“Don’t threaten me, Swyteck.” He pulled the mock trigger, jerked her head forward as if a 9 mm slug had just shattered her skull, and then pushed her to the floor.
Kelsey rolled across the carpet and let out a blip of a scream that sounded like fear and relief combined as she went to Jack.
Tatum shot one last angry look at them. Jack glared right back as he watched his former client slam the door and then disappear behind a pane of translucent glass and the painted block letters that spelled JACK SWYTECK, ATTORNEY AT LAW.
Fifty-five
I could kill him,” said Theo.
Jack and Theo were back in Jack’s office, alone. Jack had taken a minute to calm Kelsey’s nerves and asked her to wait in the conference room while he and Theo sorted things out.
“Killing him isn’t the answer,” said Jack.
“I know that. But I at least gotta get him back in the ring, no gloves this time.”
“I understand you’re pissed,” said Jack. “I am, too. But for the time being, we have to put that aside and think clearly.”
“Think about what?”
Jack took a seat behind his desk, straightening a paper clip as he spoke. “Tatum just threatened Kelsey right before my eyes. If we don’t stop him, Sally’s ex-husband is likely to be next on the hit list. Tatum thinks that either I can’t do anything to stop him, because I was his lawyer, or that I won’t do anything, because I’m afraid. Tatum needs to think again, but that doesn’t mean the answer is to run outside and tackle him.”
“You gonna call the cops?”
“Let’s think this through first, okay?”
“Okay. Shoot.”
Jack pulled a notepad from his desk drawer, feeling as though he should be jotting things down, but he was thinking and talking too fast to write. “Let’s start at the beginning. Vivien Grasso laid it out on the table in the first meeting she had with the beneficiaries as personal representative of Sally’s estate. She flat out told us: ‘If any of the beneficiaries is thinking about bumping off the others in order to be the sole survivor, forget about it. Your motive would be obvious, and you’ll never get away with it.’”
“Tatum figured out a way around that.”
“He thinks he has. My guess is he teamed up with a partner-someone who could do the killing while he was out building alibis.”
“Like, ‘I was out fishing with my brother,’” said Theo.
“Exactly. So long as he has a workable defense, like an alibi or whatever it might be, the fact that he’s the last man standing at the end of the day won’t be enough to send him away on murder charges. He may be right about that. He may be wrong. But a forty-six-million-dollar inheritance can buy one heck of a good criminal defense lawyer.”
“One thing’s for sure,” said Theo. “I know my brother. If he’s come this far, he won’t stop.”
“Which means we need to figure out who his partner is.”
“Any guesses?”
Jack leaned back in his chair, considering it. “I’ve been giving this a lot of thought. It seems possible that there are two killers at work-or, at the very least, someone has gone to the trouble of trying to make it appear as though there are two killers at work.”
“How do you count two?”
“The first is the guy who called me after the prosecutor was murdered and said that no one can opt out of the game, ‘Everyone must die.’ If this guy is taken at his word, money is not his primary objective.”
“A psycho like that doesn’t sound like Tatum’s partner.”
“No. But the other killer-or, at least, the other personality-is the guy who attacked Kelsey and said he wanted Tatum to withdraw from the game.”
“Wait a sec,” said Theo. “If you’re saying that this guy is Tatum’s partner, why would he want Tatum out of the game? Seems like the opposite would be true.”
“It has to be a ruse,” said Jack. “It makes a nice cover for Tatum and his partner, doesn’t it? It would appear that Tatum is being threatened into withdrawing, but in reality Tatum and his partner are killing off the other beneficiaries so that Tatum can stand firm and inherit the jackpot.”
“You sound pretty convinced that this partner is not himself a beneficiary.”
“It only makes sense if his partner is not already a beneficiary. He wouldn’t need Tatum if he was already in the game.”
Theo rose, pacing as he thought aloud. “So, we’re looking for a friend of Tatum’s who is not a beneficiary and who is not squeamish about blood.”
Jack and Theo looked at one another, as if the name came to them simultaneously. “You thinking who I’m thinking?” asked Jack.
“Seems pretty obvious, doesn’t it?”
“The guy who got Tatum into the game in the first place. The dirt bag who linked up Sally with Tatum.”
“Sally’s old bodyguard?” said Theo.
“Yup.”
They locked eyes, mulling it over in the silence between them. It seemed to fit. Theo asked, “Now what? You go to the cops?”
Jack shook his head. “Your brother isn’t one of my favorite people on earth, but the fact remains that everything I learned about his possible wrongdoing arose from the attorney-client relationship.”
“But I heard you say it yourself as he was walking down the halclass="underline" The privilege doesn’t apply if the client is about to commit a future crime.”
“I’m a criminal defense lawyer, Theo. I’d better be damn sure about my facts before I breach the attorney-client privilege for any reason.”
“You’re not sure?”
“Not sure enough. I can’t just run to the police and tell them, hey, my client had a slip of the tongue and said let’s split the pot three ways instead of two ways, and based upon that I think he may have conspired with Sally’s old bodyguard to kill off the other beneficiaries.”
“So what do we do?”
“Basically, I do whatever I can to let you even the score with your worthless brother. I help you to help yourself.”
“I’m listening.”
“I think you should pay a visit to Sally’s old bodyguard.”
He smiled wryly, curling his right hand into a fist, massaging it with his left. “It would be my pleasure.”
“No rough stuff,” said Jack.
“Then what is it you want me to do?”
“Just follow my plan.”
“Your plan?” he said with a chuckle. “Last time you had a plan, I ended up kidnapped by some Russian-speaking Latina babe, locked in a seedy hotel room, and chained to a bedpost for three days.”
“And your complaint would be…?”
Theo’s smile widened as he reconsidered. “You the man, Jack. What’s the plan?”
Fifty-six
They settled on a short frame Smith amp; Wesson revolver with a polished nickel barrel.
It had taken only a few minutes for Jack and Theo to formulate their strategy. Kelsey wanted to help, and since she was the one whom Tatum had threatened most directly, Jack figured that she deserved a shot at redemption. She agreed to take a ride with Theo over to a gun shop on Biscayne Boulevard and point out the gun that most closely resembled the one her attacker had shoved into her face outside the law school library.
“That’s the one,” said Kelsey. She was pointing through the locked glass door on the display cabinet.
“You sure?” asked Theo.
“It was dark outside, and the guy was wearing a mask. But that gun was right in my face, and there was enough light from the library to see at least that much. It may not have been that exact model, but it was one just like it.”
“Thanks,” said Theo. “That’s just what I needed. You want me to drive you home?”
“No, my car’s still on the street by Jack’s office. Could you drop me off there?”
“No problem.”
Jack was at the watercooler when Kelsey returned to his office. She said she’d forgotten something in her desk, but Jack walked her to her car, sensing that more important things were on her mind. They were standing at the curb between her parked car and a black olive tree that had sprouted from a square landscaping hole in the sidewalk.