(No, best not to think about that. Put the thought away.)
(Just put it away!)
Or he was-
(No! Put the thought away. Now!)
Or he was innocent.
Leo looked up when he heard Adam clearing his throat. “Sorry. Daydreaming, I guess.”
“Why dream? Haven’t your dreams come true?”
“More or less.”
“More, it looks to me. Your office is quite handsome. I’m sure that you will prosper here. I imagine you’ve generated many clients already and several retainers as well, I’m sure. How many?”
“Fifteen.”
“Fifteen. Yes, you will prosper. And so will I. In any case, I’m on my way to the airport. I just wanted to stop by and thank you one last time.”
“You have nothing to thank me for.”
“No, I have everything to thank you for.”
“Well, it was a hell of a case, I’ll say that much.”
“Yes, but it turned out quite all right, for both of us.”
“Not for Monty, though.”
“No, not for Monty.”
Leo puffed on his cigar, and the two men stood in silence.
Adam spoke first. “In any case, I just wanted to say thank you.” He turned to leave.
“Wait a minute.”
“Yes?”
“I just-”
“Yes?”
“You killed her, didn’t you?”
Adam didn’t hesitate. “Of course I killed her. I thought you knew. Why, you almost seem surprised.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why… Why did you kill her?”
“You mean you don’t know? Of course you know. I killed her because I loved her. Because she loved me.”
“Do you kill everyone you love?”
“More or less, sometimes more. Look, Leo, why be coy? You know it all already.”
“I do?”
“Absolutely. Everything you dug up for that woman attorney to steal away from you was absolutely true. All of it. You had it all right from the beginning.”
“You tricked me.”
“Tricked you? Please. You can’t be that blind. You may have tricked yourself, fooled yourself into believing what you wanted to believe. She stole the glory from you, Leo. And you stole it back. It’s as simple as that. You are not going to stand there with that sniveling look on your face and expect me to believe you were chasing your ideals? You were chasing a dollar bill on a string.”
“But why set up your brother, why make him pay for your crimes?”
“Somebody had to pay. Why not Monty? It’s beyond your scope of knowledge, but believe me, Monty owed a debt.”
“But you set him up from the beginning. You planned it from the start.”
“He was insurance, nothing more. The ruses I constructed are made of paper. They will degrade quickly. Even a third-rate lawyer could win him his freedom. I established bank accounts in his name, slowly extracted the money, then deposited the cash funds into an account for Violet. I sent her the bank statement along with an anonymous note indicating that twenty thousand dollars could purchase a trailer almost anywhere. And the guardianship, nothing more than a cheap forgery. I ultimately convinced Rachel to sign, but Monty-ever the wise one-refused. So I signed his name myself. Of course it will never hold up to close scrutiny, but, then again, I don’t need it to. In fact, I never seriously thought I would ever be forced to use it at all. I never expected the blame to go past Albert. Yes, that is repulsive, I know, but when you really consider it, I never hurt Albert. I’m sure none of this ever penetrated his dark world. But, as I say, I never expected it to go past him. I never expected more than a small tragedy that wouldn’t make it to page five in the local paper. I never expected you. No. But I planned for you. The bank accounts, the guardianship, all in reserve for future use. And, as I say, Monty is not blameless. He owed; trust me, he owed.”
Leo’s world was a little grayer than it had been five minutes ago. He knew it was true. Every word of it. Even the bit about the dollar bill on a string. But parts of it seemed to still be missing, unnecessary chances taken. There were certain… inconsistencies, if you will.
“Why wait so long? Why let things get so out of control before you used your plan? You damned well almost went to prison. How could you know that I would take your bait?”
“Anyone would have taken it. That was what it was there for. I could have called any investigator at any time. But the irony of using you to do my bidding was overwhelmingly intoxicating. I just couldn’t resist. Why wait till things seemed their darkest before making my move? The drama was a factor, but I also wanted to be acquitted. Double jeopardy and all that.”
The drama? Leo wasn’t sure he’d heard him correctly. Did the guy really say that the drama was a factor? A spasm, like the chill after a swallow of strong liquor, shot through Leo’s intestines. It was a spasm of fear. He guessed that maybe it could be true that he’d known on some level that the guy was a murderer, but this he’d never dreamed of. Insanity scared him. Drama? It sounded maybe not insane exactly, but certainly it was the language of the disturbed. Like “the drama” was a motivating factor in most people’s everyday decisions. Why’d you spank your dog, Frank? Well, you know, he peed on the carpet and, plus, you know, the drama was a factor.
“Huh,” Leo said dumbly, from far away.
“Double jeopardy. You are familiar-”
“Can’t be tried for the same crime twice.”
“See, you are a good lawyer. Nothing third-rate about you.”
“But you can be tried for other crimes. Forgery, perjury, conspiracy, illegal transfer of funds, and plenty more. I’m sure it would add up to thirty years or more.”
“And who would bring the charges? You? I doubt it. You would be acknowledging that I was the second killer you’ve set free. But don’t beat yourself up over it. You can still sleep well at night. I was simply a pathetic man leading a life of quiet desperation.”
Absurdly, Leo found himself thinking of Samuel Abdul, the man who had scammed his mother out of his dead father’s insurance money. He remembered the prosecutor who put Abdul away and how he had inspired Leo to become a prosecutor too. To help people like his mother. And now it had come to this? Was this what he was about now? Was this what he had aspired to be? Christ. Could time really change a person like that?
“You needn’t worry. I won’t kill again.”
“I’ll make sure of it.” It was an empty threat, and they both knew it.
“Will you? Will you really? And when the news gets out of what you’ve done, yes, what you have done, what will happen to your beautiful new office, your fifteen retainers, your Armani jacket. Your newfound respect. Would you really be willing to sacrifice all of this? Muddy your name yet again? And for what? Me?”
Leo stared at Adam, his eyes burning with hatred. It was the hatred that can only come from being bested. Insane or not, the man had bested him.
He lowered his eyes.