Page 106 of Fifty-Fifty

THIRTY-FIVE

SHE

She had timed it just right.

It took a lot of work, but it was worth it. She knew that Hal Cohen couldn’t see Dreyer before five o’clock, because Dreyer was in court along with her.

Dreyer would want to depose Hal personally. He would have been a key prosecution witness.

She had other uses for Hal. He had fulfilled his purpose, and she didn’t even have to pay him a dime.

What Hal had discovered and turned over to Dreyer would be interesting.

Even without Hal, Dreyer could spin that particular piece of evidence any way he wanted. It had less impact without Hal, was much less important, but still usable.

Killing Hal had taken split-second timing. She had a window of four seconds, and it had proven more than enough time. She had left the courthouse, taken a cab to her garage and suited up in her leathers. From there, she waited outside Hal’s office for him to leave, having first made an anonymous call to make sure he was still in there. Once he left, on foot, she tracked him the four blocks to Hogan Place, and the DA’s office. Taking him out in Center Street was the perfect spot.

She idled the bike to the traffic light, waited and then when she saw Hal begin to cross, she spun the back wheel, let it go, drew the knife and pointed it at Hal as she shot past. The speed of the bike did the work. There was a shockwave that travelled up her arm when the knife hit bone.

This time, she didn’t miss.

No need to stick around to make sure Hal was dead – she knew it was a fatal stab wound. She struck a glancing blow to the pregnant woman, but thankfully it was slight enough not to send the bike over. There had been a wobble, but she

corrected it quickly and burned the tires as she shot across the street, through Collect Pond Park and onto White Street.

Within minutes she was several blocks away, and, managing to use some of the few alleyways in this part of town, she avoided the last five traffic cameras before she entered a ten-story parking lot. In the lot, she parked the bike in the back of a brown panel van, then drove the van out of the lot. The cameras were looking for a black bike with false plates, not a busted-up van.

The risk had been worth it. Hal was dead.

And her sister had no idea the storm that was about to land in court.

THIRTY-SIX

EDDIE

Harry rested his elbows on his knees and studied Clarence. The little dog sat there transfixed by his master, his tail wagging.

‘If someone was drugging Frank, taking control of his empire, making him submissive, and getting away with it, why was it necessary for him to die?’

asked Harry.

Clarence licked his chops, moved forward onto all fours and stuck his nose under Harry’s arm, prodding it away. Obliging his friend, Harry stroked his fur in something approaching contemplation.

Clarence didn’t have an answer for Harry’s question. Neither did I.

‘We can’t assume anything here,’ I said. ‘Frank was being slowly poisoned and controlled, but we can’t know for sure that it was the same daughter that ended up killing him.’

‘True, but it makes the most sense. My guess is Frank found out who was drugging him, called up Mike Modine to cut the culprit out of his will. That forced the hand of the poisoner – they had no choice but to kill Frank before he could make that change.’

‘That explains why they had to take drastic action before he met his attorney on Monday. Kinda strange the cops haven’t found Mike Modine, don’t you think?’

‘I’d say it’s darn right suspicious. One thing I know is lawyers like Modine never run off to join the circus unless they’re scared about going to jail.’

‘I checked in with his firm. Everything’s in order with Mike’s files. He wasn’t about to get sued, he was already divorced, and as far as anyone in the firm knew he wasn’t seeing someone new. He just disappeared. It stinks, Harry.’

‘Seems to be a lot of people involved with the Avellino sisters end up dead.

Their mother, their stepmother, now Frank. Maybe Alexandra killed Modine too?’