Silent Witness

Book excerpt: From the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Richard North Patterson comes Silent Witness, an "intense courtroom drama... as startling as the bang of a gavel.” (People). After the murder of his high school sweetheart left him shattered, Tony Lord vowed never to return to his Ohio hometown of Lake City. Twenty-eight years later, Tony is a successful California criminal lawyer with a beautiful celebrity wife. He's living the good life...until long-buried memories come crashing down when he hears from an old friend, who needs his help. Sam Robb is a track coach at Lake City High. He swears he is not responsible for the death of one of his female team members...even though forensic evidence reveals that he's the father of her unborn child. Back when they were teenagers, Sam stood by Tony when he was a suspect in his young girlfriend's murder—and Tony desperately wants to do the same for him today. In doing so, Tony will have to revisit his troubled past and probe the darkest secrets of small-town life to get to the truth. And what he will find is more shocking than he ever could have imagined....