Strong Alibi by K.C. Turner (story reading txt) 📗

and started down the hall to let the secretaries know they were taking a break. Before they could reach the door, Peggy called out to them from her office.

“Elizabeth?”

They both stopped just past the opening of Peggy’s office door and China whispered an expletive. Elizabeth took a couple steps back, her eyes locked with China’s as she lipped ‘Oh my God!’ She turned away and poked her head in Peggy’s office. “Yes, Peggy?”

“I need to speak with you. Have a seat, please.”

Turning back to China for a moment she rolled her eyes out of Peggy’s view.

“Cankles,” whispered China.

Elizabeth held in a laugh and shook her head before stepping into the dragon’s lair. Peggy sat at her desk with amazing posture and looked down her nose at Elizabeth. She wasn’t an ugly woman. She had a smaller waistline and fuller in her bum and legs with shoulder length, bottle blonde hair, but her snobbish demeanor was off putting and made her less desirable.

“So you had the pretrial for Brandon DeFranco today?”

“Yes,” said Elizabeth as she nodded her head.

“Well, I’m afraid we have an issue but I wanted to get your side before I took this to Marilyn.” She moved the mouse on her keyboard to wake up her computer screen.

My side? What the hell is she talking about? Elizabeth realized Peggy was on the website for the Silverton Tribune. Brandon DeFranco had a busy afternoon. The entire conversation she had with Pam at the pretrial was now online for the world, or at least the entire city of Silverton, to read. What the fu…

Peggy scrolled down to a line that was highlighted. “I need to know if this is what you said to Mrs. DeFranco.”

In her fury, Elizabeth read the passage:

‘Victim advocate, Elizabeth Strong, did not hold back when asked why SPD and the prosecutor didn’t seem as if they wanted to work with a first time offender. She specifically said, “When you mess with the bull, you get the horns.”’

Shocked and humiliated, her mouth agape, Elizabeth didn’t know how to respond to the question. She felt betrayed while she silently searched for a way to best word her response. “Peggy, I – I don’t know what to say.” She sighed in discomfort.

“Right now, you just need to answer the question I asked you. Did you say this to Mrs. DeFranco?”

Her heart began to beat a little faster and the look on her face became defensive. “No – well, yes – but – it wasn’t like that. This is totally being taken out of context!”

Peggy cocked her head and spoke through her nose with more authority. “When it’s written down and then read, there is no other context but what the writer wants there to be. The article, as written, makes it appear that SPD and the prosecutor’s office has it out for Brandon DeFranco due to his past articles about us and he uses your words to verify it. This isn’t good, Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak and stopped herself. She sat back in the chair and shook her head, frustrated. With Peggy’s demeanor and tone, she was seemingly uninterested in hearing Elizabeth’s defense. “I don’t know what else you want me to say, Peggy. I said that to mean the same thing as ‘don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.’ I can’t help the context in which he wrote it.”

“I’ll talk with Marilyn about this but for now, I think it’s best if you just go home for the day. In our positions, we need to be real careful about what we say and how we say it.”

Not holding back on her feelings of amusement, and frustration, Elizabeth rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly as she laughed out of her nose. “You know, Peggy, I was planning on going home anyway, but thanks for your concern.” She stood up abruptly and stomped out of the office. Who in the hell does she think she is?

Briskly skipping down the stairwell, Elizabeth was fuming, hoping China was still outside taking her break. She took the parking garage elevator to the top level. When the doors opened she stepped outside to find China still smoking and on her cell phone. Her face lit up with relief.

“I gotta go, I’ll call ya later,” China said before ending her call. “Hey, Liz, what the hell was that all about?”

“Can I please bum a cigarette?”

Reaching in her pack and pulling out a Misty Menthol, she handed it to Elizabeth with her lighter. She looked at her sympathetically and asked, “What happened?”

The flame burned the tobacco and she inhaled the carcinogenic fumes along with the nicotine, instantly relaxing her nerves. Slowly exhaling, she closed her eyes and propelled her face towards the sun. When she opened her eyes, she looked at China. “I’m not gonna make it. I swear to God, anything that could have gone wrong today, did!”

After filling China in on the details, she was almost as pissed off as Elizabeth. “What a bitch! Liz, don’t even sweat that shit. You should have went straight to Marilyn’s office and explained yourself.”

“China, I just honestly don’t feel like dealing with this shit today. First of all, I can’t believe I let Angel talk me into going to Mansfield. That was a frigin’ disaster! Then, Pam totally throws me under the bus. And now, Peggy has the nerve to be all high and mighty. Her confidence is rather annoying.” She took another long drag of her cigarette.

China held out her French manicured hand as a signal to stop Elizabeth’s ranting. “Okay, let’s put all this in perspective, shall we? Angel is a Godsend. No pun intended – well, maybe a little.” She laughed. Elizabeth wasn’t amused. “Okay, seriously, so things got a little mixed up with the hearing. Big deal. Like you said, you didn’t wanna go anyway, right? No harm, no foul.”

Giving her a look like she knew she was right, Elizabeth rolled her eyes and shook