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"Actually, I'm with a friend of mine who is in the way of needing a lawyer right away."

"If memory serves, Jedd, wouldn't that be you?"

"Not anymore. I haven't been in a courtroom in years. Since not long after you and I had a few of our last… tussles, actually."

Gina felt a flush rise in her face. She and Jedd had never been seriously involved on an emotional level, but long before Conley had gotten married, they'd indeed had some tussles in each other's bedrooms as well as in the courtroom. "Well, I'm flattered you called, but I must say I'm a little surprised that you thought of me."

"Well, you're an excellent attorney, that's why."

"Who never once beat you in court, if I recall, and I do."

"That's because all of your clients were guilty."

"I guess that's true," she admitted ruefully. "So what about your friend? Is he guilty?"

"Stuart Gorman," Conley said. "And no. He's not guilty. But he does need a lawyer making sure he doesn't screw things up and to walk him through the process." After a small hesitation, he said, "I know this is short notice, but that's the way these things go."

"It's not that," Gina said. "Actually, the timing couldn't be better. You're talking about Stuart Gorman the writer?"

"Yep. You've heard of him?"

"Not until a couple of hours ago. But in the small-world department, I just had lunch with the cop who talked to him at his house this morning."

"You're kidding."

"Not. Devin Juhle. Who, by the way, isn't as sure as you that your friend just needs to walk through it." "He say that?"

"I read between the lines. But he's a cop. They always think that." "Well, he hid his suspicions pretty well. Stuart thought he was a good guy."

"Maybe he is. He just thinks that if he's got a dead spouse on his hands, the other spouse probably has something to do with it." "Not this time. Do you think you could come on down?"

"When?"

"More or less now."

A silence, then Gina said, "I'm thinking. You know that I've never defended anyone in a murder case?"

"It won't come to that," Conley said.

"I'm not sure Inspector Juhle would agree with you."

"All right. But even if it does, haven't your partners both done murder trials?"

"Yes, but they wouldn't… I mean…" Suddenly Gina shook herself. "Oh, what am I saying? Of course I'm interested. I just don't want to misrepresent myself to your client."

"He's not my client. He's my friend. He'd be your client."

"Okay," she said. "But make sure you tell him what I told you. He's got to know who he'll be dealing with."

"So you're coming down?"

"Give me a half hour."

"Gina. Thanks for coming." Jedd reached out to shake her hand. His eyes took in all of her with one approving glance. He covered their grip with his other hand and held it. "I thought under the rules we were supposed to look older as time went by."

She shook her head, smiling up at him. "Don't start. You haven't held up all that badly yourself." She tightened her grip briefly, then withdrew her hand. "Am I on time?"

"Neither the police nor the press have reappeared yet, if that's what you mean."

"That's what I mean."

"Then you're on time. Come on in."

He turned to reveal the two people who'd just gotten up off the couch behind him. "Gina Roake, Stuart Gorman. And this is Debra…" He stopped on a questioning note.

The beautiful young woman stepped forward. "Dryden," she said, shaking Gina's hand with a cool, firm grip. "Debra Dryden. I'm Stuart's sister-in-law. Caryn's sister." She half-turned and rested her hand protectively on Stuart's arm, bringing him up into the introduction, her body language trumpeting at the very least a strong attraction for her dead sister's husband. "We're so glad you could come."

"I just hope I can be of some help." Gina reached around Debra and extended her hand. "Mr. Gorman, nice to meet you."

"Stuart," he said, "not Mr. Gorman." He took her hand. "Everybody seems to agree that I need a lawyer, so thanks for coming."

Gina cocked her head. "So I gather you don't agree."

He shrugged. "As I've mentioned to all and sundry, I wasn't here when my wife died, so I think it might be a stretch to conclude that I killed her."

"It might be at that," Gina said. "But you want to be careful what you say when you talk to the police. Did Jedd tell you that just coin-cidentally I had lunch with Inspector Juhle today? I didn't get the impression that he thought your wife's death was a suicide. Or that you couldn't have been involved."

Stuart lifted his shoulders, then dropped them. "Well, he'll find out. I wasn't around."

"Where were you?"

"Up at my cabin. We've got a place up on Echo Lake." Gina took a beat. "You were at Echo Lake this last weekend?" "Yeah. Why's that such a surprise?"

"Because so was I. Tamarack Lake, actually, right beyond Echo."

"Hey, I was there too. I mean, at Tamarack. God, could that have been just last night? It seems like a year ago. You really were at Tamarack?"

She nodded. "Camping. On the western shore."

Stuart was warming to the conversation, his face showing signs of animation now through the fatigue. "I was on my favorite rock on the east side just at sundown."

"Oh my God." Gina was caught up in it herself. "I think I might have even seen you."

But Debra cut in. "Well, all this is really special, but whether or not anybody saw Stuart up there isn't really the point, is it? Unless"- she spoke to Gina-"unless you saw him leave his cabin early this morning."

Debra's tone brought Gina up short. There was more, it seemed to her, than mere protectiveness here. It struck her as jealousy, which might mean something going on between Debra and Stuart.

Debra again put her hand on Stuart's arm, and this time he covered it with his own and left it there for a moment. "It doesn't matter where you were last night at sundown, Stuart. It matters that you didn't leave your cabin until sometime early this morning."

Gina realized that everybody else in the room knew more about the particulars of the case than she did. "What time, Stuart?" she asked.

"Two," he said.

Gina's face showed her dissatisfaction with that answer. "Two in the morning?"

"Maybe we all ought to sit down?" Jedd said. "Catch up on our facts."

Two chairs bracketed the small couch. Gina and Jedd took them as Stuart and Debra went around the coffee table and sat next to each other on the couch.

As soon as everyone was settled, Gina came forward in her chair and repeated her earlier question. "Stuart, you're telling me you left your cabin at two this morning?"

He nodded. "I couldn't sleep, so I decided to drive on down and beat the traffic."

"Did you stop anywhere for gas or anything like that?"

Another nod. "I pulled off and got gas just outside Sacramento. Used the bathroom." He suddenly shifted and brought his arm off the back of the couch, reaching into his back pocket, coming out with his wallet. "Here you go," he said after a quick search. "ARCO All-Nite in Rancho Cordova. Four fifteen a.m., this morning." He held the receipt out to Gina.

But striking quickly, Debra took it first and gave it a glance.

When she was done, she passed it over to Conley, who looked at Stuart and said, "Well, there's your alibi." Finally, he gave it to Gina. "I told you," Stuart said. "I wasn't here."

"If they've got a security video there," Gina said, "it's even better."

Jedd Conley nodded. "There you go."

"Well," Gina added, "it's not a lock, but it's a help."

Finally, the pressure and weariness seemed to weigh in on Stuart. He came forward on the couch, frustration etched in his features. For the first time, he raised his voice. "I don't understand how I keep hearing things like 'It's not a lock.' What's not a lock? I didn't kill my wife. What's so hard to understand about that?"

Debra put a restraining hand on his knee and left it there. Depleted, Stuart sank back into the seat of the couch.