Page 88 of Two Kinds of Stranger

‘Shouldn’t Lake or Bloch be here with us?’

‘If we find something, we take a photo, then I’ll get Bloch out here with Raymond in the morning.’

He looked at me.

I kept my eyes on the road, but I could feel his look.

‘What’s up?’ I asked.

‘Everyone has been asking about Amy, Christine and Kevin. How areyouholding up?’

‘I’m worried as all hell, Harry.’

‘We’ll make sure we deal with whatever comes up. Kate’s the best.’

‘Christine and Kevin are in great hands. And at least I’m not worried about that creep, Cross, coming after them any more. But this feels a lot worse, you know?’

‘Because it’s Castro coming after them?’

‘That asshole doesn’t play it straight. He’ll do whatever he can to win, doesn’t matter if he’s got the right suspect or not.’

‘You’ve got to ignore him. He’s Kate’s problem. We can take him. All we need is reasonable doubt.’

‘That’s getting harder and harder to come by, these days.’

In our world, we dealt in doubt and uncertainty. Those were the defense attorney’s sacred hills. If a jury has reasonable doubt, they cannot return a guilty verdict. That was the system, but it had cracks that seemed to get wider with every passing year. In today’s world, where there was so much division, people carried their beliefs high on their shoulders. The truth was relative. There was your truth, and their truth. Facts and alternative facts. People distrusted the media, especially the news channels. They all had their own point of view, certainly, but only a couple peddled total lies masquerading as the truth. It wasn’t news, it was entertainment. The trouble was nobody had told the rest of the country. Not that many of them would care. Most of the country had decided to live in their own world of facts with their own truth, as it suited them.

We dealt in reasonable doubt.

And we lived in a time of unreasonable certainty.

‘We know Kevin’s gun was found at the crime scene. Somebody stole Kevin’s gun, went to Cross’s house in Queens, shot him then dumped the weapon at the scene to make sure the police found it. The gun is kept in a lockbox in the kitchen. I asked Kevin when was the last time he, or Christine, had handled the gun. He told me a couple of days ago, when I was at the house. Someone knew about the gun and where it was kept,and somehow they got it out of the house in the last few days without Kevin, Christine or Amy noticing,’ I said.

Harry nodded. He said nothing for a few miles. Every now and again he would rub the top of his head. As an old con artist, I couldn’t help spotting people’s tells, even those who were closest to me. Harry had something he wanted to say, but was trying to figure out if he should say anything and, if he did, how to do it.

‘Proving someone broke in and stole the gun without them noticing is a big ask. It’s a leap. Castro has a more convincing story to tell right now. Amy was threatened, Cross got beaten up and was fearful of them, the parents decided they had to do what was necessary to protect their family.’

‘That’s not the truth. That’s not what happened,’ I said.

‘How long have I been trying to teach you this? The truth doesn’t matter in a courtroom. This is all about who tells the jury the most convincing story. Right now, Castro’s got the edge.’

‘I know that. Come on, Harry, spit it out. Just ask the question. I know it’s on your mind.’

‘Christine would do anything to protect Amy, but she would never take the law into her own hands. I don’t know Kevin. . .’ said Harry.

‘How long have you been waiting to ask me this?’

‘Since I heard they got arrested for Cross’s murder.’

‘The answer is no. And, even if he was the type of guy, Christine wouldn’t cover for him. But there’s nothing to worry about on that front, Kevin is not built that way. He’s the opposite of me. Christine had that life with me, and she didn’t want her new man to be anything like the last one. Kevin wears slippers in the house, for God’s sake. . .’

‘Nothing wrong with a pair of comfortable slippers,’ said Harry.

‘Now I know what to get you for Christmas. You want a pipe too, Grandpa?’

‘Oh yeah, a realbigpipe–like the one Sherlock Holmes has. With a huge funnel and a long stem, so I can ram it straight up your assh—’

‘Are you two fighting?’ asked Amy, cutting Harry off.