“They just didn’t count on us.”
“Teamwork makes the dream work,” Bennie wisecracked, ignoring the twinge she felt inside. It really was fun working with Mary, but this wasn’t the time to say so, and the moment passed.
“I’m calling Detective Lindenhurst right now.” Mary dug in her purse for her phone. “We need to tell him to pick up Ray for questioning.”
“He’s going to say it’s speculation, so we need to collect all this information and bring it to him. Get our ducks in a row.”
“Right.” Mary pressed the number to call Detective Lindenhurst. “Can you make a separate file for this information, so we can email it to him in some understandable form? I want to have it in his hands right away. We don’t have any time to lose.”
“Understood.” Bennie turned to her computer laptop and started organizing the file. “Can you put him on speaker?”
“Sure,” Mary said, hitting a button. “Detective Lindenhurst, this is Mary DiNunzio.”
“Yes, Mary,” Detective Lindenhurst, his tone tense. “I was just about to call you. We just arrested Simon Pensiera for the murder of Todd Eddington.”
Bennie recoiled, saying nothing. It felt like a body blow.
Mary had gone white in the face. “No, you can’t, you have the wrong man, we were just about to call you, you need to getRay Matewicz in for questioning. He’s the killer and we know why—”
“Mary, we have the right man. We have the autopsy. Todd Eddington’s body has been released. Your client’s hair, fiber, DNA, and fingerprints were found on the body and in Todd Eddington’s car. And we found the murder weapon in your client’s home—”
“But Ray must have planted it here!” Mary interrupted, frantic. “They know where Simon lives. It couldn’t have been that hard to get in there, and Simon’s away all the time at the hospital. Plus the street is practically deserted, since everybody’s away on vacation.”
Bennie could see Mary getting upset, but she didn’t interrupt.
“Mary, your client is about to be booked. If you’re smart, you’ll advise him to make a deal. I can probably get him twenty years.”
“But he didn’t do it!” Mary shouted, then seemed to catch herself. “And hecan’tgo to jail. He has a sick child who needs him. And his father—”
“I have to go. I’ll be at the Roundhouse all night. Good-bye.” Detective Lindenhurst ended the call.
“Wait, hold on!” Mary said anyway.
Bennie put a hand on her arm. “Mary, keep it together.”
“I can’t!” Mary hung up the phone, letting out an agonized groan. “Simon was arrested at the hospital! What if Rachel saw? What’s going to happen when word gets back to Feet? I can’t believe this! We wereso close!”
“I know, and we still are.” Bennie tried to calm Mary down, but she felt the same way. “The fact that Simon was arrested doesn’t mean it’s the end. It’s just the beginning.”
“But Bennie, this time he’sgoing to jail!” Mary’s eyes widened with fear. “What happens to Rachel now? To Feet? This is adisaster!”
“We can deal with this. We’ve been through worse.”
“Not worse than this!” Mary began to tear up, and Bennie knew it was time to get her into motion.
“Pack up your laptop. Get your things. We need to get down to the Roundhouse.” Bennie put her laptop away.
“But I need to call everybody, my parents, Anthony, the cousins. I have to tell them, and they have to go sit with Rachel.”
“You do it on the way. I’ll drive.” Bennie pointed at Mary’s laptop. “Get your stuff. Let’s get going. The best way to help Simon is to be down there for him. Not up here whining.”
“I’m not whining!” Mary knelt down, closed her laptop, and shoved it in the messenger bag. “Okay, maybe I am, but this is awful!”
“Let’s go.” Bennie turned out the light and headed out of the office, but the house had gone dark.
“Right behind you,” Mary said, as they hustled into the kitchen, then into the living room.
They had reached the front door when Bennie heard an odd muffled sound behind her. Bennie turned around just in time to see a masked shadow in the darkness, clamping a gloved hand over Mary’s mouth and dragging her backwards.
