The Expert Witness

The Expert Witness: Book One of the Jill Rhodes Mystery/Thriller Series Copyright © 2022 by Nina Atwood Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher and author is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. This book is a work of fiction. Permission has been granted to the author for name use by those with specific references. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. [E-book] ISBN-13: 978-1-7363470-4-1 [Print] ISBN-13: 978-1-7363470-5-8 Titles by Nina Atwood About Roxanne: A Psychological Thriller, is available on Amazon here. Free Fall: A Psychological Thriller, is available on Amazon here. Unlikely Return: A Novel, is available on Amazon here. For more of Nina’s books, visit Nina’s author page on Amazon here. John Nina’s email list for FREE fiction, notification of author inside stories plus upcoming titles in the series, and discounted book deals: https://www.ninaatwoodauthor.com/freenovella/ Reward Special note: If you introduce me to someone in the moviemaking industry [big screen, streaming content, etc.] that results in a signed contract and paid advance on any of my books, I will pay you a reward of $10,000! – Nina Atwood Contact: [email protected] Prologue She almost fell over tree roots along the way a couple of times as she made her way to the designated meeting spot. It was late afternoon, and the autumn sun was making its way quickly to the horizon, golden light peeking through the leaves here and there as it drifted downward. She automatically reached her hand to her back jeans pocket but found nothing. Crap, no phone. She flashed to the day before, her mom asking her where she’d been. The denials, the cover story, and her limited acting skills hadn’t gotten her off the hook. Now, she was on total screen time-out. Why was screen time the first thing parents took away? Her parents, anyway. Other kids kept theirs no matter what they did for safety reasons. Safety. A wave of longing and insecurity swept through her. She hated being without her phone. It made her feel incredibly vulnerable. She pictured the person she was meeting, and the sense of vulnerability intensified. She might use any number of words to describe how she felt now, but safe wasn’t one of them. It didn’t help that she was out here all alone, and though she wasn’t typically fearful of solitude, today, it seemed different. The wind picked up, and she shivered. She’d forgotten to take a jacket that morning, and though she’d warmed up considerably at practice, the chill in the air had overcome any warmth from the workout. At the crackle of leaves or branches, she spun around. But nothing was there. She rubbed her hands together, wishing fervently for her phone. At least then, if she needed to, she could call someone for reassurance. And she thought of who she would call—her best friend. Get it together, Kat. You know what to do. You’ve got this. Her self-talk gave her a momentary shot of confidence. Steely determination had brought her here, to this place, to take back the control she’d so readily given away. Since making that decision, she’d felt a return of her former strength, her fierceness, her confidence. She’d felt like herself again, though not completely. The events of the past few weeks had irrevocably changed her, had opened her eyes to a dark world that she’d never intended to enter. In retrospect, she’d been so monumentally naïve, completely disregarding her parents’ warnings over the years. It had started as a fun adventure to push the boundaries of independence from her over-protective parents, until it wasn’t. Maybe they weren’t over-protective. Maybe they were just doing their job. Why hadn’t she listened? You’re too trusting. You’re just a kid, and there are bad people who will try to take advantage of you. Don’t try to grow up so fast. An uneasiness and trickle of regret made their way into her chest. It was as if her mom had seen something dark ahead, had predicted the pathway that had led her to this day, to this once familiar place. You just had to walk right up to danger and poke it in the face, didn’t you, Kat? So exciting, right? She was early, her intention to be the first to arrive so she could prepare what she wanted to say. But trepidation filled her even though she knew this place well. She’d explored it for years as a young girl, usually with her best friend in tow. They’d imagined themselves intrepid explorers, armed with sticks picked up along the way, their backpacks loaded with sandwiches and chips. Back then, they’d speculated on the dangerous wildlife, spooking themselves with false alerts. What was that? A bear? A cougar? A man-eating tiger? How their parents must have chuckled when they’d returned home, faces flushed, breathless, stumbling over each other’s words with excitement. Their ‘adventures’ lasted mere minutes, a combination of fear and excitement driving them back to the safety of their quiet cul-de-sac. Until today, this wooded creek bed hadn’t been scary at all. It had been a place she could go when she longed for the quiet, to turn off the noise of her mom’s never-ending quest to turn her into the daughter of her dreams. It had become a meeting ground for her and her best friend, each with their own reasons for escaping the watchful eyes of parents. But