Brad Meltzer - Dead Even

Peeking out from the corner of the living room, Jared confirmed he was alone. He darted for the kitchen. Once there, he saw that every drawer had been shuffled through, and every cabinet had been searched and emptied. Holding tight to the letter opener, Jared leaned against the refrigerator and caught his breath. He was a sweaty mess. Hold it together, he told himself. Deep breaths.

Ten seconds later, he left the kitchen. Quietly, he walked toward the closed door of his bedroom. As he got closer, he could hear the muffled sounds of frantic rummaging. From what he could tell, they were picking through the contents of the large dresser on the right side of the room. As anxiety gave way to anger, Jared arched the letter opener over his head and put a hand on the doorknob. He was shaking. On the count of three, he said to himself. One… two… Throwing the door open, Jared ran full speed into the bedroom. But as soon as he cleared the doorway, he felt something hit him in the shins. Someone had tripped him up. They were waiting for him. As he crashed to the floor, he let go of the letter opener. And before he could grab it, he heard a familiar voice say, “Are you nuts?”

Sara stood over him with a kitchen knife in her hands. “I thought you were the burglar,” she said as she dropped the knife. “I could’ve killed you.”

“I’m sorry,” Jared said, climbing to his feet. He anxiously embraced his wife. “As long as you’re safe. Thank God you’re safe.”

“It’s okay. I’m fine,” Sara said.

“When did you get home?”

“About ten minutes ago,” Sara explained. “When I walked in, I almost fell over. I called the police, then came in here to see if they got my mom’s jewelry.”

“And?”

“Luckily, they missed it. From what I can tell, they took the cash from the top drawer of my dresser, the gold pocket watch Pop gave you, and some of our silver frames, but they never found the jewelry.” Walking into the living room, Sara took her second look at the devastated mess that was their apartment. While she turned the potted plants upright, Jared noticed that his Chinatown knife was pristinely placed on top of one of the sofa cushions.

He picked up the protective case that held his most prized collectible and noticed a small note taped to the bottom. His stomach dropped as he read the note’s three words: Shut your mouth .

“They must’ve thought it was a regular knife,” Sara said.

“Huh?”

“Your knife. If they’d known what it was, I’m sure they would’ve taken it.”

“Yeah, definitely,” Jared said as he pulled off the note and crumpled it in his hand.

Picking up the phone, Sara said, “I still can’t believe this. I start working for the good guys, and some lowlife decides to rip us off. I’m going to call Conrad to make sure-”

“No!” Jared said, cutting Sara off. Seeing the surprised look on his wife’s face, he added, “The police’ll be here soon enough. Then we can see what else is missing and figure it all out.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Sara agreed as she picked up a pile of books from the living-room floor. “But let me tell you something: If we catch the bastards who did this, you better believe I’m going to prosecute them personally. You touch my junk and cause me heartache – you’re asking to be kicked in the head.”

“Yeah,” Jared said without emotion.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? You look terrible.”

“What can I say? Our apartment just got broken into and our stuff’s all over the floor. Should I be thrilled with that?”

“Of course not. But look at the bright side – they were gone by the time we got here, no one was hurt, and in all likelihood, we’ll never hear from them again.”

“Yeah,” Jared said, all too aware that Rafferty wasn’t going away. “We sure are lucky.”

“Meanwhile, tell me why you called this afternoon. What was so important?”

Jared’s fist tightened around the note in his hand. “It was nothing.”

“Guff said it sounded urgent.”

“It was nothing,” Jared insisted. “Just an imagined crisis.”

By midnight, the police had come and gone, the apartment was dusted for fingerprints, and Jared and Sara had cleaned up most of their belongings.

“The cops seemed really thorough,” Sara said, lying down on the sofa.

“They’d better be.” Jared sat in his favorite chair. “You’re one of them now.” He was trying his best to act unaffected, but he couldn’t take his eyes off his wife. If he did, something could happen. Something would happen. And it’d be his fault. It was in his hands. Searching for a smooth segue, he added, “By the way, now that we’re done with this whole mess, let me bring up another. I can’t step down from the Kozlow case.”

Sara shot up in her seat. “What do you mean ‘can’t’? You’re a grown man – you can do anything you want.”

“I’m serious. I can’t.”

“Why not? Does someone have a gun to your head?”

“No,” he said bluntly. “I just need to be on the case.”

“Don’t tell me that, Jared. You promised you’d-”

“I know what I said, but it’s not happening.”

“Listen, the only reason Kozlow picked you is because you’re my husband. He’s obviously toying with us.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Well, regardless of why I was picked, Lubetsky found out that the guy who’s paying the bill has deep pockets. He figures if I take the case, we can get his other business as well.”

“So let Lubetsky take the case. I’d love to smack his seven double chins across the courtroom.”

“Kozlow wants me. And Lubetsky said he’s not letting me off the case. I tried, honey. I really did try.”

“You didn’t try hard enough,” Sara said, raising her voice. “If you stay on this case, you’re messing with my career. And if I take a loss to my husband, I’m going to ruin my one pathetic chance to actually keep this job.”

“Just calm down a second.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down. You try spending six months sending out résumés to every firm in this city. You try getting two hundred and twenty-five rejection letters. In the legal market, I’m used goods. And since my self-esteem has already taken enough of a beating, I don’t need another one.”

“Hold on a second,” Jared said as he sat down next to his wife. “Do you really think I’m doing this to jeopardize your career? Sara, you’re the most important thing in the world to me. I’d never do anything to hurt you. I just…” Jared’s voice trailed off.

“You just what?”

“Nothing, I…”

“What?” Sara demanded. “Say it already.”

Jared paused a moment. Finally, he said, “Lubetsky told me that if I don’t take the case and bring this guy in as a client, I won’t make partner. I’ll be fired on the spot.”

Sara was stunned. “Are you kidding? He said that to you?”

“After what happened yesterday, this is his line in the sand. They’re voting on me in the next six months. In my six and a half years at the firm, I haven’t brought in a single client.”

“But you’ve handled some of their biggest-”

“Those were other people’s cases. Now I have to have my own cases. And the bottom line in a law firm is the bottom line. It may be a group of lawyers, but it’s still a business. If I can’t make that business grow, I’ll be in the same position you were six months ago.”

Sara was silent.

Hoping to exploit his opening, Jared continued to hammer away. “I don’t know what else to do. With all your loans, we can’t afford to-”