Free Deadly Intuition (Hardy Brothers Security Book 2) by Lily Harper Hart

even grumpier than I am now.”
    Finn blew out a relieved sigh as James shot Mandy a small smile.
    “That’s fine,” Mandy said, trying hard to appease him. “What does everyone like?”
     
    THE PIZZA arrived about thirty minutes later and everyone settled into various chairs as they ate.
    “If you had to pick one person who you think is responsible for the money going missing, who would it be?” Finn asked, turning to Sophie.
    She was surprised by the question. “I don’t usually approach things that way.”
    “What way do you approach them?” James asked.
    “In my line of work, it’s never good to go into an investigation with pre-conceived notions,” Sophie explained. “That’s why I take the information and whittle it down. I let the paper trail take me to the culprit. I don’t pick a culprit and then try to match up a paper trail. That’s how you make mistakes.”
    “That makes sense,” Mandy said. “You’ve got a great reputation around the county. This must be how you got it.”
    Sophie preened under Mandy’s compliment. “Thanks. I’ve tried to build a solid reputation so that, even if everyone doesn’t like me, they know I don’t have an agenda.
    “There’s a saying in the news business,” Sophie continued. “If you tick off one side and not the other, you’re not doing your job. If you tick off both sides, though, then you know you’re doing it right.”
    Mandy smiled. “That’s a good way to approach things. I’ve seen you in court a few times and, I have to say, all the stories you’ve written about cases in Judge MacIntosh’s courtroom have been more than fair.”
    “Court is easy,” Sophie explained, wiping her hands on a napkin. “There’s not a lot of room for debate. You have evidence. You have counter-evidence from the defense team. You report on both, and let the chips fall where they may.”
    “I would think that you would catch flak from the family of the victims if things don’t go their way, though,” Mandy pressed. “And, on the flip side, if someone gets convicted, I’ve seen their families rant and rave about it not being fair because there’s no way that the suspect could be guilty.”
    “You can’t fight human nature,” Sophie agreed. “Most mothers will never believe their child is capable of doing something heinous. That type of stuff you have to ignore. You can’t let it get to you.”
    “You do a lot of government stuff, right?” James said. “That’s got to be different.”
    “It’s always different,” Sophie said. “Politicians are liars by nature. I don’t think they can help it. I’m sure a lot of them go into the system with the notion that they’re going to be different, that they’re going to be a good representative for their constituents.
    “The truth is, the system fights that,” she continued. “The system is set up to make sure people like that fail. You must see that in the judicial system?”
    Mandy shrugged. “I’m sure it’s there. We’re at the circuit-court level, though. We’re not making big decisions. We’re making a series of small ones for individual people.”
    “Yeah, I wouldn’t think there are a lot of bribes on the circuit-court level,” Sophie agreed.
    “Actually, you would be surprised how many people have tried to bribe the judge,” Mandy said, laughing. “The problem is, the majority of these people think ten thousand bucks can change an outcome. I think, if we were making decisions on the big things – gay marriage, affirmative action, gun rights, you know, those types of things – then it would be a different story.”
    The Hardy brothers seemed comfortable to just let Sophie and Mandy chat. They were interested in the conversation, but none of them interrupted or added to it.
    “So, if I’m understanding you correctly, you’re saying that you go into the court system figuring that the truth will come out,” Mandy said. “When you go into the political arena, you assume