Dead Even Read online

  “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.”

  “Fine, then all we need to do is figure out a way to stop the psychopaths from chasing us. How about we both bow out, and then we tell them that if anything happens to us, our lawyer will send out a letter that fingers Rafferty?”

  “Jared, you’re missing the big picture. Even if they leave us alone, we can’t let them do the same thing to someone else.”

  “So now we have to forward Rafferty’s E-mail to the entire firm?”

  “Don’t make fun—you know I’m right.” As she let the logic of her argument sink in, Sara added, “Like it or not, it’s our responsibility.”

  Jared nodded his head. “What do you propose?”

  “I’m not sure. I want to talk to Conrad tomorrow. He knows his way around this world better than anyone.”

  “And what other worlds is he familiar with?”

  “Oh, c’mon, Jared, why do you have to bring that up? I swear it was nothing. We kissed and I pulled away. That was it.”

  Jared didn’t say a word.

  Studying her husband’s reaction, Sara felt awful. Without a doubt, that fleeting kiss would haunt her forever. As she tried to figure out what to say, she realized no apology would ever be enough. But if she expected to move forward, she also realized she had to start somewhere. “Jared, I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t need to—”

  “Actually, this is exactly what I need,” she replied. “I really am sorry, honey. I’m so sorry I did this to you. I wish I could take it back. I wish I could just wipe the whole thing from existence. And while I know that’s no excuse, I just hope you know one thing: The worst thing I can do in this world is hurt you. Nothing, absolutely nothing, causes me more pain.”

  “So you’re not in love with him?”

  “In love wi—Are you nuts? It was a moment in time—a misstep. You’re my whole world, Jared. Nothing means more to me. I trust you with everything.”

  “If you trust me so much, why’d you spy on me with your briefcase?”

  Sara reached over and tickled the back of his neck. “Baby, I was dead asleep the entire time. I only said that to test your reaction. Obviously, you failed, but I still trust you. And love you.”

  With a sly smile, Jared said, “You’re ruthless, y’know that?”

  “What can I say? Play with the best, you’re bound to get beat.”

  “Sara, I swear I only did it because I was worried about—”

  “I don’t care about that,” Sara said, taking Jared’s hand. “Let’s just have our make-up kiss and be done with it.”

  “Here?” Jared asked, looking around at the completely deserted Promenade. “In front of all these people?”

  “Of course here. It’s our perfect Hollywood moment. The intrepid heroes, the striking landmark, the windblown hair. It’s all in place. All we have to do is—” Interrupting herself, Sara leaned forward, g
rabbed her husband, and gave him a forceful kiss. For a minute, they stood there, lips locked and arms wrapped around each other. Once again, everything else faded away. When they were done, she asked, “How was that?”

  Jared smiled. “It’s good to be home.”

  “Couldn’t agree more. So you ready to get out of here?”

  “Depends what we’re doing.”

  “Well, right now, we’re putting together a puzzle. And the moment the picture is crystal clear, we’re going after the bastards who took it apart in the first place. If Rafferty thinks he’s got problems now, wait until his ass meets my foot.”

  “I hope you’re right. Because if Rafferty gets wind of this, he’s not going to hold back—even if you are a DA.”

  “That’s ADA to you. Now let’s go home.”

  Standing behind a thick patch of overgrown shrubbery and shrouded by the low branches of an oak tree, he silently watched the couple leave the Promenade. He knew this would happen—he’d said it from the beginning. When the pressure got too high, they were going to snap.

  He watched them walk up the concrete path toward Clark Street. They were coming directly at him, but in the darkness he wasn’t at all concerned. He didn’t even duck when they got close. He just leaned against the tree, his eyes tracking them as they passed right by him. He was tempted to reach out, but he fought the urge. Holding hands and swinging their arms, Jared and Sara walked with newfound confidence. They knew just about everything now. That is, everything but the fact that their secret wasn’t safe.

  Chapter 16

  “I KNEW IT WAS HIM!” GUFF SAID, RUBBING HIS HANDS on his pants. “Wasn’t I the one who said it? Wasn’t I? I was the only one who said Rafferty was in on this!”

  “Fine, fine, you were right,” Conrad said. “Get over yourself.” He turned to Sara, who was sitting on her desk. “What else did Jared tell you?”

  “That’s about it,” Sara said. “Rafferty threatened Jared, he’s been involved since the beginning, and if Jared doesn’t win the case, he says he’s going to have me killed.”

  “Do you think you can trust him?” Conrad asked.

  “Who? Jared? What kind of question is that? He’s my husband.”

  “He’s also your opponent. Which means he could be using this to set you up.”

  “Sorry, but I think you’ve been smoking too much grassy knoll. This is serious.”

  “Hey, don’t make fun of the knoll,” Guff warned. “It’s no joke.”

  Ignoring her assistant, Sara said to Conrad, “He even showed me pictures of us kissing. Not a pretty sight.”

  “Pictures? Where’d he get pictures?”

  “My best guess is—”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Guff jumped in. “You guys were kissing? Was there sex going on in this office? Because if there was, I should know about it.”

  “It was nothing,” Sara said. “A hapless accident between friends.”

  “Tell me about the photos,” Conrad said.

  “It looks like they were taken from over there,” Sara said, pointing out her window to two offices across the way. “Both of them belong to other ADAs.”

  “Any idea who took them?”

  “It had to be Victor,” Sara insisted. “He may be working behind the scenes, but he’s had his hand on the monkey wrench since this started.”

  “That may be true,” Conrad said. “But until we can prove it, we don’t have a thing on him. Even if he’s suspicious, he still hasn’t done anything illegal.”

  “That’s why I want to start digging. Jared gave me Rafferty’s private number, so I want to run a search on it.”

  “I can do that,” Guff said. “I assume you want to see all the calls that’ve been made by that number as well as all the ones that have been made to it?”

  “Everything you can get,” Sara said.

  Guff looked over to Conrad. “Can I—”

  “I’m approving all of it,” Conrad said. “If you have any problems, tell them to call me.”

  Sara nodded a thank-you. “Now, here’s what I really need your help with. Jared said Kozlow spent some time in the military. I have this feeling that’s where he met Sunken Cheeks. And since we can’t do anything until we know who he is, I was wondering if we could—”

  “Just tell me what you need,” Conrad said. “Names of everyone in his division? Everyone at his base? Photos? Fingerprints?”

  “Photos would be best. A name won’t mean much, but I might be able to recognize him if I saw a picture.”

  “I’ll have them here as soon as they can get them together. By the time the trial’s over, we’ll know the size of this guy’s pinkie ring.”

  “No, no, no,” Sara said. “I need it before the trial starts. If we wait until it’s over, one of us’ll be dead.”

  As Conrad and Guff were leaving Sara’s office, Sara said, “Conrad, can I speak to you a second?”

  “Uh-oh, lover boy, now you’re in trouble,” Guff teased.

  Reading Sara’s uneasy expression, Conrad shut the door behind Guff. “Let me guess what this is about.”

  “I know it’s awkward, but we really have to talk about it.”

  “Sara, you don’t have to say anything. I know how you feel about Jared. He’s your husband.”

  “It’s not just that he’s my husband. He’s—”

  “He’s the man you love,” Conrad interrupted.

  “No,” Sara said. “He’s more. Much more.”

  Conrad sat down on the sofa. “I’m sorry, Sara. I never planned for that to happen.”

  “You don’t have to tell me. When you leaned in, I didn’t exactly run away.”

  Leaning his elbows on his knees, Conrad kept his head down. “Damn,” he muttered.

  “Please don’t beat yourself up.”

  “It wasn’t right—I shouldn’t have done it.”

  “Conrad, every friendship has a few awkward moments. This one’s ours. And regardless of how much we apologize, I think the only way to get past it is to let it go.”

  “That easy, huh?”

  Sara looked away. “I don’t know…maybe.”

  Watching her reaction, Conrad knew there was no other choice. “I swear to you, I never—”

  “No explanations necessary,” she said, putting on her strongest face. “We’ll live.”

  “I’m sure we will. But I truly am sorry, Sara. I read you the wrong way and I won’t let it happen again.”

  “Deal,” Sara said with a smile. She extended a handshake. “Onward and upward?”

  Conrad shook her hand. “Sure can’t get any lower.”

  “Are you ready for Thursday?” Rafferty asked when Jared answered the phone.

  “I’m trying,” Jared said. “I’m just having a hard time getting organized.”

  “You’ve been getting organized for weeks. What else do you have to do?”

  “I have to finish my opening statements, I have to finish my direct examinations, I have to finish my cross-examinations, I have to think about jury selection, I have to decide what kind of juror is most likely to see Kozlow as sympathetic. All in the next three days. It’s overwhelming.”

  “I don’t care. Figure it out. Any other news from your wife?”

  “Just that I’m back in the house. I told her I didn’t like sleeping at Pop’s, and after that disaster with Conrad, she felt too guilty to keep me out. Otherwise, there’s not much to report.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Jared didn’t even pause at the comment. “Absolutely,” he said. “And according to the notes in her briefcase, she’s not calling Patty Harrison as a witness unless she needs her.”

  “Believe me, even if she calls her, Ms. Harrison isn’t the same witness she used to be.”

  “Please do me a favor and stay away from her until we know what Sara’s going to do. I don’t want to have to add witness intimidation to the list of Kozlow’s crimes.”

  “Don’t worry. We have that side under control.”

/>   “I know you do,” Jared said deferentially. “Now let me try and get some work done. I’ll speak to you later.” As Jared put down the receiver, he looked up at Kathleen, who had been listening to the entire conversation.

  “Do you think he knows?” she asked.

  “I have no idea,” Jared said. “He’s getting antsy, but I still think he’s too nervous to suspect anything. I just hope Sara gets some answers before the trial.”

  At quarter past eight that evening, Jared arrived at home, slamming the door as he stepped inside. “Sara!” he barked the moment he saw her standing in the kitchen. “When the hell are you planning to hand in a witness list?”

  “Whenever I’m ready,” Sara shot back as she walked toward the bedroom. “And I’m not ready yet.”

  “Don’t walk away from me,” Jared shouted, following her. “You’re turning this into a trial by ambush.”

  “Call it what you want, but I have until opening statements to finish my discovery work.”

  “Are you nuts? Nobody takes that long. Common courtesy says you should—”

  “Common courtesy can kiss my ass. Those’re the rules, and I plan to take full advantage of them. Now if you want to move back in, you better make yourself comfortable on the couch. Otherwise, leave me the hell alone.” With a quick shove, Sara slammed the door in Jared’s face.

  A moment later, Jared carefully opened the door and tiptoed into the bedroom. Sara was already sitting in front of their computer, at the desk in the corner of the room, hunting and pecking at the keyboard. As he approached her, he read the words on the computer screen: “How was your day, dear?” Leaning over, he kissed the back of Sara’s neck and took over the keyboard.

  “It was fine,” he typed back. “Spoke to Rafferty. I think it went okay. I don’t think he suspects anything. He’s too nervous.” He let Sara use the keyboard again. As she laboriously typed, Jared pulled up a chair, so they were both seated in front of the computer screen.

  “Why do this?” Sara typed. “Conrad says we can have this entire place searched for bugs. They’ll be in and out in two hours, and then we can speak as freely as we want.”