Free Accused: A Rosato & Associates Novel by Lisa Scottoline

adversarial. It’s difficult enough for you.”
    There was a happy shout from the evergreens, and they all turned to see Allegra hustling toward them, waving. She was wearing a white T-shirt that read DON’T WORRY, BEE HAPPY with white shorts and sneakers, and her long, wavy hair flew out behind her. “Mary! Judy! Hi!”
    “Hi!” Mary waved back, and so did Judy, before they could be enjoined not to.
    “What are you guys doing here?” Allegra’s smile faded as she reached the tense group, and Mary felt for her.
    “Sorry to surprise you, Allegra. We thought we’d come by, see you, and talk with your parents about the case, to keep them in the loop. I called you and told you we were on the way. Did you get the message?”
    “No, sorry, I didn’t have my phone on me.”
    “Is it okay with you if we talk to your parents, with you present?”
    “Sure.”
    “And can we meet with you alone first, before we do that?”
    “Yes.”
    “No,” John answered, at the same time. Neil Patel opened his mouth to say something, but John waved him into silence. “No, no, no.”
    “Daddy?” Allegra looked over at her parents, her expression anxious, but not completely surprised. “Why can’t they? They can’t talk to me?”
    “Allegra.” John placed a hand on his daughter’s knobby shoulder. “Your mother and I wish you would stop right now. We’ve been over and over this, but you’re taking it to a new level. Getting lawyers involved is very extreme. It’s not good for you, and it’s too intrusive to us, to have outsiders in our family life.”
    Jane came around Allegra’s other side, her expression pained. “Honey, Daddy’s right. Why don’t you tell Mary and Judy to go back to their office, and we’ll go inside, have some lemonade and cookies, and talk this over. You know we love Fiona, and if you still have questions about her, well, what happened to her, I promise you we can find a way to answer them.”
    Neil Patel turned to Allegra. “Legally, your parents are right, and we don’t believe that you have the capacity to engage outside counsel with respect to your sister’s murder.”
    Allegra squinted against the sunlight, looking up at her father. “Is that why you were mad when I came home early from Home Depot? And that’s why the lawyers are here?”
    “Honey, we can explain that.”
    Allegra frowned. “Daddy, if I can’t see them here, I’ll see them at their office. You can’t stop me from talking to them, or anyone.”
    “Yes, we can.” John’s tone remained firm. “You’re our daughter.”
    “Right. I’m your daughter, not your property,” Allegra shot back, equally firmly. “Now let me go talk to my lawyers.”

 
    Chapter Nine
    Mary and Judy followed Allegra across the immense, dappled lawn of the backyard, leaving the Gardners and their lawyers on the driveway. They passed a swimming pool with a flagstone surround and headed for an out-of-the-way, weedy patch near a wooden-sided compost pile, and Mary noticed that Allegra was walking with her head down.
    “Allegra, you okay?” she asked, with a sympathetic pang.
    “I guess so.” Allegra kept her head down. “That weirded me out, sorry.”
    “No need to apologize.” Mary glanced back to see that the Gardners and their lawyers were still on the driveway. She gathered they were going to stay and glare at them from across the lawn. “I should have kept trying to get you on the phone.”
    “No, it’s my dad. He’s freaking out.”
    “It’s understandable.”
    “Not to me.” Allegra pressed her lips over her braces. “I guess my parents made a secret plan to get me out of the house while you guys came over. They knew I wanted to get some things for the hives, and that must be why they had the driver take me. They said they couldn’t because they had work to do.”
    Mary exchanged a quick glance with Judy. “Well, try not to blame them. They’re trying to deal with a hard situation, and it will take some time to