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

that’s what we’re going to have to work very hard to find out.”
    ~*~
    While her friends were there, Emily struggled to hold her emotions in check. She didn’t want another meltdown like she’d had in the shower that morning. Who could blame her, though? Any woman who had just gotten engaged, and then had her fiancé arrested for the murder of his supposed mistress, would break down into a crying mess.
    But she didn’t want to be that woman.
    If she was going to find the real killer, she knew she’d have to be stronger than that.
    Emily stripped off her clothes and crawled into bed, hoping for an hour or so of sleep. The alarm clock on her nightstand read four twenty-two p.m.
    Again, her thoughts filled with Colin. In her mind’s eye, he slowly danced with her in the warm glow of her living room lamps. His moist lips nibbled her neck as the music softly played. He smiled down at her, and she felt safe in his arms. Then, like something out of a sci-fi movie, his eyes widened in horror and his mouth flew open as he was sucked away from her embrace and deposited in a hard metal chair in the small, dimly lit conference room at the county jail, his face now bruised and battered.
    At the remembrance of his injuries, another rush of tears spilled from her eyes. A dark cloud of heaviness settled in her heart. Drawing her legs to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, she curled up in the fetal position, and her tears turned to sobs once more.
    She eventually drifted off to sleep, a temporary reprieve from the nightmare that had become her life.
    The early morning light streaming in her windows woke her, and she was surprised to find herself still balled up in her bed. Yawning as she stretched out her arms and legs, she flipped back her comforter. After sliding her legs over the side of the bed, she rested on the edge and raked her fingers through her tangled curls.
    The clock read seven a.m. She had slept over fourteen hours.
    There was no more time for wallowing—it was time to hit the ground running.

Chapter 9
    Alex Martínez had given Emily the name of Allison Laraway’s assistant in the District Attorney’s office—Julie Clark. She was the young woman who had found Allison’s body and called the police. Hoping there was something she could learn from her, Emily phoned Peter to fill him in and enlist his help.
    “I’m happy to help anyway I can,” Peter responded to her request.
    “Phone the woman—see if you can meet her today for an interview. It being Sunday, hopefully she’s free. You could tell her something like you’re covering the story for a major television station in Seattle and you’d like to get her thoughts.”
    “That is the truth, Emily.”
    “So it should be easy to say. It’s important, though, to find out more than just what she saw in Allison’s condo.”
    “Like what?”
    “Find out if she knows if Allison was seeing anyone. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to make it look like she and Colin were having an affair—the flowers, the photo of the two of them, the dates in her electronic calendar naming Colin as the person she was meeting with—not to mention his fingerprints and possibly his DNA in her place. Maybe there is a warm body to go along with the sham.”
    “Okay, Emily, I got it.” Peter paused, presumably making notes of their conversation. “Speaking of DNA, have the police gotten the results back?”
    “No, should be this week, Alex was told.”
    “I’ll give the woman a call and let you know when we’re meeting. You have her number?”
    Emily read the phone number to Peter. “Try to get her to meet you face to face, rather than doing a phone interview. That way you can work your charms on her. She’s more likely to relax and open up to you, don’t you think?”
    “I’ll do my best.”
    “Call me back and let me know when and where. I’d like to get you wired and give you an earbud so I know exactly what she’s telling you.”
    “Don’t you