Read Lou Mason Mystery - 01 - Motion to Kill for Free Online

Sullivan’s room and handed Mason the key. They smiled at each other and Mason fantasized for an instant that they had checked in for a more pleasant purpose.
    “Not in your dreams, Counselor,” Kelly said.
    “If man doesn’t dream, he has nothing.”
    “A man whose dreams will never come true still has nothing. Open the door.”
    Sullivan had a suite instead of the single room Mason had been assigned. A briefcase sat on a desk in one corner of the living room. Mason walked past a sofa and entertainment center and picked up the briefcase while Kelly checked out the bedroom.
    He popped the latches on the briefcase, surprised that it wasn’t locked. Once he saw the contents, he knew why. It was an inventory of insignificance: Friday’s Wall Street Journal , the agenda for the retreat, a paperback copy of a John Grisham novel, a CD case titled Johnny’s Greatest Hits , containing a lifetime supply of Johnny Mathis. He left it open for Kelly to see.
    “Find anything interesting?” she called from the bedroom.
    “Nothing. How about you?”
    “Just this,” she said as she returned to the front room, holding a letter-sized sheet of white paper by one corner. She set it on the desk next to the briefcase. “Don’t touch it. Just read it.”
    It was a typewritten memo from Sullivan to Harlan Christenson dated two days earlier. Mason read it, aware that Kelly was watching each twitch he was fighting to control.
    “Lou told me today that Victor O’Malley would be convicted unless we lost certain documents that he had found in our files. I told him no. I’m not going to take any chances with him. I’ll fire him on Monday after the retreat. There’s no reason to ruin the weekend because of one person. If he tries to cause any trouble, I’ll report him to the state bar and he’ll be disbarred.”
    He looked up, expecting her to have drawn her gun and her Miranda card at the same time. Instead, he caught a glimpse of sadness before she resumed her official tone with a single question.
    “Is it true?”
    “I realize that we’ve only known each other a few hours, but do I look stupid to you?”
    Mason slammed the briefcase shut, stood straight, arms half-cocked toward her, daring her to say yes.
    “A lot of killers look pretty smart. They just do stupid things that get them caught.”
    “So how am I supposed to prove that I didn’t have a conversation with a dead man?”
    “Tell me about O’Malley’s case and tell me you didn’t advise Sullivan that the firm should lose those documents.”
    Mason let out an exasperated breath, clasped his hands behind his head, and did a quick circuit of the room. Kelly stood still, watching him orbit around her, while he decided how much of the truth to tell her. He decided to stick with what had already been reported by the press.
    “Victor O’Malley was Sullivan’s biggest client. Franklin St. John is about to indict him for bank fraud. I’m defending him.”
    “That’s half an answer. Tell me the rest of it.”
    Mason didn’t care about Sullivan anymore. Sullivan was dead and had set him up with the memo. But O’Malley was still his client, and if he told Kelly too much, he could lose his license. He drew a line only a lawyer could stand on without crossing.
    “Sullivan and I had lunch on Friday and talked about the case. The rest of it is bullshit.”
    “And you won’t tell me what you talked about because you’re more concerned about attorney-client privilege than going to jail for murder. That memo reads like a good motive. You kill Sullivan and you keep your job.”
    “Give me a break, Sheriff. That memo reads like a good example of libel, which is a motive for a lawsuit, not murder.”
    “So Sullivan struck first and you struck back. Malice begets malice. Libel to kill.”
    “That’s poetic, but, believe me, Sullivan wasn’t worth it and the job wasn’t worth it. I’d already decided to quit.”
    “Why? Because of your lunchtime chat with