The little girl hadn’t spoken since the night her mother was found on the kitchen floor! Then the court dog lowered his head-and she whispered one sentence toward the defense table…

trying not to frighten a child who already knew too much. In her trial binder, the questions took up six pages. Ava had a feeling she would use almost none of them.

Across the aisle, Tyler Reed sat with his shoulders hunched inside a charcoal suit that still had a faint crease from the store. He was twenty-eight, lean, restless, and angry in a way that continue reading …