Read Murder in the Courthouse for Free Online

confined to a wheelchair. Julie Love insisted on carrying him to nearly every major event she attended.
    Most groom’s mothers did not have a starring role in their son’s weddings, which seemed so unfair to Tish. She took it upon herself to plan the whole thing for poor Julie. The girl was hopeless at event planning. Julie had actually started with what she called an “intimate gathering of family and friends.” Ridiculous. Why even bother to get married? “Intimate gatherings” were not picked up by the Savannah Chronicle . Fat chance. The couple wouldn’t be able to buy their way into the wedding or engagement announcements. Of course, Julie Love insisted that didn’t matter.
    An “intimate gathering” screamed “shabby and cheap” to Tish. Once Julie was confronted with the Adams guest list, things began to look up. Not another single body could’ve fit into the sanctuary of the Savannah First United Methodist Church. By the time all the Adams guests were tallied, Julie tearfully announced, at an Adams family dinner no less , that her family couldn’t afford a big reception. Tish could still remember the moment even now, when Julie conjured fat tears to roll down her cheeks into the linen napkin in her lap. Her voice trembling, she said her mom and dad simply couldn’t swing it financially.
    What a little liar. Tish and her husband ended up footing half the bill for the party. Tish was still stewing over it. The papers—yes, Tish called in a favor and got the wedding details in the Chronicle after all—the papers said Julie Love was a beautiful bride . . . a beautiful fake as far as Tish was concerned.
    In fact, if only the world could see through Julie Love’s façade, they’d realize this whole mess was actually Julie’s fault. She was so simpering, so mealymouthed, so saccharine sweet. Tish had watched it for years. In her own mind, she often called it “The Julie Love Show.” Everything about the girl was a put-on. Even using her handicapped brother as a prop. Pushing him around at public events, fussing over him as if she really cared. It was a ploy. A ploy to get people to notice her, to love her, to get on all their good sides.
    Julie never, not for one second, fooled Tish. She could see through that the first time Todd had brought her over to the house to meet his mother. She had taken Todd away, put on that spectacle of a wedding where Tish was a nothing. Julie never let Todd spend time with his family anymore. Then she tried to lock him into a loveless marriage with a baby of all things . . . and now, this!
    Anybody in their right mind could see what kind of boy Todd really was. Why, he had it all . . . good looks, charm, education, manners, a good job . . . everything!
    The truth was, Todd had always been too good for Julie Love. Tish knew it and so did the whole neighborhood. And here they were, all lined up in court and siding against Todd! With friends like these . . .
    â€œBut Mom . . .”
    â€œNo ‘buts.’ Everything will work out, you’ll see, my precious boy. Now . . . let’s talk about what you should wear tomorrow for court. That’s all you have to worry about. Do you understand?”
    He nodded, shutting up so his mom could talk, like always. It was easier that way.
    â€œIt’s all going to be OK. You just wait and see. You’ve got the best lawyer money can buy. Listen to me . . . listen to your mother. Now I’m going to get those photos for you to put up in your room.”
    â€œIt’s not a room, Mother, it’s a cell. A jail cell .”
    â€œI know that, dear, but I prefer to refer to it as your room. And that’s how you should think of it too, like a dorm room.”
    â€œA dorm room? Are you crazy?”
    â€œCalm down, son. No need for the sheriffs to hear you agitated, is there? Remember, I went to nursing school before I married your father and