Read Ed Lynskey - Isabel and Alma Trumbo 01 - Quiet Anchorage for Free Online

a sip of water from the glass, and her fork sat in its original place setting. Neither sister had said three words at the dinner table, but their silence wasn’t aloofness. Each had retreated in her own thoughts. After retrieving the paper napkin from her lap, Alma balled up the napkin to flip on the tablecloth.
    Isabel glanced over with apprehension furrowing her forehead.
    “Let’s set first things first. Any ideas for Megan’s lawyer?” she asked.
    “Who else but Dwight Holden?” Alma’s pinkie brushed the cornbread crumbs under her plate. “He’s our most experienced lawyer.”
      “Even so, I’d say murder falls outside of his realm of expertise.”
    “Very true but for us that can be an asset. Sure, we can shell out serious money and hire Megan a big defense lawyer, but then where does that leave us?”
    Confusion replaced the apprehension on Isabel’s face. “We’ll visit her every day at trial and bring her home after the jury sets her free.”
    “But you see that’s my problem.” Alma selected her next words with care. “Left as the mere spectators will drive us crazy.”
    “You’ve lost me.”
    “This is how I see our situation. Say we do drive up to the city and hire a big defense attorney that we talk to and like.”
    “That’s the usual course of action.”
    “Then the big defense attorney becomes the shot caller, and we’ve no option but to nod our heads since we’re paying through the nose for his or her advice. Can you bear the thought of us limited to that subservient role?”
    “Ah, now I see.” Isabel smiled. “You think we can handle Dwight. Sure, but how much of a difference will our help make if you can stuff all we know about criminal law into a thimble?”
    “Dwight can keep the jurisprudence part humming along,” replied Alma. “We’ll correct him if he drifts off course, but it’s up to us to ferret out the right clues or leads and build the solid foundation to Megan’s defense. With his murderer in prison, Sheriff Fox feels no impetus to search any further.”
    Instant emotion thickened Isabel’s voice. “He’s off his rocker because she’s no murderer.”
    “So we’re forced to prove her innocence. Simple as that.”
    Isabel pitched her napkin on the tablecloth. “We haven’t heard if Megan has her own ideas on how to run things.”
    “She’s in no shape to reason clearly. Her fiancé died, and she’s been charged for it. That double whammy would make anybody’s head spin. We have the responsibility to do her thinking for her.”
    “First off tomorrow morning, we’ll phone Dwight’s office.”
    “Why do we sit and worry all night?” Alma fished the sedan’s key ring from her pants pocket to brandish with a jingle. “There’s no time like the present.”
    “You’d every intention to see Dwight tonight before we sat down to dinner, didn’t you?”
    Alma nodded. “Guilty as charged.”
    “Shall we phone ahead?”
    “Why give him the opportunity to say he’s too busy to see us?”
    The sisters grabbed their purses and whisked out into the evening’s dewy cool. The katydids chittering high in the treetops serenaded them. The air brakes squealing on the eighteen-wheelers slowing through the town’s main intersection left Isabel wincing. She fended off a shiver of fear and returned inside to switch on their porch security lamp. Quiet Anchorage was no hotbed of crime, but a murderer was on the loose, and you couldn’t be too cautious.
    “Suppose Dwight isn’t home?” asked Isabel in the sedan.
    “He’s a homebody and will be in. He can make a call, and we’ll get to see Megan tonight.” Alma sneezed into a tissue.
    “We’ll also drop by the pharmacy and hope Vernon has refilled your allergy pills. Or we’ll trek to the Warrenton drugstore to purchase them.”
    “If there’s enough time, we’ll make the Warrenton trip, but seeing Megan tonight deserves our top priority.”
    “I couldn’t agree more with you.”

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