A Case of Redemption Read Online Free Page A

it would only make things worse to call attention to it. “Second, you wrote the ‘A-Rod’ song, in which you talk about killing a singer by beating her with a baseball bat, and the forensics folks are saying that the murder weapon was a baseball bat.”
    Both Nina and L.D. started talking at the same time. “Hold on,” I said to L.D., and put up my index finger as I pulled the phone away from my ear to listen to Nina.
    â€œThey don’t know the weapon for sure,” she said. “They never found it. They’re assuming it was a bat because Roxanne had a bat in her bedroom from singing at the World Series or something, and now it’s missing. And because of the song, it obviously helps the prosecution if the murder weapon is a bat.”
    I gave Nina a not-too-subtle eye roll, although I was careful to turn my head sufficiently so Legally Dead didn’t see it. “But I’m assuming that the wounds Roxanne suffered are consistent with a baseball-bat beating, right?” I said. “I mean, I get that the murder weapon could be a two-by-four and not a Louisville Slugger, but it’s not a knifing case.”
    â€œRight,” she said, conceding my point.
    I wasn’t sure how much of that L.D. heard, but when I turned back toward him, he looked more agitated than he had before. “The song ain’t fuckin’ about Roxanne!” he shouted into the phone. “Ibeen saying that from day one, but nobody’s fuckin’ payin’ it no mind. You gotta listen to the lyrics.”
    Apparently recognizing that his flare-up had not helped his cause, he smiled again, but the damage had already been done. If nothing else, L.D. had revealed himself as the kind of man whose emotions could turn on a dime.
    He began to rap, swaying from side to side as he did, as if he were onstage before screaming teenagers, rather than behind a bulletproof glass wall talking to a lawyer.
    â€œWe were blood bros and now this;
    the ultimate dis.
    Gonna stop you when you sing,
    gonna give it til you scream;
    don’t like what you said,
    gonna go A-Rod on your head.”
    When he was finished, he looked at me as if that resolved everything.
    â€œI’m sorry, L.D., you’re going to have to explain what you mean.”
    â€œThe song ain’t about no shorty, it’s about a fuckin’ dude.” He rapped again: “ ‘We were blood bros’— brothers . It’s ’bout these gangbangers and one wants outta the game, and the other guy says if you talk shit about me, I’m gonna go A-Rod on your head. So everybody be sayin’ that because the lyric is sing it’s gotta be about a singer like Roxanne. But no fuckin’ way. It’s about . . . you know, like them old movies and shit, when people talk to the cops and they be singin’ like a canary.”
    I felt like saying: Well, with an explanation like that, I’m surprised they even arrested you, but didn’t think I could summon enough sarcasm to give the thought justice. It was apparent I’d need to study not only the “A-Rod” lyrics but the entire Legally Dead songbook.
    I had a momentary vision of translators in the courtroom debating the meaning of the lyrics, the way it sometimes happens when you have foreign-language interpreters arguing over the nuance of language in different regions of the country. No, it’s phat with a ph, so it means cool, not obese.
    I did a recap in my head. No alibi. Check. Sketchy, at best, explanation on the song. Check.
    Next on my agenda was motive.
    â€œHow were things between you and Roxanne on the day she died?”
    â€œWe all good.”
    â€œWhat I’ve read is that the prosecution thinks Roxanne had recently . . .” I searched for a word that was gentle, and then decided that my offending him was the least of his worries. “She dumped you. Right before Thanksgiving. They claim