Brad Meltzer - Dead Even

“Sorry,” Jared said, pulling away. “I just wanted to make sure you were alone.”

“I’m definitely alone. In fact, I’ve been alone since last night.”

“You were the one who wanted me to move out.”

“You know this is different,” she said. “I couldn’t even find you at Pop’s.”

“Sorry about that. I just couldn’t face you after that thing with Conrad.”

“Jared, I swear on my life, nothing happened with Conrad. He went to kiss me, and I pulled away. Anyone who said it was more than that is lying.”

“Fine, they were lying,” Jared said, kicking at a random piece of nothing. “As usual, you’re right.”

“Don’t shut down on me,” Sara said.

Jared didn’t reply.

“Jared, please. If you didn’t want to get into this, why’d you call me out here?”

“I wanted to talk to you in privacy.”

“So you have some nutjob pick me up with a cryptic note that uses my dad’s old pet name for me? There are easier, less upsetting ways to get in touch.”

“I figured you’d know the note was from me. Who else would know that information?”

“You’d be surprised what a stranger can find out about you.” Sara sat down on a wooden bench, and Jared nodded silently in agreement. Carefully watching her husband, she added, “So if this isn’t about yesterday, what else do we have to discuss?”

“The case,” Jared said, his voice barely above a whisper. “We have to talk about the case.”

Now Sara was annoyed. “Of course – the one thing in this world you actually care about.”

“Honey, you know that’s not-”

“It is true,” Sara insisted. “But let me break it to you: The trial’s in two weeks, the motions went our way, and when we’ve convicted Kozlow, we’re going to go after Claire Doniger and anyone else we see as an accomplice.”

Shaking his head, Jared pulled up the collar on his overcoat, trying to stay warm. The wind continued to beat against him. “Sara, I can’t fight with you anymore. It’s not worth it. I just want you to listen very carefully to what I’m about to say. I wouldn’t even think of asking you this unless it was completely necessary.” Moving toward her, he explained, “This may sound crazy, but I need you to take a dive. Lose some evidence, do a bad job on purpose – I don’t care how you do it; I just need to win.”

Laughing, Sara said, “Are you really that desperate? I mean, do you even realize how illegal that is? And that’s without even considering the moral implications.”

“Screw the moral implications. This is far more important than morality.”

“Oh, that’s right – I forgot your job is more important than everything else in the universe.”

“Just listen for a second.”

“I am listening,” Sara interrupted, jumping from her seat. “And I can’t believe what you’re asking. When you had the upper hand, everything was fine and dandy. But the moment I’m finally doing well, you want me to roll over. You really have some set of balls, y’know that? This job has changed my life. For the first time in a long time, I feel like I’m back in control again. Things are going well; my confidence is strong; my anxieties are finally gone. This case has made me a new person. And if you think you can bully me into playing your game like you tried to do at the grand jury, you’re living in fantasyland. I’m only saying this once, Jared. You’re not taking this away from me.”

“You don’t understand,” Jared pleaded. “You have to let me win.”

“Have you been listening? I don’t have to do anything.”

“Yes. You do,” Jared said flatly.

“I can’t believe this. Is it an ego thing? Is that it? You can’t stand seeing me beat you for once?”

“This has nothing to do with competition,” Jared said, his forehead covered with sweat.

“Well, you can forget it,” Sara said, turning her back to her husband. “The only person bringing home a victory is me. Hope you can live with it.”

Jared grabbed Sara firmly by the arm. “Listen to me! It’s bigger than you think!”

“I already heard you. Now let go of me.”

Refusing to loosen his grip, Jared shouted, “Sara, I’m begging you one last time: You have to let me win.”

“Why? What the hell is so important?” Sara shouted back, struggling to free herself.

Finally, Jared realized he had no other choice. Still holding on to his wife, he looked into her eyes. “ Because if I don’t win this case, they’re going to kill you!”

Instantly, Sara stopped trying to pull away. “What?”

“You heard me. They’ll kill you. The only reason I’m on this case is because they threatened to kill you if I dropped it. That’s why I’ve been fighting so hard. That’s why I’ve been pushing so much. And that’s why I went through your briefcase. They’ve been following both of us since Kozlow was first arrested. They’re the ones who broke into our house. And they’re the ones who-”

“Oh, my God,” Sara said, sinking back on a bench.

“This is serious, Sara. We’re in trouble.”

“The people who approached you – did one of them have sunken cheeks?”

“Sunken cheeks? No, I was approached by Kozlow and…” Jared paused.

“Kozlow and who?” Sara asked.

Jared glanced around to make sure they were still alone. Then he stared directly at his wife. “It’s Oscar Rafferty. He’s been there from the start. He’s the one who-”

“That lying sack of shit!” Sara shouted. “We knew it – Guff called it the moment we left his office. Rafferty had you, and Sunken Cheeks had me.”

“What’re you talking about? Who’s this man with the cheeks?”

Sara quickly related her encounter with Sunken Cheeks, explained how he had threatened to kill Jared, and described his untraceable fingerprints.

When she finished, Jared said, “So if you gave in, he would’ve come after-”

“That’s why I didn’t give in.”

“But if he’s the one responsible for hurting Pop, why didn’t you arrest him?”

“I have no idea who he is. Besides, I was so nervous about what he’d do to you, I was terrified to touch him.”

“I know how you feel,” Jared said. He sat down next to Sara and brushed his fingers against the gauze pad on his chin.

“Who was it, Kozlow?”

“Took a pound of flesh on his own,” Jared explained. “But it sounds like your guy was helping you. I mean, wasn’t he the one who put you on Rafferty’s trail?”

“Not at all. We found Rafferty on our own. He became a suspect as soon as we saw Arnold’s will.”

“Arnold had a will?”

“See, that’s the problem with you defense attorneys. All you care about is getting your client off. We prosecutors are the only ones searching for the truth.”

Ignoring the jab, Jared said, “Tell me about the will.”

“There’s not much to tell. According to our reading, Rafferty stands to inherit Echo Enterprises now that his near-and-dear partner is dead.”

“Oh, you must be kidding me – Rafferty gets the business?”

“The whole thing,” Sara said, noticing the look of disbelief on her husband’s face. “Why? What does that tell you? I mean, besides the fact that he has a reason to kill his partner.”

“That tells us why Rafferty was so intent on winning the case.” Running his hand through his hair, he added, “Damn, that mean bastard is brilliant.”

“Why? What’d he do?” Sara asked, slapping her husband on the arm. “Tell me already.”

“It’s actually pretty simple. Do you remember what a slayer statute is?”

“A what?”

“A slayer statute. Slayer. As in killer.” When Sara shook her head, Jared explained, “A slayer statute prevents murderers from profiting from their own killings. Let’s pretend you have a will. And the will says that if you die, I’m the main beneficiary. That means I get all your money.”