Page 111 of Fifty-Fifty

‘I didn’t know who he was until Dreyer showed up. He was outside Hogan Place, waiting for Cohen. We were crossing the street, and this bike shot past.

The rider put a knife in Cohen’s neck. I couldn’t believe it. I spoke to the cops afterwards, gave a statement. So did Bloch. They think it might have been an attempted robbery. I told him it was too fast for that. The motorcycle rider didn’t even say anything. Just stabbed him.’

‘You think someone was taking out a potential witness in our case?’

‘No, I think Sofia was taking out a witness.’

‘Wait, the cops haven’t come near Sofia. If she was a suspect, she’d be arrested. What about Alexandra? Has she been arrested or interviewed?’

‘No. Either it’s NYPD incompetence or it’s Dreyer. This is his big case, with a guaranteed win one way or the other. Maybe he doesn’t want to jeopardize the

trial by hauling the defendants into custody on an unrelated matter.’

It made sense. Dreyer was probably thinking that at least one of the defendants would be convicted, and then they wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Plenty of opportunity to question them on Cohen’s death when they’re locked up.

‘It was a woman on the motorcycle, in black leathers, tinted visor. Did you watch the video?’ asked Kate.

‘I did. I checked the time and date stamp on the footage and found a report in the New York Post. A pharmacist and cashier murdered in their store in Haberman. Nothing taken. The reports worked on the basis this was a racially targeted murder, and the white cashier was a just a witness that needed to be taken out.’

‘That pharmacy was one of the top five suppliers of Haloperidol within a fifty-mile radius of Manhattan. Their sales of the drug had spiked in the months leading up to Frank Avellino’s death. They re-ordered every month, which makes me think someone came in and bought up their stock. There’s an opioid

crisis in this country, and plenty of friendly pharmacists for the right price.

Before this rush period, they ordered Haloperidol from the suppliers once every nine to eighteen months.’

‘Where’d you get your information?’

‘My investigator – Bloch.’

I swallowed down a tightness in my throat. Every now and again I’d bump into a reminder of Harper, and it felt like being hit with a baseball bat. I coughed, and took a real effort to control my voice, fighting to keep the emotion from it.

‘She sounds really good.’

‘She is. Maybe not as good as your friend was. Sorry …’

‘It’s okay. I need to keep my head in the trial. It’s the only thing keeping me going.’

We both fell silent for a time, while I flipped the switch. Head back in the game.

‘You really think the figure in black is one of the Avellino sisters? Killing the pharmacist and Cohen to cover their tracks?’ I asked.

‘I think it has to be,’ said Kate.

I paused, let that sink in while I drained the coffee and Kate gave me a refill.

‘What do you know about Mike Modine?’ I asked.

‘Not much. He was a Wills and Probate attorney – specializing in estate wealth management. He helped the dead pass their money to the living with as few deductions for tax as he could manage. He says he doesn’t know what changes Frank wanted to make to his will, and he’s taken off. Probably having a mid-life crisis in Malibu with a twenty-one-year-old volleyball player,’ said Kate.

‘Mike Modine made two-and-a-half-million dollars last year before taxes. Due to some creative accounting on his part, he’s got five mil in a bank account in Zurich which he thinks the IRS don’t know about, and at the time he went missing he had a dozen credit cards in his wallet. He’s been a partner at this firm for eight years. Before that, he was an associate for fifteen, working his way up to the big bucks.’

‘How do you know so much about Modine?’

‘I did my homework. If he was making cash on the side he had to put it somewhere. There’s no indication he was skimming clients, as all of the bank records on his files are audited. I just don’t buy him up and leaving a job he worked his ass off to get.’

Kate lowered her head. Something seemed to flash before her eyes. Maybe the moment she’d upped and left Levy, Bernard and Groff. I got the sense she was

rethinking that decision. Whatever it was, it passed quickly.