Free The Crush by Sandra Brown

us believed that he was innocent. We voted him not guilty. There's a difference."
    He shrugged his bony shoulders. "The distinction escapes me."
    "The distinction is reasonable doubt."
    "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit. That bullshit?"
    "That bullshit is the foundation of our judicial system."
    "She's on a roll now," someone in the background said.
    "The so-called evidence against Mr. Lozada was entirely circumstantial," she said. "He could not be placed at the scene of the crime. And he had an alibi."
    "A guy he probably paid to lie for him."
    "There were no eyewitnesses. There were--"
    "Tell me, Rennie, did all the jurors put this much thought into their decision?"
    "What do you mean?"
    "I mean that you're Miss Precision. You would've lined up all the facts in a neat little row, and God forbid that you take the human element into account."
    "Of course I did."
    "Yeah? Then tell me this, when you took that first vote, before you even began deliberation, how many voted guilty and how many not guilty?"
    "I won't discuss what happened in that jury room with you."
    He glanced around the ring of faces as though to say, "I knew it." "Let me guess, Rennie. You--"
    "I deliberated the case once, Lee. I don't want to do so again."
    "You were the conscientious objector of the group, weren't you? You led the charge for acquittal."
    He stacked his hands over his heart. "Our own Dr. Rennie Newton, crusader for the freedom of career criminals."
    The argument ended there with their listeners' laughter.
    It was the last verbal skirmish she and Lee would ever have. As always, they'd parted friends. As she said good night to him and Myrna, he'd given her a quick hug. "You know I was only teasing, don't you? Of all the jurors who ever sat on any trial, you would work the hardest at getting it right."
    Yes, she had tried to get it right. Little had she known what an impact that damn jury summons, the trial, and its outcome would have on her personally. She had counted on it being an inconvenience. She hadn't counted on it being catastrophic.
    Did Detective Wesley really consider her a suspect?
    Her lawyer had dismissed her concerns. He said because the police had absolutely no clues, they had thrown out a wide net and were interrogating everyone with whom Lee Howell had any interaction, from hospital orderlies to his golfing buddies. At this point everyone was suspect. Insinuation and intimidation were standard police methods, the attorney assured her.
    She shouldn't feel that she'd been singled out.
    Rennie had tried to reassure herself that he was right and that she was overreacting. But what her lawyer didn't know was that when it came to being questioned by police, she had a right to be a little jittery.
    Wesley's interrogation had been in the forefront of her mind this afternoon when the hospital board of directors invited her to join their weekly meeting and offered her the position tragically vacated by Dr. Lee Howell.
    "I appreciate your consideration, but my answer is no thank you. You had months to consider me before, and you chose someone else. If I accepted now, I would always feel as though I were your second choice."
    They assured her that Dr. Howell had received only one more vote than she and that none of them thought she was an inferior candidate.
    "That's not the only reason I'm declining," she'd told them. "I admired Dr. Howell professionally, but I also regarded him and Myrna as friends. To benefit from his death would feel ... obscene. Thank you for the offer, but my answer is no."
    To her surprise, they refused to accept that answer and pressed her into thinking it over for a day or two more.
    While flattered and gratified by their persistence, she was now faced with a difficult decision. She had wanted the position and knew she was qualified, but it would feel wrong to get a career boost from Lee's death.
    Wesley was another factor to take into account. were she to assume the position he considered a motive for murder,