I smiled sadly. “How about we talk about anything but?”
I plugged the computer in, then powered it up.
It went straight into the computer home, skipping the part that asked you to enter a password.
“Did you sign into this already?”
“I did,” Birdee admitted. “Well, Dad did. He left it open, and when he gave it to me, I just took it.”
I started poking around. “Did you look on it?”
“No,” she admitted. “I wasn’t kidding when I said that I suck at computers. I didn’t want to mess anything up, so I just brought it here.”
“Well, let’s just change all these settings and make it stay on until we want it to turn off,” Cody suggested, taking the computer over from me and pressing a ton of buttons.
Moments later it was on the counter between all of us. “What do you think that file folder on the desktop is?”
“It’s all the evil deeds she’s done to us over the course of our lives,” I quipped.
She clicked on it and photos, as well as a few Word docs, started to pop up.
“Whoa.” Cody leaned forward. “Isn’t that…”
She clicked on a news article and my breath caught in my throat.
Romeo.
Only, it wasn’t the Romeo I knew. It was a photo with an accompanying article featuring a much younger Romeo.
Murder He Wrote
* * *
Six months ago, Romeo Hayes Rossi, twenty-four, of Dallas, Texas, beat and caused the man his wife was having an affair with to go into a coma. With the overwhelming evidence stacking against him, things are not looking good for Rossi.
* * *
When asked among his friends in his neighborhood, they all had nothing but good to say about him.
* * *
Romeo cleaned up our streets and made it safe for our children to play outside. He didn’t hurt anybody, least of all this man. Whatever evidence the cops were able to collect was planted. Romeo wouldn’t hurt anyone. Says one concerned citizen.
* * *
Romeo helped keep my family’s bakery open. They cleaned up the riffraff that were trying to make it impossible to keep the business open. Every morning he’s the first one there to buy a pastry. If he did it, I’ll give up my spot in the bakery business. He’s all class and doesn’t deserve to be put through the wringer for false accusations. Another neighbor shares.
* * *
Jury deliberation starts at eight in the morning sharp. More updates will be in tomorrow’s edition of Dallas Times.
I swallowed hard at the article in bold.
Cody clicked out of it without a word and moved on to the next article.
This one was simple.
Romeo Rossi sentenced to life in prison for the attempted murder of Camden James.
