Free Murder in Plain Sight by Marta Perry Page A

entered the courtroom just as Thomas was led in. Jessica hurried down the aisle and slipped into a seat next to him, Leo right behind her. Thomas wore a black jacket and pants with a pale blue shirt, so apparently Trey’s mission had been successful.
    Thomas’s eyes were wide and frightened. No doubt he’d never been in a courtroom before, and he hadn’t grown up watching reruns of Law & Order on television, either.
    “Was ist letz?” he murmured. “What is wrong? Why have they brought me here?”
    “Don’t be alarmed.” She patted the black sleeve. “It’s just part of the legal formalities. The judge is going to ask how you plead to the charges.”
    He gave her a blank look.
    Patience, she reminded herself. “He’ll want to know whether you say you are guilty or not guilty, that’s all. When that happens, you’re going to say ‘Not guilty.’ Understand?”
    A murmur of excitement behind her made her look around. Trey and Geneva walked down the side aisle, accompanying a man and woman dressed in sober black. Thomas’s parents, to judge by the sob the boy choked on. Trey looked as if he’d rather be hanging over a seething volcano than walking into the courtroom.
    They filed into the first row of seats, and Thomas reached out to clasp his parents’ hands. Tears trickled down his mother’s face as she murmured something softly to him.
    Jessica hated to interrupt, but the judge could enter at any moment. “You understand, Thomas? You say not guilty.”
    He blinked, fixing those wide blue eyes on herface. “But if I tell them I’m guilty, will they let me go home then?”
    She managed to resist putting her hand over his mouth. He’d said it softly—no one but Leo was close enough to hear.
    Leo leaned across her, compelling Thomas to look at him. “Absolutely not,” he said firmly. “It doesn’t work that way here. Understand? Just do exactly as Ms. Langdon tells you. Okay?”
    Thomas nodded, reluctantly it seemed.
    She looked at Leo, who shrugged. “That’s how it’s done in the Amish community. You kneel before the congregation and confess, and everything is forgiven. I’ve known people to confess to something even when they hadn’t done it, just because the community means so much to them.”
    Appalled wasn’t a strong enough word. “He can’t do that here.”
    “No.” Leo fixed Thomas with a firm gaze. “You say exactly as Ms. Langdon told you.” Thomas nodded.
    The judge entered then, and they rose. The discomfort that had been weighing on Jessica slipped away.
    Maybe, as Trey so obviously believed, she didn’t belong, couldn’t understand the culture, was anoutsider. But in a courtroom, she was at home. This was her natural arena.
    The gavel rapped. Jessica studied the judge, trying to get an idea of the woman’s temperament. She was probably in her fifties. Judge Judith Waller’s round face didn’t give much away but the pink cheeks, the graying hair pulled back into an untidy knot and the gold-rimmed glasses through which she peered at the papers in front of her made her look like someone’s grandmother, peering at a recipe instead of at the charges that could send Thomas to prison for life.
    The judge looked up, her shrewd gaze moving from Jessica’s face to Thomas’s and then to the district attorney.
    “Mr. Connelly, it’s a bit unusual to see you for an arraignment.”
    “In view of the serious nature of the charges, Your Honor, I felt it advisable to handle it myself.” Preston Connelly’s voice was as smooth and assured as his appearance. He leaned forward, confidence in every line of his body. “The commonwealth—”
    The judge held up her hand, palm out. “Save it for the appropriate time, Mr. Connelly. We have a counsel of record for the defendant?”
    Jessica rose. “Jessica Langdon for the defense, Your Honor.” Again she felt the impact of that shrewd gaze.
    “Ms. Langdon. I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of seeing you in our court before,