Konrad sat next to her and put an arm around her. “The trial’s only a few days away. Is there anything I should be doing?”
She looked up at him with questioning eyes.
“What? Is that a dumb question?”
“No. I just thought we’d talk about what happened yesterday first.”
“Oh. Right now?”Crap. I’m barely out of the doghouse. I didn’t think she’d want me to propose so soon.
She tipped her head. “Why not now?”
“I want to do this right, and I still haven’t had the chance to—”
She put her finger to his lips and said “Forget that. I told you I don’t need a candlelit dinner or fancy engagement ring. None of that is necessary.”
“But I want to do something special, becauseyou’respecial.”
She leaned back and smiled. Her whole face softened, and her eyes danced whenever she smiled just for him.
He stroked her hair. “I love you more than anything. You know that, right?”
She glanced at her lap. “Yes, I know.”
“Okay, good. Keep remembering that. One of these days I’llshowyou how much you mean to me. That’s a promise.”
“Why not now?”
“Because you’d always wonder if I did it because you wanted me to. No, I thought of something that will take a little planning. If you can be patient. It might be better to wait until after the trial anyway.”You might prefer not to be engaged to a jailbird for who-knows-how-many years.
She nodded. “Okay. So, what did you want to do? Talk about the trial?”
“We probably should. What kinds of questions should I expect?”
She dragged her feet up onto the couch and hugged her knees, looking more like a little girl than his attorney. “You might never have to testify.”
“Seriously? Could they possibly put me in jail without giving me a chance to defend myself?”
“That’s not what I meant. Sometimes the evidence can be disputed and the lawyers can create enough reasonable doubt on their own without the defendant ever having to get on the witness stand.”
“How can you do that?”
“Well, we found the two guards who had been at the museum that night, and they’ll be asked to point out the gunmen who tied them up,ifeither of the thieves are in the courtroom.”
“You’re expecting them to cooperate? To say they don’t see the guys?”
“They’ll be under oath.”
“But didn’t you say before that the public wants someone to hang? Won’t they be tempted to point to me just because I’m the defendant?”
“No. I’m sure they’d prefer to convict the guys who really did it. They won’t want an innocent man going to jail while letting the real thieves off the hook.”
“Okay, but what if they get confused? It’s been a long time, and sometimes people see what they want to see.”
“According to their police-report descriptions, you’re about as far from the men they saw as you can be. Both were under six feet tall and you’re what? Six-six?”
He chuckled. “No. Only six-four.”
“Ha.Onlysix-four.Okay, well, I doubt anyone would see you as six feet or less.”
