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“TJ, I had to.” John took another sip, cringing.
“No, you didn’t.”
“Yes, I—”
“Tell me.”
John sighed. “I told them that you told me you and Lemaire were stealing money from Runstan. That you went to meet Lemaire on Dad’s birthday and confronted him that he was shorting you. You hit him with a rock, you were worried you killed him. Then the stuff you did after that, like looking for his car and all that.”
Jesus. “So, youdidput me on the hook. Youframedme.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Nowyou apologize?” I felt my anger resurge. “What a guy.”
John frowned. “For what it’s worth, I didn’t tell them I thought you did it. I said I didn’t know.”
“What really happened with Lemaire? Did you kill him?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Then why put me on the hook?”
“I had to dosomethingafter the fight at the wake. I wanted the Runstan acquisition to go through.”
“How does putting me on the hook for Lemaire’s murder make it more likely the acquisition goes through?”
“If you’re being investigated for killing Lemaire, nobody’s looking to find kickbacks. I figured eventually you’d be cleared. They’d hire Angela to get you off, but I needed that deal. It’s going to save my ass—”
“John, you’re in denial.”
“TJ, you don’t know anything about it. I have this all planned. Mergers and acquisitions is huge. I can premium-bill on every deal, it’s all high stakes.”
“You’re gambling, only with cases.”
“I can make a killing.”
“You already did. Remember Lemaire?”
John pursed his lips.
“What happened to him?”
“I didn’t kill him.”
“Tell me who did, and it better be the truth.”
“I don’t know. Lemaire figured out I had a deal with Warren. I offered him the same deal, and he took it. He’d approved one of the bills, and I kicked back to him, but then he got cold feet. He didn’t want to keep going. He called and said he wanted to talk, so I said we should meet. We did, where I said, at the quarry. He said he wanted to stop, he threatened to bust me. I told him he’d be taking both of us down. We had a fight, and I threw the rock at him and hit him in the head. He lost consciousness, like I said. I was scared I killed him. I panicked and drove to Mom and Dad’s.”
“Did you really think you killed him?”
“I didn’t know, I wasn’t sure.”
“But why involve me at all? Why tell me anything that night?”
“I was scared, I was panicky and I thought…” John didn’t finish the sentence, and I realized the words were too awful to say.
“You thought you might pin it on me? Like, if you really killed Lemaire?” My chest tightened. “I’m your get-out-of-jail-free card? Your drunk ex-con brother with zero credibility?”
