case came apart,” Barry said. “Turns out the girlfriend was sleeping with Malone first. She’s known him for a couple of years. They have one of those relationships where he gets mad at her every once in a while and gets abusive, she leaves, then comes back because she mistakenly thinks there’s no alternative. Then one night, she’s in this bar and she meets Preston Burke.”
“And she thinks he’s Malone,” I suggested.
“At first, but after a few minutes, it becomes obvious he’s not. So now Barbara figures, hey. Best of both worlds. She has a guy who’s a carbon copy of her boyfriend, but without the violent tendencies. Problem is, after they’ve been together a little while, Malone finds out about Preston Burke, too.”
Abby shook her head. “He never came for Burke, though. He just went for the woman.”
“Ain’t that always the way,” Barry said. “He’s going to punish her for wanting a better version of himself. And he’s going to set up Burke for the crime. So he goes around to the bar and a few other places for a day being Preston Burke. Letting everybody see him as Preston Burke. And the next morning, he collects Barbara outside Burke’s apartment. She can tell the difference after a second, but by then, it’s too late. He drags her into an alley after making enough noise to attract witnesses, and shoots her.”
“Why didn’t she name Malone, and not Burke, in the complaint?” I asked.
Abby knew why. “Fear,” she said. “She knew Burke would never hurt her, but if she put Malone in jeopardy, he’d kill her for real this time, right?”
“You’re good at what you do, Abby,” said Barry.
“Not good enough. I should have gotten this. No wonder Burke was so mad at me.”
“You can’t be right all the time,” I told her. “Nobody could have seen this coming.”
Barry’s voice sounded uncomfortable, like he was intruding on a private moment. He cleared his throat. “Anyway, Malone hears that Burke has been convicted, so he gets cocky, shows his face a couple of times too often when Burke is in jail, and the next thing you know, somebody’s calling the cops. The gun shows up in his apartment. They’ve got fingerprints, everything. He even confessed. I just wanted to let you know Burke is off the hook,” he said. “I don’t know if you still have to worry about any more rocks flying through your window, so I’ll keep the patrols coming by for a couple of days, okay?”
“Thanks, Barry,” I said, and we hung up. Abby sat down in a kitchen chair and stared for a long while. I looked at her, walked over, and stroked her cheek. She took my hand and held it.
“I hate screwing up someone’s life like that,” she said. “I was so sure.”
“Don’t beat yourself up. You had all those witnesses. Apparently Burke looks just like this guy Malone. That happens once every millennium or so. And after all, Burke’s life wasn’t ruined. He spent a few nights in jail That’s it. You did what you thought was right, and you did try to defend him.”
“It’s just. . . I thought. . . I could have. . .” She banged her fist lightly on the table.
I knelt down to look into her eyes, but for the first time since Ronald Reagan was elected president, I couldn’t think of anything to say. Luckily, Ethan ambled in, assessed the situation, and knew exactly what to say.
“Is dinner almost ready?”
It took a moment, but Abby sputtered, and started to laugh. She reached an arm out for our son, and he let her hug him, although he certainly didn’t understand why.
“What are we having?” he asked, figuring he could compound the good cheer.
We stood there, me kneeling by my wife’s chair, her holding our son with one arm for a few moments. Then she got up and started making his dinner.
I went to check my email.
Chapter
Ten
That night, Abby and the kids spent an hour on my computer in the den/playroom, surfing pet adoption sites for available dogs that weren’t so big they’d need their own wing added onto our house. Given her state of mind about Preston Burke, it was hardly the time for me to tell my wife I thought a dog was a truly awful idea for our family. And she knew it. She didn’t know it was also a lousy time to mention that Burke had called our house while we were away, and I wasn’t