could use his study as my office.
    I found the time card app on my iPhone and set it to keep my hours straight, including the time I’d spent already at the prosecuting attorney’s office. I settled in at the desk and went to work, writing up a list of people, their addresses, and their relationships to Keith Bishop. By the time the kids got home from school, I had the list ready to go and my work cut out for the next day.
    I was especially excited to visit the first place on my list. It was a shop owned by Keith’s aunt, Dottie Weir. He’d worked there occasionally, and it was called “Novelty Creations” and subtitled, “for all your lingerie needs.” This could be it! The break I was looking for!
    I could hardly wait to show Chris. Then he’d have to take back everything he’d said about my stupid clue. Not that I wanted to shove it in his face or anything, but still, I was pretty happy. It gave me credibility and made Shelby Nichols Consulting official. Of course, I hadn’t found the money yet, but I had possibilities now.
    My cell phone rang, and my elation plunged. The caller ID said it was Thrasher Development. From the way my heart pounded, I knew my blood pressure had gone sky high. Uncle Joey had that effect on me, and I