Bailed Out (The Anna Albertini Files #2) - Rebecca Zanetti Page 0,89

call the cops on that bastard.”

“What’s your personal advice?” Krissy cracked a smile, and blood slid from her lip.

“To shoot him,” I said, smiling back and dropping into a chair. “Seriously. Let’s get him locked up and move on. I can help you.” I had Detective Pierce on speed-dial and would be more than happy to have him cuff Pucci for good. After so many felonies, he would serve plenty of time, and there was no way I’d represent him again. Ever.

“No,” Krissy said, holding her sister’s hand. “I fought him, and he’s hurting right now, too. We had too much to drink and started fighting about everything, and we both got out of hand. It’s the truth.” She lowered the frozen peas.

I winced. “That’s going to be a glorious shiner.” Wow. Under her eye and atop her sharp cheekbone, the skin was already turning a light purple. It’d been a deep amethyst by the morning.

“I’ll keep ice on it,” Krissy said, gingerly touching the bruise.

Kelsey’s eyes widened. “Oh, no. We’re supposed to testify tomorrow.”

I reared back. “You two can’t be considering testifying for him tomorrow after this. He hit you in the face, Krissy.”

She straightened her shoulders and met my gaze head on. “I’m well aware of what he did. But I’m on the witness list, and I was present the night he was arrested, so either way I’m going to testify.”

The woman had a point. If I decided not to call either Krissy or Kelsey to the stand, then the prosecution would wonder why and track them down. Not that they’d work with Alice. “Listen. If I choose not to call you two, then I still have two of Rich’s guys who can take the stand and testify for him.” Although I’d said in my opening statement that Krissy had been assaulted, and if she didn’t testify about it, I couldn’t get it into evidence. “Did Rich see that guy grab you?”

Krissy shook her head. “No. I told him.”

It’d be hearsay, then. I sat back, my mind spinning. “Let me think this through.”

Krissy set the peas to her face again. “No. It’s a done deal. I’m going to plaster makeup on tomorrow, and then I’m going to testify like I promised. That moron in the bar really did clamp onto my butt, and he deserved to be punched by Rich. That’s the truth.” Her good eye glowed with determination.

I believed her. But I also thought Pucci had worn a gun in his ankle holster that night, although everyone was denying that still. “You might get him off this charge, Krissy. Are you sure you want to do that?” Putting him away seemed to be best for her.

She sighed and shut her eyes. “I love him. It doesn’t make sense, but I think we can work things out.”

As if on cue, her phone rang. She looked down. “It’s Rich.” Then she held the phone to her head. “Hello?” She shifted on the sofa. “Yeah. I know. Me too.” She blinked and a tear slid down her face. “I know. Why don’t you come here?” Then she giggled. “Okay. That sounds good.” She set the phone down. “We’ve made up. Or we’re going to make up, anyway.”

I didn’t want to be there when Pucci arrived, because I might just lose it. Helping a guy like Pucci was something I’d never wanted to do. I wondered what it would take for Nick to hire me back so I could put jerks like Rich Pucci into prison. That guy deserved prison. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to see him tonight?” I asked.

Krissy rubbed one of the bruises. “I need him here. It’ll be better if we’re on the same page tomorrow, right?”

“I guess.” I didn’t know what else to say. “All right. I’ll see you tomorrow. If you decide that you don’t want to testify, just let me know. I’ll figure something out.” Then I retrieved my heavy bag from the floor and walked out into the warm night.

This totally sucked.

Swallowing, I drove back toward the main drag in town to my sister Tessa’s apartment and remembered at the last second that she wasn’t back home yet. So I flipped around toward an older part of town until I reached Donna’s adorable Craftsman house and parked in her driveway.

Her door was already open by the time I exited my car, and Tessa stood there in cute pajamas.

I smiled as I walked toward my sister, stopping at the porch. “When was