He Defended Her, He Said I Deserved It novel · Chapter 25 of 32

Chapter 25: Commissary

I turned the log around so the deputy could see the line.

"Who's that?" I asked. "On the eighth."

He read it.

"Lawyer visit." He shrugged. "Lawyers come and go."

"He's not that man's lawyer."

The detective was still in the building, signing out at the next window.

I put my finger on the line and held it there until he came over and looked.

He read it once.

Then he took a picture of the page with his phone.

"Go home, Ms. Shore," he said. "Let me pull some things."

He came to Darla's office two days later with a laptop under his arm.

Ike stood in the doorway. Darla sat behind her desk and didn't touch her gum.

"Every inmate's got an account for the commissary," the detective said. "Snacks, stamps, phone time."

He turned the screen.

A deposit, February eighth, 2:41 p.m. Two thousand dollars.

Depositor: B. Treadway.

"Most of these guys get forty bucks from their mother," the detective said. "Two thousand buys a lot of honey buns."

"He paid him," I said.

"He paid him. Then that night, the man used the phone time."

He clicked.

A recorded voice said this call was from an inmate at the Richmond city jail.

Then the man. "Counselor. Got your gift."

Then Brantley.

I'd know that voice through a wall. Soft. Reasonable.

"When they ask you what she said," Brantley said, "you remember it differently. She said to scare her. That's all she ever said. Nothing else."

"Sure thing."

"And you never heard my name."

"Never heard it, counselor."

The call ended.

Darla closed her eyes.

"He took the money," I said. "And the next morning he told me everything anyway."

"He's a snake, sugar. Snakes don't stay bought."

The detective shut the laptop.

"Obstruction," he said. "And trying to tamper with a witness. I'll have the warrant by Thursday."

Thursday was the divorce hearing.

Brantley's lawyer had asked for it. He wanted the clause.

Neither party shall speak or publish regarding the marriage.

It was a small courtroom on the third floor, with a judge I'd never drawn.

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