Clara shrugged and said, “A nicer explanation might have been something along the lines of because Jack loves you. At the time, I thought Jessie was being a little harsh in her judgment. But now that I’ve met you, maybe she’s right. Maybe Jack is just a poor, lost soul who’s playing by the rules.”
Cindy struggled not to say what she was thinking. “Are you going to answer my questions about this adopted child or not?”
Clara looked away, as if mulling it over. “I’m not sure I can help you.”
“Why not?”
“It’s awkward. I don’t care to get caught in the middle of whatever’s going on between you and your husband.”
“The only thing going on is that Jack is too shocked by all of this to do anything about it. Somebody has to step up to the plate and find this child, so we can all put it behind us and move on. That’s all I’m here for.”
“No. You’re here because you don’t believe whatever it is your husband is telling you about this child.”
“You’re reading way too much into this.”
“Am I?”
The doubtful expression made Cindy feel small. Finally, Cindy lowered her eyes, rose from the couch, and said, “This was a bad idea. I think I’d better go.”
Clara followed her to the door. “Jack always did like kids.”
“Excuse me?”
“He and Jessie used to double date with my husband and me. Even way back then, he said he wanted kids. He was so good with my son David.”
Cindy blinked, confused.
Clara said, “As I recall, Jack had a pretty rocky relationship with his own father. Guys like that often go the extra mile to keep history from repeating itself. He probably would have made a pretty good dad.”
“I’m sure he would.”
“Seems ironic, then, doesn’t it?”
“What?”
“You never gave Jack a child. Jessie did.”
Cindy didn’t know how to answer, but it didn’t matter. She couldn’t speak. She just stood numbly for a moment, ice-cold, waiting for the pain to pass.
“Thanks a lot for your time,” she said, then closed the door on her way out.
56
•
It was late Friday afternoon, and Jack was at his
“Indictment is down,” said Rosa.
He closed his eyes and slowly opened them, absorbing the blow. “How bad?”
“One count, one defendant.”
“Me?”
“No. Theo.”
The knot in his stomach twisted. A moment of relief for himself, a deep-felt pain for his friend. “No murder for- hire-scheme, like we thought?”
“Not yet.”
“You think it’s coming?”
“Could be like we talked about earlier. The prosecutor will use the indictment as leverage against Theo, try to get him to turn against you.”
“He could have done that even if he’d indicted both of us.”
“He’s being cautious, as he should be. You’re a respected lawyer, the son of a popular former governor. You can bet that the state attorney herself is insisting that the evidence against you be ironclad.”
“Marsh’s testimony obviously wasn’t enough.”
“Or the prosecutor has some reservations about it. I heard a rumor that Marsh refused to take a polygraph.”
“That’s just great. They’re not sure if their star witness is telling the truth, so they can’t indict me. But it’s fine and dandy to indict Theo.”
“Theo’s a former death-row inmate. I don’t care if he was innocent the last time, the bar’s a lot higher for you than for him.”
“This really pisses me off.”
“Calm down, okay? We don’t know what additional evidence they have against Theo. It could be worse than we think.”
Jack sighed, realizing she was right.
Rosa said, “Right now we have to focus on making sure they don’t convince Theo to flip against you. That would be all the evidence they need to go after you on murder for hire.”
“The only way they can do that is to get Theo to lie. That’ll never happen.”
There was a brief pause, then Rosa shifted gears. “Where are you now?”
“My grandmother’s house. I didn’t want to be home or at the office when the indictment issued. Just can’t deal with the media right now.”
“Where’s Cindy?”
“With her mom.”
“Are you two…”
“I don’t know what’s happening with us.”
“Have you heard anything at all from Theo?”
“Not a word.”
“Well, his arraignment is set for Monday morning at nine. If we don’t hear from him by then, he’ll officially be a fugitive.”
“I’ve been trying to find him ever since his lawyer told me he couldn’t reach him. I called his friends, talked to his partner, the people he works with. No one seems to know anything.”
“Then do more.”
“I will. But the indictment isn’t going to make it any easier. There’s no bail for murder in the first degree. The thought of going back behind bars isn’t going to sit well with him.”
“You need to find him and convince him that he has no choice. A no-show on Monday only digs a deeper hole for all of us.”
Jack started to pace. Through the archway at the end of the hall, he could see his grandmother standing at the kitchen island preparing dinner. Strange, but he suddenly smelled jail food. “I need to get on this. Where can I reach you tonight?”
“I’ll be here in my office pretty late. You should come by. Jancowitz is delivering the grand-jury materials to Theo’s lawyer tonight, and he promised to share with me. Could be interesting stuff.”
“Yeah. Like reading my best friend’s obituary.”
“We’re a long way from that, Jack.”
He thanked her, said good-bye, and hung up. He took a few steps toward the kitchen, then stopped. Only one thing seemed worse than telling
“Who called?” she asked.
“Rosa.”
She was flattening a mound of dough into a paper-thin sheet, back and forth with a rolling pin. It was for her famous meat-filled pastry shells that were tasty enough to tempt even a life-long vegetarian. “What she tell
