Open and Shut - By David Rosenfelt Page 0,24
case here, something he can't imagine he could ever have done.
Laurie arrives, and her manner is cold but professional. It feels like I need to do something to resolve the situation, but I'm at a loss to know what. Her attitude is completely appropriate, which makes it all the more frustrating.
We set out going through all the files on the case, though we've both already been over them at least three times. I start letting my mind roam, not tempering my thoughts with logic. I often find it leads me to places I want to go, though just as often it leads me nowhere.
“What if Denise wasn't just a random victim? What if the killer had a motive?”
“Like …” she prompts.
“I don't know … she was a reporter … maybe she was going to write a story which would hurt the killer. He got rid of her to prevent the story.”
“Why would she write a story about a loser like Willie Miller?”
I challenge her. “Who said the killer is Willie Miller?”
“A jury.”
I'm starting to get frustrated by her pessimism. “Don't you get suspicious when there's all this evidence? Don't you think the prosecution's case might be a little too strong?”
“Actually, no,” she says. “I tend to find evidence convincing. More evidence is more convincing.”
I am about to challenge this logic when there is a knock on the door; it is the Chinese food Laurie has ordered for us. She hadn't asked me what I wanted, but I let it go because I figured she was lashing out at me, culinarily speaking. She also lashes out financially speaking, by signing for a big tip and telling the delivery guy to charge the whole thing to my account.
She starts to unpack the food, so I ask her what she's ordered.
“Steamed broccoli, stir-fried asparagus tips, and broiled seaweed with tofu.”
This is not exactly making my mouth water. “Are you catering a rabbit convention?”
“It's good for you, unlike that greasy poison you always order.” She takes two bites, then looks at her watch. “Are we almost finished here? Because I've got plans.”
Uh, oh. The dreaded plans. I get a pit in my stomach the size of Argentina.
“Plans?”
“Yes, plans,” she says. “Like in, I have a life so I make plans.”
“Okay. I deserve that.”
“No. If I gave you what you deserve, I'd be in the same situation as Willie Miller.”
I'm getting annoyed, and my level of annoyance has always been directly proportional to my level of courage. Actually, it's a theory of mine as well. I believe that all real heroes demonstrated their bravery only when they got angry. You think Nathan Hale liked the guys who put the rope around his neck? You think Davy Crockett considered the Mexicans coming over the Alamo walls his good buddies? I'm no different. Piss me off enough and before you know it they'll be writing songs about me.
Here goes. “Look, we started to get involved. It was nice … really nice … but we never took an oath.”
She's ready for this. “Right. You and Nicole are the ones that took an oath.”
“As a matter of fact, we did. And one of us may wind up breaking that oath, but we won't know that for a while.”
She stands up. “I'm happy for you, but I've got plans. Now what is it you want me to do next?”
I guess she's not going to eat the Chinese food next, leaving it all for me. Yummm. I'll have enough left over to make broiled seaweed sandwiches tomorrow.
“Check out the eyewitness … Cathy Pearl. Maybe we can shake her. Maybe she did it, for Christ's sake.”
“Great idea!” she enthuses. “I'll also ask people I meet at the supermarket if by any chance they killed Denise McGregor. Maybe we can shake someone else into confessing.”
“Aside from our personal situation, what is your problem with this case?”
She looks me straight in the eye, though that is what she always does. She's an inveterate eye looker; I on the other hand look at people's mouths when they talk.
“My problem is that we're defending a brutal murderer, Andy. If we're successful, which we won't be, he goes back on the street.”
“And if he didn't do it, then the guy who did is already out on the street.”
She sighs with resignation, as well as the fact that down deep she knows I'm right. We've been over this ground before. We have a role to play, and if we don't play it to the hilt the system doesn't