The Pursuit of Lies (Book #4, Paradise Valley) by Debra Burroughs Page B

Allison. Never.”
    “So we must be dealing with someone who’s pretty technologically savvy.” Isabel tapped her chin. “Someone who can hack into computers and phones to make it look like it was sent from yours and Allison’s, when it wasn’t.”
    “That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Peter concurred.
    “And someone who could lift prints and DNA and plant them,” Isabel added.
    Alex turned to Colin. “Do you remember anyone you sent to prison who would fit that description?”
    “Ernie,” Emily said, “do you have that list yet from SFPD?”
    “Not yet. I checked on it again first thing this morning. They promised me I’d have it by end of today. I’ll stay on them.”
    “I hate to wait that long to start going through the suspects, Ernie.” Colin grimaced and touched his side. “Why don’t we head over to your office after this meeting? We can at least look at the cases I’ve handled in this town, eliminate any friends, relatives, or significant others of the people I’ve put away here.”
    Emily grabbed Colin’s hand. His pain had not escaped her notice. “As important as that is, we’re heading to the doctor’s office for some x-rays as soon as we’re done here.”
    “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. We need to start working that list.”

Chapter 12
    The meeting at Alex’s office broke up and they all agreed that whoever was setting Colin up knew his way around state-of-the-art technology, and had to have been planning the frame job for quite some time. Emily had a gut feeling that there were going to be more bombshells to come.
    Colin was set on going with Ernie to scour the list of cases he had worked during his time in Paradise Valley. Despite the pain that was evident on his face and the tentative way he moved his body as he climbed into Ernie’s car, Emily reluctantly agreed to let him go. But she made Ernie swear he would rush him to the doctor if the pain worsened.
    “I’ve got Dr. Steinman on speed dial,” Ernie assured her, standing between his vehicle and hers.
    Emily tilted her head and wrinkled her brow. “Steinman?”
    “He’s been my doc for years. I’ve got his home number programmed into my phone, so don’t worry that pretty little head.”
    “Make sure I’m your second call.” Emily waved good-bye to Colin as she slid into her car. The sick feeling roiling in the pit of her stomach told her that she should have insisted that he went to see the doctor right then instead of giving in to his stubbornness.
    Emily glanced over at Colin in the next car as she backed out of the parking space. He looked exhausted and in pain. He was a big boy, she reminded herself, and she wasn’t going to drag him to the doctor’s office like a willful child.
    Resting on the seat next to her were the photos from the crime scene that she hoped to examine in peace and quiet, with no one talking in her ear. As meticulous as the man behind the frame-up might be, there had to be something he missed. She didn’t believe in the perfect murder.
    Rather than simply referring to the perpetrator of the frame job as the perp or the man , Emily decided she would call him Mr. X. She wanted to assign an identity to him to help remind her that Colin was innocent, that there was, indeed, someone else involved.
    When she got home, she planned to spread the photos out and scrutinize them under a magnifying glass, literally and figuratively. If there was anything out of place, she was determined to find it.
    Along with the crime scene pictures, the DA’s office had inserted a still-photo from the condo building’s parking lot. It was Colin’s vehicle, with the license plate highlighted to show the numbers clearly. When she came to a stop at a red light, she picked up the photo and studied it. If Colin planned to kill Allison, surely he would have known better than to park his Jeep under a light in the clear line of sight of a video camera.
    But what if it wasn’t planned? A spontaneous