Lisa Scottoline - Moment Of Truth

Davis remembered his meeting with Whittier. He turned to Field. 'If Honor divorced Newlin and he lost the Buxton billings, his draw would be lowered by about a million dollars a year? Ballpark?'

'Yes,' Field answered.

Videon burst into laughter. 'Rags to riches and back again,' he said, but Davis was too intent to make light of it.

'Did Newlin have any other sources of income that you know of?'

'Not that I know of,' Field answered, and Videon looked incredulous. *

'Are you kidding?'

Davis considered it. 'So the only way Newlin could keep his job and his income from the Buxton billings was if Honor stayed married to him. Or if she died before she could divorce him.'

'I didn't say that,' Field said quickly, and Videon waved his hand.

Tm a witness. He didn't say that. If he said that, he'd get his ass sued.'

Davis tuned Videon out, putting his case together. It no longer mattered that Newlin didn't benefit under the will. A million dollars a year and preservation of career were more than enough for motive. Of course Newlin had planned to kill her, to keep the goodies. But Davis's premeditation theory worked only if Newlin had known the divorce was coming. He turned to Videon, who had finally stopped laughing. 'How often had they discussed divorce?'

'They hadn't discussed divorce at all.'

'What? Of course they had/ Davis said, and Videon smiled.

'How do you know?'

'I assumed it.'

'Mr Clean, you should know that "when we assume, we make an ass out of you and me." Camus said that. Or Sartre. Or my fourth-grade teacher.'

Davis still wasn't laughing. 'How could they not have discussed divorce?'

'They hadn't. I got the impression she had been thinking about it for a long time, then – boom – decided to do it. That would be Honor, impulsively destructive. She told me she was worried that Jack was thinking about it and she wanted to beat him to the punch. He had no idea she was planning to make the first move. She said she couldn't wait to see the look on his face when she told him.'

'Do you think she could have mentioned it to him on the phone, maybe that day?'

'She could have, but she wouldn't have. That's not Honor.'

Davis couldn't let it go. The state of Newlin's knowledge was the linchpin of his prosecution. Otherwise, the jury would buy Newlin's rage-at-the-divorce defense. 'It doesn't

stand to reason. People always talk about divorce for a long time before they file.'

'Another assumption, monfrere.' Videon shook his head. 'Some do, but many don't. It's more husband behavior than wife, but it happens with some wives, too. They avoid the issue until they have to, then do it. The perfect clean break. In fact, where there's family money involved, I always advise a preemptive strike to maintain the advantage. Eliminate the fight over the prenup, like Pearl Harbor before the divorce war.'

Davis thought about it. 'Wait a minute. You work here, at Tribe, on the twentieth-fifth floor. Newlin works on the thirtieth. How is it that Honor comes to see you without him finding out?'

'He may have found out, for all I know. I asked her if she wanted to meet me somewhere else, both times. You can see, it ain't Versailles.' Videon gestured to his office mock-grandly. 'I was trying to respect her privacy and not tip off Jack. But Honor insisted we meet here.'

Davis brightened. 'So if Honor comes in to see you, the firm's divorce lawyer, everybody who sees her knows she's coming in to divorce Newlin. Secretaries, messengers, other lawyers, they'll all see her coming here. It would be a gossip item, wouldn't it?'

'Very dishy stuff. Not as cool as the sex-in-the-shower story I spread last week, but that's not pertinent here.'

Davis ignored it. What a loon. 'So it's possible, even likely, that Newlin could have found out that Honor had been in to see you that morning?'

'Correct, as you say.'

Davis felt a relieved grin spread across his face. He could prove through Videon that Newlin knew he was about to be disposed of, and it would also support Whittier's testimony that Newlin appeared agitated when he was leaving to go home. Newlin must have guessed Honor would be breaking up with him at dinner and decided to kill her then. That was premeditation, for sure. The law

was premeditation could happen in a matter of minutes; it didn't require weeks to plan. And Newlin couldn't hire somebody to do it because he didn't have time. Honor's murder was simply damage control. Davis almost jumped up in excitement as the puzzle fell into place. 'I assume you would you testify for us in court?'

Videon looked at Field. 'What's my line, boss man?'

'If you are subpoenaed, you must appear and give testimony.'

Videon looked at Davis. 'What he said.'

But the prosecutor had one last question. 'Why would the wife want to come here, to see you, for a divorce? Why risk it herself and why make it public? Why, even, embarrass her husband?'

'Again, you assume others see the world as you see it, but that, is a critical mistake. You cannot imagine why Honor Newlin would humiliate her spouse because you wouldn't. And undoubtedly didn't. You had an amicable divorce, you said.' The angles of Videon's face hardened. 'You did not know Honor Newlin. She was a beautiful woman, a gorgeous woman, but not a kind woman. Not a nice woman, at all.'

'Don't speak ill, Marc,' Field interrupted, but Videon waved him off.

'You must understand. Honor Newlin was one of the meanest women on the planet. It was subtle, it was socially acceptable, but it was true just the same. She just didn't connect with people. Maybe men, but not even them for long. She had no enduring emotion except indifference. Honor Newlin was a sociopath in silk.'

'Marc, Jesus!' Field cried, but Davis bristled.

'That's a little harsh, isn't it?' he asked. 'She was a philanthropist. She did good works through the Foundation.'

Videon scoffed. 'Are you completely naive, or just rehearsing for the jury? Honor Newlin didn't care about charity. The Foundation existed for generations before her and it

will exist for generations after. She had no interest in where the money went. Jack made all those decisions. He actually cared about the causes. Honor couldn't care less.'

Davis resisted it. 'Did you know her that well?'

'Well enough. Women tell their divorce lawyers everything. We're the gynecologists of the profession.' Videon leaned over his messy desk. 'I tell you. Honor Newlin would have enjoyed humiliating Jack in front of his partners, the secretaries, the clients, the whole fucking firm. She had decided to cut his balls off with a dull knife, merely to alleviate her own boredom, and she would want everybody to see it. All the better, so they all knew that she wielded the knife. Except, surprise, Jack upped the ante. He's more of a man than I knew.'

'Marc!' Field jumped to his feet. 'I think that's enough, quite enough. Mr Davis, you have the information you need, do you not?'

Davis nodded quickly. 'From Mr Videon, yes. But I do have one last stop before I leave.'

Trevor's gone,' Mary said, bursting into the conference room, cluttered with papers from the Newlin case. It was after hours so the firm was closed and nobody was working overtime with the boss away. She slipped out of her coat, tossed it onto a swivel chair, and told Judy and Lou what had happened at the train station with the blonde and the Metroliner to New York.

Judy's eyes widened. 'Sex in a coatroom with Paige? Then he hops a train with another girl? What a jerk!'

'I ain't surprised,' Lou said sadly, smoothing out his pants and easing into a chair at the conference table. He had just gotten in himself and was wishing for a roast beef special, a bag of chips, and a Rolling Rock. 'I knew the punk was bad news, only you two don't know how bad. I got a story to tell, too.' He filled them in about Paige and Planned Parenthood. When he was finished, the three fell silent.