Page 81 of Fifty-Fifty

‘That was before,’ said Hal.

‘Before what?’

‘Before I found that,’ he said, pointing to the page.

‘And this changes things how?’

‘Well, I’m thinking your sister might pay more?’ said Hal, a mischievous grin appearing on his darkened features. It looked more menacing in the half-light, like a dog baring its teeth before it bites.

‘Where’s the original?’ she asked.

‘The DA’s office have it. I sent it in a few days ago.’

‘What?’

‘It has no value without me. Don’t you see? It’s practically worthless without my testimony.’

‘What have you told the DA about it?’

‘Very little, but they’re anxious to talk.’

‘How much is your testimony worth?’ she asked.

‘Ten, to you. Upfront.’

‘I don’t have that kind of cash,’ she said.

‘That’s your problem. You’ve got till nine o’clock tomorrow morning, then I’m talking to your sister. I can swing my testimony either way, depending on who is willing to pay more.’

He flung open the back door to the kitchen, returned to his mistress in the restaurant and let the door close behind him.

She put her hands on her hips. She didn’t have ten million dollars right now. When her inheritance came in, she could realize that kind of cash without much difficulty, but right now – impossible.

Breaking into a run, she pounded down the alley, and by the time she reached the streetlights she had a plan.

TWENTY-SIX

EDDIE

‘I don’t know how long it’s been since that night,’ I said. ‘When I think of it, I can’t quite piece it all together. The memory is not all there. Just fragments.

Maybe that’s a good thing. A shrink would tell me that’s a symptom of trauma.’

I ran my fingers along the lettering on the tombstone.

MARY ELIZABETH HARPER

I couldn’t bring myself to read the rest. Even though Harper, and her partner in the PI firm, Joe Washington, had been out of the FBI for almost two years, the Bureau gave her a full honors funeral. Joe wouldn’t talk to me. Her former colleagues were more accommodating. They let me stand with the rest of the mourners at the graveside, probably because I’d come with Harry. When the service was over, one agent approached me. Paige Delaney. Together with Harper, we’d worked a case not so long ago. Paige and Harper saved my life.

She was an analyst at the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. And one of the smartest people I knew. She’d been in New York for months, tracking the Coney Island

killer.

‘Joe will come around,’ she said. ‘He’s hurting because he wasn’t there to save her.’

I nodded my thanks, but I knew things would never heal. Joe was blaming himself, and me, for not being there when she needed us. I didn’t blame him. I

should have been the one there. I should have told her sooner how much she meant to me. Maybe if I had just gone to the house earlier she would still be alive. The night of the killing, I’d stood in front of the mirror, trying to psych myself up to go over there and tell her. If I’d been a braver man none of this would’ve happened.