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Chapter One
At first I thought I heard him wrong. It was impossible coming from John, my older brother, the firstborn son, the Most Valuable Devlin. Me, I’m the black sheep, the baby of the family, the charming disappointment. John was Class President, and I was Class Clown. He was Most Likely to Succeed, I was Most Likely to Get a Speeding Ticket. That’s why I never expected him to confess to murder.
“What?” My mouth dropped open. “Did you just say youkilledsomebody?”
“Yes.” My brother nodded, jittery. His blue eyes looked unfocused, which never happened. Lasers have nothing on John Devlin.
“That can’t be. Notyou. You’re, like, the best—”
“I did it,” John said, panicky. “Ikilleda man. TJ, what should I do?”
“How do I know? You’re the lawyer.” I didn’t get it. John and everyone else in my family were lawyers in our family firm, Devlin & Devlin. I’m a convicted criminal. On second thought, maybe I would’ve asked me, too.
“God, no, I can’t believe this.” Tears filmed John’s eyes, which surprised me. I didn’t know he had any emotions except disapproval.We stood on the large flagstone patio overlooking the pool and pool house. When he’d taken me outside tonight, I thought he wanted the two grand I owed him.
“John, who did you…kill?”
“A client.”
Yikes. I’m an investigator at the law firm. My family keeps me behind the scenes, but I don’t need applause, just a paycheck. Being an ex-con doesn’t pay as well as it should. “Tell me what happened.”
“I don’t know where to start. Oh God, this is awful.” John grimaced, stricken. He ran his tongue over his lips. “Okay, well, we were at the corporate center, Knickerbocker Quarry. I hit him with a rock—”
“A rock?”What is this, summer camp?“Why? When?”
“Less than an hour ago. I came directly here.”
Meanwhile there was no blood on him. Only my brother could kill somebody with a rock and not get dirty. His silk tie was spotless and his Brioni suit fit him like Batman. “How did you beat him with a rock and—”
“I didn’t beat him. I threw the rock and it hit him in the head. I heard a crack…” John’s upper lip curled with disgust. “Then hedropped.”
I figured it was his fastball. John pitched for Villanova, where every Devlin but me went to college. “Then what happened?”
“I came here. I knew Nancy and everybody would be waiting. I panicked.” John raked a hand through thinning brown hair. He was forty years old but looked fifty and usually acted eighty, but not tonight.
“Okay, let’s go. We have to do something with the body.”
John recoiled. “Like what?”
“Bury it?”Isn’t that why you’re telling me?
“TJ, no, we can’t. I don’t know what to do.” John rubbed his face. “We can’t leave now. You know how Dad is about his birthday.”
I glanced through the window to the dining room, where dinner was just getting underway. My mother was setting an antipasto platter on the table, and my father stood talking with my sister, Gabby, and her husband, Martin. John’s wife, Nancy, sat with my little nephew, Connor, who was playing with a Matchbox Jaguar I’d brought him. My father’s birthday was a national holiday in our house. Christmas never had it so good.
John straightened, blinking. “TJ, I can’t live with this. I’m coming clean. I’m going to tell—”
“No, stop.” I grabbed him by his hand-stitched lapel. “You’ll go to prison.”
“I deserve to.”
“You can’t handle it.”
“Youdid.”
“That’s how I know you can’t.”
“I can if you can.”
