Brad Meltzer - Dead Even

“All twenty-five bucks?”

“Every last nickel. So now let’s pretend that I try to get the money early by having you killed. Under the slayer statute, if it’s proven that I had anything to do with your death, I’m not allowed to get a dime, a nickel, or a penny – even if your will says I get it all.”

“Does New York have one of these statutes?”

“I don’t know if there’s an official statute, but the common law has the same rule.”

“Then why didn’t they just settle it?”

“As I remember it, you can impute foul play from any of the parties involved – which is why Rafferty couldn’t let Kozlow accept a plea bargain or anything less than a full acquittal.”

“So Rafferty is worried that if Kozlow is implicated in any way, and it’s discovered that Rafferty hired Kozlow, Rafferty’ll never get his nest egg.”

“Not to mention the fact that he’s nervous about his own murder charge. I mean, that’s the only thing that explains Rafferty’s concern with this whole mess. If he was innocent, he wouldn’t care at all. And if he wasn’t obsessed with the money, he would’ve let me plea-bargain it down.”

“Do you think he could also be trying to protect Claire Doniger?” Sara asked, standing up.

“You’re really convinced she’s involved with this, aren’t you?”

“C’mon, Jared. The woman’s husband is killed and she doesn’t shed a tear. More important, she doesn’t lift a finger to help our investigation. Talking to her is like pulling teeth, and getting her to testify is like… it’s like…”

“It’s like pulling teeth,” Jared said dryly.

“Yeah. Lots of teeth. A mouthful of teeth.”

“Okay, so if she’s involved, what’s her motive? Does she get anything under the will?”

“Not a cent. But that doesn’t mean anything. Our theory is that she and Rafferty are sleeping together. When they knock off Arnold Doniger, they get all the money and they get to play snuggle-bunnies every night. The only problem we were having was proving Rafferty’s involvement. But it’s clear that he’s the man we’re after.”

“It’s not a bad theory,” Jared admitted. “And now that I think about it, he does get superprotective whenever she comes up.”

“Is there anything else Rafferty’s said that we might be able to use against him?”

Jared sat back on the bench and put his head in his hands. “Actually, you can’t use any of this stuff against him. It’s all protected by attorney-client privilege.”

“I’m not worried about winning the case anymore, handsome. I just want to make sure you’re safe, and get us out of…” Noticing that her husband wasn’t moving, Sara stopped. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Without saying a word, Jared stood up and wrapped his arms around his wife. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you, Sara. I only did it because I was worried about you.”

Feeling a wave of relief run over her, Sara held her husband tight. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I was just as worried about you.”

“But I-”

“Shhhhh, don’t say another word,” Sara said, still holding him close. “It’s over. It’s finally over.” Leaning back just enough to look into Sara’s eyes, Jared realized she was right. And for the first time in months, he decided not to argue. Instead, he pulled her in and lightly slid his hands across her shoulders and down her back. He loved the way their bodies fit together. Against her cheek, Sara felt the familiar scratch of his five-o’clock shadow. Closing her eyes, she took in the smell of the cologne she always complained about. And with her arms around his waist, she reached under his jacket and caressed the curve in the small of his back. She had forgotten how much she missed it all.

Silently pressed against each other, Sara and Jared didn’t have to say a word. For too long, they had been at each other’s throats. Now, finally, they were in each other’s arms. And that was all that mattered. As reality slowly returned, Sara could feel Jared start to tremble. Moments later, his eyes welled up with tears. “It’s okay,” she reassured him as she struggled to fight back her own tears. But it was already too late – as was always the case, once Sara heard Jared sobbing, she wasn’t far behind. Soon, both of them were overcome with emotion. “It’s okay,” she repeated as tears ran down her cheeks. “It’s really okay.”

“I know,” Jared said, wiping his eyes with his jacket sleeve. “Until you were safe, I couldn’t-”

“I know exactly how you feel,” Sara said, wiping her own eyes. “But we have to keep the catharsis short. Neither of us is really safe unless we get out of this mess.”

“No, you’re right,” Jared said, composing himself. He rubbed his eyes and cleared his throat. “Okay, now what’s the next step?”

“Work the facts. Is there anything else that Rafferty or Kozlow might’ve said? Anything that might explain why Victor wanted the case? Or who Sunken Cheeks is? Is he a former employee? Does he have something against Rafferty? Has Kozlow mentioned any old grudges?”

“The only thing that caught me off guard is that Kozlow once said he was in the military.”

“Really? Which part?”

“Army. Lenny told me he got kicked out, but that’s all I know. Think there’s something there?”

“Maybe. Victor’s got a military background also. I’ll look into it first thing tomorrow.”

“Great. And can you also do a search on Rafferty’s phone bills? I tried already, but you’re the only one who can get his local calls. If your theory’s right, we should see tons of calls to Claire and to Kozlow.”

“And maybe to our mystery man with the cheeks.”

“Hopefully,” Jared said. “Maybe they’re all working together.” Looking up, Jared stared at the shimmering New York City skyline. It was beautiful, he thought. As beautiful as the first time he saw it from this spot, during a midnight biking tour he and Sara had taken at the end of their first year of law school. Jared took a deep breath and smiled. Finally, he was getting his life back. At that moment, he heard Sara laughing. “What’s so funny?” he asked, turning back to his wife.

“Nothing,” Sara said, her laughter a perfect mixture of nervousness and relief. “I just can’t believe this happened to us. I mean, why us?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe it was just meant to be.”

“Uh-uh. This problem didn’t find us – I found this problem. If I hadn’t been so worried about myself, I wouldn’t have grabbed this case in the first place. And if I’d never grabbed it, you never would’ve been approached to-”

“Okay. That’s enough. We don’t need to play this game. You’ve had enough self-pity for one year.”

“It’s not self-pity. This is just me facing reality. If I’d never grabbed this case, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“You can believe whatever you want, but I’d never blame you for this. Now let’s get back to the real question: What do we do with the case?”

Pausing, Sara eventually said, “I’m not sure. Obviously, we can’t take it to trial.”

“Maybe we can go to the judge and ask him to remove us because of a conflict of interest,” Jared suggested. “Or maybe we can force a mistrial.”

“We can do either, but that doesn’t solve the problem.”

“I really don’t care about solving the problem,” Jared said. “I say we get off the case and get our lives back. Let someone else play superhero.”

“No way. This is our problem. Rafferty, Doniger, Kozlow, Sunken Cheeks, they’re all our problem. And no matter how much you’d like to believe otherwise, they’re not going to leave us alone until they get what they want.”