Read Devil's Corner for Free Online Page B

there would be no trial on the charges.
    "Reheema, let's get real. You're a pretty girl, you know that. A woman as beautiful as you, it won't be nice. You'll be placed in the general population. You'll be somebody's bitch."
    Bristow's perfect mouth remained closed, but Vicki kept squeezing. Bristow couldn't be completely sure the government didn't have other evidence against her. Vicki wouldn't be the first federal prosecutor to be stingy with what she disclosed before trial.
    "That is, if you're lucky, it'll be one woman. It could be more. You could be the pass-around pack. You want that?"
    Bristow didn't answer, and next to her, Melendez shifted his weight in his chair. Vicki was threatening Bristow, which wasn't permissible, but Melendez wanted to save his client.
    "I'm not trying to scare you, I'm trying to tell you what you risk by going to trial. You bought two guns for somebody and resold them. All I want from you is the name of the person you sold them to."
    Bristow didn't answer, and Vicki felt her cheeks hot with renewed anger.
    "Reheema, if you're frightened, I understand. These are dangerous people, scary people. I can get you into the witness protection program. You lived in an apartment in West Philly, right?"
    Bristow didn't answer, and Vicki checked her temper.
    "Come on, you can answer that! It's on the indictment. Who did you live with?"
    "Lived alone."
    "No boyfriend or anything?"
    "No."
    If she couldn't get a date, I have no chance . "So you don't have the apartment anymore, do you?"
    "No."
    "Even better. I'll get you relocated to a new place, maybe even a house. I'll make sure you're okay, I swear it." Vicki meant every word, if it led to Morty's killer. "You don't have to be afraid of anybody or anything. Even if they're dealing drugs, even weight."
    Bristow looked down, breaking eye contact, and Vicki felt her heart quicken.
    "Reheema, if you give me the name, I'll tell the judge you're a cooperator. I'll give him the best possible recommendation for your sentence. I'll get you in ad seg, too, out of the general population. It's a completely different proposition."
    Bristow kept her head down, and Vicki leaned across the table.
    "Just give me a name. These guys are filth, they don't deserve your loyalty. Give me the name and you'll get back to your life. You had two jobs, you can work them. Meet a nice guy, I wish you better luck than me. You're only twenty-nine, as young as I am. Your life is in front of you, if you just say the word."
    "No," Bristow answered, looking up. Her gaze was steady, two flawless brown orbs focused on Vicki, which only made her crazier. She tried another tack. Maybe if Bristow knew Vicki had her number, she'd talk.
    "Reheema, who is Jamal Browning?"
    Melendez's ears pricked up at the unfamiliar name and he wrote it on a legal pad, but Bristow merely looked down again and began examining her fingernails.
    "Have you ever been at 3635 Aspinall Street? It's in West Philly." Vicki had looked it up on MapQuest this morning.
    Bristow continued with her cuticle, and Vicki felt her frustration rising.
    "Do you know a young man, a black male aged about fourteen, about five nine, who wears his hair in cornrows and is nicknamed Teeg?"
    "Objection." Melendez raised a hand, though no formal objections were necessary, nor did they have any legal impact at a proffer conference, which this wasn't anyway. This was a mugging.
    "I'm just asking her a question. She can decline to answer." Vicki's temper sharpened her tone but she didn't bother dialing it back. She turned to Bristow. "Who's Teeg?"
    Bristow didn't answer.
    "How about Jay-Boy, a young black male? Goatee? Older than fourteen, maybe sixteen." Vicki couldn't give further details of his description. He was the one who had killed Morty.
    Her head pounded, and her chest felt tight enough to burst.
    Bristow didn't answer, and Vicki was growing more furious by the minute.
    "How do you know Shayla Jackson?"
    Reheema's expression betrayed no