Don't Say a Word by Beverly Barton Page B

Did Willie tell you anything about her?”
    â€œJust that she moved as far away from her parents as she could get. Pretty much hated their guts. But who wouldn’t.”
    â€œI’ll call her and get the interview today.”
    â€œGood. Right now, I think we need to pay a call on Jane Cansell down at the courthouse.”
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    Tam Lovelady was sick to death of the trial. More than that, she was sick and tired of reliving terrible, long-ago memories that the Rocking Chair Murders brought down on her and her best friend, Audrey Sherrod, and lots of other innocent people. She didn’t ever want to think about it, much less remember all the details, especially those concerning Audrey’s stepbrother, Hart Roberts. She could hardly believe he was really gone, murdered . She had loved him for so long, those feelings hidden deep inside her heart. And their child, the child she conceived with him so many years ago and aborted when she was only eighteen. She lived to regret that decision, but knew it was her only choice, because she and Hart could never have been together. She’d never gotten over it. Never. Hart’s death had hit her hard, even after all the years that had gone by, even after she had married Marcus, the kindest, most considerate, most wonderful man in the world.
    Agitated by the deep and painful thoughts resurrected inside her, Tam rose from the wood bench in the hallway outside the criminal courtroom and paced the length of the marble floor to the windows overlooking the street.
    J.D. was testifying again. He had been on the stand for three hours. And she wasn’t even next in line on the witness list. She turned around and leaned against the windowsill. They’d break for lunch soon, thank goodness. She was tired and wasn’t sleeping. She missed Marcus. They’d been separated for almost a year. Her idea, because of Hart, of course; it had always been about Hart. But she missed her husband since the first day she’d left their home. Her idea. He didn’t want her to go, but she had temporarily moved back home with her parents. Her heart hurt, grieved over their separation.
    She had cut Marcus out of her life, but not out of her heart. She truly loved him. More now. She’d seen him a couple of times. Not often. He’d given her the space she’d said she needed, and at first, she had welcomed the time alone, still struggling with her love for Hart—wanting to help Hart overcome the demons that had possessed him since he was the blond-haired, blue-eyed boy she had fallen so desperately in love with. He had been mentally unstable even back then, drowning in drugs and alcohol and living to forget the bad things in his life.
    Across from her, the elevator doors slid open and a tall, handsome man and a woman stepped out. Pleasantly surprised, she hurried toward them. It was her new partner, Julia Cass, and J.D.’s fellow TBI agent, Will Brannock. Tam had first met Julia when Julia interviewed for detective, and had been impressed with her knowledge and experience. Will Brannock she had always gotten along with. He was a good agent, but ultra-private, the kind of guy that nobody ever seemed to know very well, not even J.D., who worked so closely with him. Closemouthed but nice enough.
    â€œHey, Julia,” she called out as they turned in the other direction and hurried off down the shiny corridor.
    Both turned around, and Julia smiled and waved. Tam really regretted being tied up at the trial, so eager was she to get back to work and partner up with Julia. Especially on this new case, yet another murder involving a member of the Chattanooga legal community. People were going to wonder if anyone in the courthouse walked the straight and narrow anymore. Once the details of the killing leaked out to the press and general populace, Judge Lucien Lockhart’s death was going to be a raging media sensation. Tam wished she could help solve it before