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“What is ‘active aid and assistance’ supposed to mean?”
“The State Attorney’s Office will have to send us the grand jury materials soon, which will flesh that out. But based on what I can tell so far, the first piece in the prosecutor’s puzzle is that you were having an affair with Tyler McCormick.”
“Which isn’t true.”
“We’ll get to that,” said Jack. “The indictment charges that Shaky confronted Tyler and killed him. The way I read the rest of the indictment, you helped him cover up the crime.”
“How is a cover-up second-degree murder?”
“It’s not,” said Jack. “At most, it would make you an accessory after the fact, but the law says you can’t be charged as an accessory after the fact when your spouse is the killer. It’s called the related person exception. Instead, the prosecutor charged you with mutilation of a dead body.”
“Why would he also charge me with second-degree murder if you’re saying he doesn’t have the evidence?”
“He shouldn’t. But prosecutors usually have a strategic reason for everything they do.”
“What’s the strategy here?”
Imani’s publicist returned to the kitchen. “Are the cookies ready?” she asked. “Sorry, but that smell has my whole team salivating.”
Imani handed her the tray, and Carla hurried away with the goodies. Imani apologized to Jack, then smiled wistfully as she returned to her seat.
“I was raised by my grandma,” she said. “When I was little, if something bad happened, Grams would always make cookies.”
“I get it,” said Jack. “My abuela’sgo-to medicine is tres leches.”
“Is she Nicaraguan?”
“No. Cuban.”
“Isn’t tres leches a Nicaraguan dessert?”
“Conventional wisdom says it is. But Abuelanearly started a civil war, Miami style, when she called in to Hispanic talk radio claiming she invented tres leches and that the Nicaraguans stole the recipe.”
Imani laughed. “Thank you. I needed that.”
Laughter was good, Jack agreed, but there was nothing funny about what he needed to say next.
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” he began, but before he could say another word, Imani’s publicist returned with Jack’s draft press release in one hand and a red pen in the other.
“I have some helpful suggestions,” she said, but Imani shut her down.
“Carla, now is not a good time.”
It was a tone Jack hadn’t heard from her before. Obviously, Carla had. She withdrew without another word.
“You were saying?” said Imani.
Jack needed absolute privacy, no interruptions, for what he was about to discuss, and he sensed that Carla hadn’t gone very far. “Can we step outside?”
“Sure,” said Imani, and she led him out to the terrace, which was like a fully furnished living room in the garden.
“This is purely my instincts talking,” said Jack. “But I think the prosecutor charged you with second-degree murder simply to put added pressure on you to turn against Shaky.”
“You mean he wants me to turn state’s evidence?”
“Exactly,” said Jack. “You provide the testimony to convict Shaky of murder in the second degree. In exchange, the prosecution drops the murder charge against you and lets you plead to the lesser charge of gross abuse of a dead body.”
“But I still go to jail on the lesser charge?”
