Robin Lane Legal Thriller 03-Blind Trial Read online

  * * *

  I throw on the first clothes that I can find, the ones that I threw over the chair when I went to bed last night, and I don’t bother brushing my teeth or eating. They don’t matter when you have just been hit with news like this.

  * * *

  Before I put on my shoes, there comes a knock at the door. I run to it and throw it open, hoping with all my heart that Landis will be standing there, and this really is one big joke, but he is not. There is a police officer standing there, another a few paces behind, with his back turned to me.

  * * *

  “Robin Lane?” asks the woman officer, her face grave and serious.

  * * *

  “Yes?” I say impatiently.

  * * *

  “I am sorry to have to tell you this, but your brother was found dead this morning.”

  * * *

  “Yes, I know,” I say. “I just found out that my other brother was arrested for it. I found out from him and not from the police? What sort of operation are you running here? How long ago did you find the body? You know what, it doesn’t matter, the evidence will show that he didn’t do it. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”

  * * *

  The female officer stares at me, maintaining a neutral expression on her face. “I know that—”

  * * *

  “I’m sorry,” I interrupt. “It’s not your fault, I know, not completely. I just….” I want to scream and shout how they are all as bad as each other and how everything seems chaotic, but I know that they do a lot more good than bad, and I can’t blame this woman in front of me for arresting my brother or for the delay in getting to me to tell me the news. I shouldn’t have to find out about this from my brother calling me from the police station.

  * * *

  “I don’t have time for this,” I say. I close the door without waiting for her to say anything. I grab my shoes and put them on, quickly tying them. I open the door to see the female officer with the other officer standing beside her. I don’t waste any time and quickly push past the two of them, both with bewildered expressions on their faces.

  * * *

  I am out in the fresh air moments later, sucking in large mouthfuls of air. The mornings are getting colder, and the chill bites at my skin. I am not wearing a jacket, but that helps to wake me, and I dart straight for my car, setting off as soon as I get it started.

  * * *

  The traffic is almost non-existent, but people will be out soon. I drive as fast as I will allow myself, going above the speed limit, but not so much that I am going to be joining my brother in prison. I am still trying to make sense of it all.

  * * *

  I know what I heard—what Kit told me—and I don’t doubt what he said, but how could it have happened. It was yesterday afternoon when we were all together, one big happy family with a returned brother and a new baby on the way. We had all hugged together. Kit and Landis had shared beers together, working the barbecue, laughing and chatting. They had teased me together as they always did as kids. There was no arguing, no conflict, nothing to suggest what would happen. Nothing about it made any sense.

  * * *

  I don’t even know how Landis was killed. If they have arrested Kit, there must be some form of evidence, but I can’t fathom what that evidence will be. There must not be a murder weapon, or if they have one, it will have been wiped of prints. There can’t be any camera footage or eyewitnesses because he would not have done this. I go through the possible evidence in my head as I drive, and I come out with nothing.

  * * *

  The only scenario that I can believe in is that they have nothing on Kit and have arrested him in a panic. That’s my first order of business. I’ll get my brother out and get him home to his family. My mind flashes to Landis, but I quickly steer it away. If I can focus on Kit, I don’t have to face the fact that my brother is dead.

  * * *

  My brother is dead.

  * * *

  I park at the police station; the arrival at my destination is another distraction to take my mind from it. I can’t deal with it now, not without seeing Kit first.

  * * *

  I burst into the police station like a tornado, demanding to see my brother. Some of the cops already know me, but even the ones who don’t know why I am there. This town is not crime-ridden, and it’s unlikely anyone else has been arrested for a crime as serious as my brother’s. I am instructed to take a seat, not remembering the name that the desk sergeant gives me, and I don’t have to wait long before I am led to a small interview room.

  * * *

  Inside, Kit is handcuffed to the table as if he is a dangerous criminal. He tries to stand up when he sees me, forgetting about the restraints, and the table strains under the pressure. Kit slumps back into the chair, looking over at me with eyes wide like a lost puppy. I run to him instead and wrap my arms around him, hating the fact that he can’t reciprocate the embrace.

  * * *

  “It’s going to be fine,” I say.

  * * *

  “Nothing is fine,” says Kit. “Nothing makes sense anymore. If he is gone, I don’t know what I will do.” His shoulders start to jerk up and down, and I can hear the sobs coming from him. My eyes are dry, and I am only focused on the work at hand.

  * * *

  “I am going to get you out of here, Kit. Just take me through it from the beginning.”

  * * *

  “The beginning?” he asks. “Landis is dead? Are we not going to talk about that?”

  * * *

  “One thing at a time,” I say, pushing the tears away from my eyes. I round the desk and sit down on the chair opposite. I want to reach into my bag and pull out my pad and pen, but I didn’t bring anything with me. I drum my fingers on the table instead for want of something to do.

  * * *

  “Look at me,” says Kit. He holds my gaze for a few seconds before he speaks again. “You have to figure this out. Our brother is dead. The sooner you face that, the sooner you can get me out of here, and we can do something about it. Someone killed him, Robin. When I get out of here, I’m going to find out who did it, and they are going to pay.”

  * * *

  “Okay, less of the vengeance talk. Why don’t we focus on getting you out of here first, and then we can figure out the other thing.”

  * * *

  “Other thing. Just say it, won’t you? We need to get past this and find who did it. He’s dead, Robin.”

  * * *

  “Shut up!” I shout. “Don’t speak to me like that. I know that he’s dead, but I’d like to pretend for a little longer that he’s not. So, stop talking about it, and let me focus on getting you out of here.” I can feel my cheeks glowing red, and Kit must see something in my eyes because he doesn’t press the matter anymore.

  * * *

  “All right,” he says. “What do you want me to do?” He slumps back into his chair as far as the handcuffs will allow and closes his eyes for a moment.

  * * *

  “Just start at the beginning. This happened last night, I presume. When was the last time you saw Landis? He left the party after me, right?”

  * * *

  “Yeah, maybe around six.”

  * * *

  “And you two were pretty friendly when I was there. Any arguments or anything like that? Anything that is going to look bad?”

  * * *

  “No, nothing. We had a great time together, and we had planned to go for lunch on Wednesday.”

  * * *

  “He didn’t mention anything? He didn’t seem odd in any way?”

  * * *

  “Except for how he usually is?” he asks with a smile. He quickly loses that smile when he sees the look on my face. I’m not ready to deal with this, to joke about it—I’m not ready for anything at the moment.

  * * *

  “Okay,” continues Kit. “No, he didn’t mention anything. He seemed totally fine. He had just come
home from his trip, as you know, and he was still on a high about that. He did mention that he wanted to travel around Mongolia, but he said that would be in a couple of years at the least. Do you think this is connected to his trip?”

  * * *

  “I don’t know,” I say. “He didn’t have any enemies, we both know that. He wasn’t around long enough to piss anyone off enough, and I don’t think that he was in debt to anyone unless he was hiding that from us. So, what about after that? He left the house, and you didn’t see him after that?”

  * * *

  “No, he went home as far as I am aware, or that is where he told me he was going. I didn’t hear anything more about it until they started hammering on my door this morning. I opened it, and they jumped me. I was only wearing my underwear, hence this.” He motions down at the orange jumpsuit that he is wearing. I hate to admit it, but he does have one of those faces that looks criminal, and that is only enhanced by the prison wear.

  * * *

  “Did they read you your rights?”

  * * *

  “Yeah, they did everything by the book. I’ve been in trouble enough times to know how it should go down, and you’ve told me multiple times what to look out for too.”

  * * *

  “And?” I ask, raising my eyebrows.

  * * *

  “I didn’t speak to anyone. That’s the key, right? They were making some off-the-cuff remarks, and I knew that they wanted me to say something to incriminate myself, but I kept my mouth shut. I know better than that. I mean, how many times have we been in this situation?”

  * * *

  “Too many times,” I say. I quickly clamp my mouth shut, and I see the look of horror on Kit’s face. We have been here many times before, but not like this—never like this.

  * * *

  “What do we do now?” asks Kit. “They are going to let me go, right? I need to get out of here.”

  * * *

  “They have enough to detain you, and it wouldn’t surprise me that they will want to make an arrest if they have you here, as much as I hate to admit it, but that doesn’t mean that they have anything on you. I won’t get access to the evidence for a few days, but I’m going to tear it apart as soon as I do.”

  * * *

  “Someone framed me, Robin. I have to get out of here so I can find them. I don’t care what happens to me after that. When I do find them, I’m going to kill them.”

  * * *

  I don’t say anything more. Kit’s eyes are dancing wildly around the room, and I don’t think that I have seen him angrier than this, though he is hiding it expertly, and I wouldn’t be able to spot it if I had not been around him so much. The scary thing is that I believe him. If my brother does get set free, he is going to take this out on someone.

  * * *

  He is innocent of this crime, I know that. But I don’t know if I can stop him from committing another more brutal one.

  Chapter 3

  Family First

  “Don’t speak with anyone, you hear me. Don’t talk with anyone unless I am there with you. I need to get a look at the evidence first. And do not, under any circumstances, mention anything about vengeance, okay?”

  * * *

  “Yeah, yeah, I know that,” he says. He leans forward in the seat, wringing his hands together. “I love you, Robin. Please, they can’t go through this. You have to get me out of there for them. Will you go and speak to Debbie and Lizzie? Tell them that everything is going to be fine?”

  * * *

  “I will speak to them,” I say. “I’m going to represent you, and I’m going to be more invested than anyone else. If anyone is going to get you out of here, it’s going to be me. But, you have to promise that you are not going to kill anyone.”

  * * *

  “You don’t sound convinced, Robin. Either you are going to get me out of here or not.”

  * * *

  “You know that it doesn’t work like that. I’m in lawyer mode now, and that means no promises. As your sister, I am going to fight tooth and nail to get you out of here. As your lawyer, I have seen innocent people go to jail.”

  * * *

  “Why are you saying that?”

  * * *

  I look over at my brother. Why am I saying that? I nod my head slowly. “I’m going to get you out of here, I promise,” I say. “But you have to promise that you are not going to end up back in here.”

  * * *

  “That’s better,” he says. “And, no, I can’t promise that. When I find the person who did this, I’m going to kill them. That is a promise.”

  * * *

  I sigh and stand up from the seat. One thing at a time, right? I will get him out of here, and then I can deal with his thirst for vengeance. And perhaps after that, I can deal with the other thing—my deceased little brother.

  * * *

  “Robin,” says Kit.

  * * *

  I look down at him. His head is down, his shoulders slumped. I want to pick him up in my arms and cradle him. He looks up at me and speaks before I have the chance. “Nothing,” he says, a look of guilt passing over his features. I want to probe for more, but there comes a quiet knock at the door, and I know that my time is up. I stare at him, but his expression has changed. He is stoic again, and I know that I am going to get nothing out of him. All I can do is hug my brother before I leave him there.

  * * *

  I am led out of the room and back to the main foyer. There must have been a change in personnel when I was in there, and I can see a new desk sergeant has replaced the old one. I stride up to the window and knock on it. Officer Brent looks up and then back down to his paperwork. He jots a few more things down before getting up and circling around the desk to exit the office and greet me.

  * * *

  “Sid,” I say. “Talk to me, please. Does anyone know what’s going on?”

  * * *

  “It’s not looking good, Robin. I don’t know what to say. They are sweeping the crime scene as we speak, but the murder weapon has been found, that’s as much as I know about that.”

  * * *

  “They detained him, Sid. What do they have?”

  * * *

  “An eyewitness,” says Officer Brent.

  * * *

  “To the murder?” I ask.

  * * *

  “No, she saw him going into Landis’s apartment, and shortly after that, there was shouting and other noises.”

  * * *

  “She’s the one who called it in?”

  * * *

  “I don’t think so,” said Sid. “She only spoke to the police when they got there. Someone else called it in, I’m not sure who. I don’t think we have a name or anything. When they got there, they found the body and spoke with the lady. She gave a description of the man who had entered the apartment, and that was enough for them to arrest Kit. I don’t know what to tell you, Robin.”

  * * *

  “If any prints come back on the weapon, you’ll tell me, won’t you?” I ask.

  * * *

  “I’ll make sure you get everything,” he says. “You’re going to represent him if he is charged for this.”

  * * *

  “I am.”

  * * *

  “And don’t worry, everyone around here knows better than to try to get something out of him without you there. They will do this by the book; you have my word on that.”

  * * *

  “Thanks, Sid. Keep me in the loop.”

  * * *

  He nods and goes back into the office. I leave the building, dreading what is to come next. I have to let Debbie know what is going on, and I don’t have all that much for her. I don’t have much of anything, but it is still better than facing the truth of what has happened to Landis. Maybe I can distract myself forever from the actual truth.