Brad Meltzer - Dead Even

“I’m sorry,” Conrad said. He put his hand back on her shoulder.

Closing her eyes, Sara was reeling. Take it easy, she told herself. There’re hundreds of logical explanations. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized she couldn’t come up with even one. And when she realized that, she knew it was over. She didn’t know him anymore. The phone rang, tearing through the silence. Sara didn’t pick it up. It rang again. When it rang a third time, she reached for it.

“Don’t,” Conrad said.

“Jared, I don’t want to hear your lame excuses,” she answered.

“I’m sorry,” Jared said. “I shouldn’t have lied to you like that.”

“So now the story’s changing?”

“Sara, please, I’m telling you the truth – I spoke to him one time. That was it.”

Sara covered her other ear and turned away. This was even worse.

“Sara?” Jared asked. “Sara, are you there?”

“I’m here,” she whispered.

“Please don’t be mad,” Jared pleaded. “I know it looks bad, but it was for a good reason.”

“I’m listening.”

“Okay, here it is. Here’s the story. Here’s how it happened.”

“Are you going to tell me why you did it, or are you going to make it up as you go along?”

“Sara, I swear to you, I only called him to get help. That night before your first day, you were so nervous, I had to do something. So while you were packing your briefcase, I went into the bedroom and called Judge Flynn. Now, I know you didn’t want me to call in any favors, but you should’ve seen yourself – the article in the Times had you crazy. There was no way I could just sit on my hands. I told him what was happening and asked him if he had any suggestions. He said my best bet was to make sure you got a case. Then he made a few phone calls and told me about ECAB. He found out Victor was the next day’s supervisor, and he gave me his number. The next morning, I called Victor. I explained the situation and said if he could help us out, Judge Flynn would really appreciate it. He said he’d see what he could do, but that was the last I heard of him. Next thing I knew, you had a case.”

“Jared-”

“I know what you’re going to say. I shouldn’t have done it; I shouldn’t have gone behind your back like that. I know it was wrong. I just didn’t want to see you drown. It rips my heart out to see you like that.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me all this the other night?”

“I wanted to. I wanted to so bad. But I thought if you found out what I did, you’d slip back into self-doubt. I didn’t want to see you lose that confidence. So I made the worst judgment call of all and decided it didn’t matter. Obviously, I was wrong.”

“And that’s the truth?”

“I’m telling you, that’s what happened,” Jared said. “I wouldn’t lie to you again.”

“Twelve times were enough, huh?”

“I understand if you don’t believe me, but that’s the only reason I did it. When you called me before, you just caught me off guard.”

“Then let me ask you one last thing: Why’d you let me suspect Victor all this time? You knew I was running crazy. Why not help me out?”

His answer was nothing but a long pause. Eventually, Jared stuttered, “I… I don’t know. I just chose not to. I’m sorry.”

Sara was shaken by his response. “That’s it? You ‘ chose not to ’?”

“I swear to you, Sara. That’s the real answer. I didn’t mean to hurt you – I was only trying to help.”

“Okay,” she said, still attempting to discern if he was telling the truth. “We’ll talk more about it later.”

“Great, we’ll do it later.”

Unable to ignore the nervousness in his voice, Sara hung up the phone and looked at Conrad.

“Well?” Conrad asked.

She took a deep breath. “I’m not sure. Part of me thinks he’s lying, but part of me really believes him.”

“Are you out of your head?”

“You didn’t even hear his explanation.”

“Tell it to me.” After Sara relayed the conversation, Conrad said, “Oh, c’mon, Sara. He lied to your face, let you hang up, and then called you back as soon as he thought of a good enough cock-and-bull story. I mean, all you did was read an article about budget cuts – do you really think that’s enough to make him call Victor?” Before Sara could argue, Conrad added, “How about letting me do a search on your home phone? If Jared’s story’s true, we’ll be able to see the calls from that night. One call to the judge; that’s all we’re looking for.”

“I don’t know,” Sara said. “Except for one part, he gave me a good explanation. I think I have to trust him.”

“Sara, don’t be stupid. He didn’t even-”

“Don’t call me stupid! I’m not a moron, Conrad. And while you think you know everything about love and law, there’s a chasm between the two. If I start searching our phone bills, I’ve train-wrecked the only thing we have left.”

“So you’d rather be blind to reality?”

“Are you really that jaded? Is that what all those years here have done to you? This isn’t about being blind. It’s about having faith.”

“I know what faith is, I just don’t-”

“He’s my husband.”

Without knocking, Guff entered the office holding a thick manila envelope.

“Why don’t you ask him?” Conrad said. “It’s just another leap of faith, right?”

Sara didn’t like Conrad’s tactics, but she had to admit that Jared’s story took the suspicion off of Guff. Favoring friendship over fear, she explained the story to her assistant. When she was finished, she was surprised to see Guff laughing.

“Me?” Guff asked. “You suspected me? That’s the most absurd idea since Elvis carpeted his ceiling.”

“So you’re not mad?”

“Sara, I’m not in this because you’re my boss. I’m in it because you’re my amigo. If I got all huffy and puffy on you, I’d just be taking time away from that.”

Sara couldn’t help but smile. “Guff, if only everyone else were like you.”

“The world would be a beautiful place, don’t you think?” Guff said. “Now what’re you going to do about Sunken Cheeks? The trial starts tomorrow.”

“Forget about Sunken Cheeks,” Conrad interrupted. “What’re you going to do about Jared?”

“Conrad, can you please drop it already? I know it’s under your skin, but it’s not your life, it’s mine. And if I plan to save it, I have to find out who this guy is in the next few hours.”

Guff shook his head at Conrad. “Don’t do this to her. She’s running out of time.”

Conrad crossed his arms and studied his colleagues. The conversation about Jared was going to have to wait until later. “Tell me what’s in the folder.”

Guff held up the manila envelope. “You want phone numbers? I got phone numbers. I got local, long distance, international, interstate, by the aisle, by the window.” He threw the envelope on Sara’s desk.

Flipping through dozens of photocopied pages, Sara struggled to read the dense report. “How do you -?”

“The calling log is in the back,” Guff said.

When Sara read the log of Rafferty’s phone line, she saw Claire Doniger’s home phone number circled in red pen every time it appeared.

“If it makes you feel any better, Jared was dead on the money – there’s no question there’s a connection between them,” Guff said as Sara continued to flip pages. “Rafferty may’ve said that they only spoke a few times, but there are almost forty calls made during the week of the murder. Four on the day of the burglary, when we think Arnold Doniger was murdered, and five on the day Claire says he died. Either way, these two are talking more than Lucy and Ethel.”