“You will.” Mary’s thoughts raced, but she had to stay calm. If she was right, thenRogerhad killed John. But she couldn’t let him know she suspected him. And she couldn’t let Judy take a cab with him.
Roger smiled. “It’s amazing to think that there’s new life, inside you.”
“Damn, I think the baby fell sleep.” Mary forced a regretfulsmile. “Roger, if you don’t mind, you should probably go, but I’d love for Judy to stay awhile. We can catch up—”
“Of course.” Roger withdrew his hand from Mary’s belly. “You must be exhausted.”
“Mare, the baby can’t be asleep, it was awake just a second ago.” Judy stepped closer, and her gaze fell on the bracelet. Her eyes widened in shock, and she glanced at Mary, frozen.
“Judy?” Roger straightened, frowning. “Is something the matter?”
“Uh, no.” Judy faced him, stricken. Her fair skin flushed. Tears filled her eyes. “I, um, just noticed by your… wrist mala.”
Mary slid her hand to her phone to call 911. Judy was blowing their cover, too emotional to keep it together. She had lost the man she loved and was looking into the face of his killer.
“Judy?” Roger frowned. “What’s upsetting you?”
Judy tried to speak, but her hand flew to her trembling lips. She burst into tears. “Roger?” she blurted out, horrified. “Didyoukill John?”
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
“What?” Roger recoiled, appalled. “Why would you ask me that? What a question!”
“Roger… I can’t believe… you would!” Judy sobbed, her hand to her mouth, trying not to break down completely. “I admired you… you’re so cool… and smart… why did you… whywouldyou?”
Meanwhile, Roger was so focused on Judy that Mary could sneak her phone onto her lap and touch the screen to wake it up.
“I didn’t, of course I didn’t!” Roger stepped toward Judy, as she kept edging away. “Why would you say such a thing?”
Mary swiped her phone, and it asked for a passcode.
“Your wrist mala… we saw it… on the new… video.”
“There’s avideo?” Roger asked, his tone changing so dramatically that it was as if his voice emanated from another man.
Judy nodded, her hand over her mouth. Her agonized eyes shifted to Mary, and Roger whirled around just in time to catch Mary keying in her passcode. Her mouth went dry.
“Give me that phone!” Roger flew at Mary, grabbing the phone from her hand.
Mary scrambled away from him, her heart beating hard. Herhand flew protectively to her belly. She tried to think of what to do. There was nothing she could use for a weapon. If she screamed, help would come sooner or later, but he’d have time to kill one of them. She had to reason with him, stall him until she thought of something better
“Mary, were you calling the police? Onme?” Roger stood over the bed, breathing hard. The look in his eyes was pure outrage. “What a terrible mistake! How could you make such a terrible mistake?”
“Roger, you scared me, that’s all.” Mary struggled to stay in control. “But I won’t call again. I won’t tell anybody. You probably didn’t mean to kill him.”
“Of courseI didn’t!” Roger shouted back, losing control. “Ididn’tmean to! It’s not like Iplannedit! But I just got sosickof it, all of a sudden! All of you lawyers, you think you’re so damnsmart! But you make mistake after mistake! I getso sickof cleaning up after your mistakes! I’ve had a career of it, alifetimeof it! Can you imagine what it’s like to be alegal malpracticelawyer? The clients are theworst! They’reall lawyers!”
“I can imagine,” Mary said, calmly. She held her hand out, keeping him back. He looked down at Mary as if he weren’t really seeing her, his fury driving him. Judy sobbed against the dresser, watching them in horror.
“That’swhy I didn’t want to take your case!” Roger shouted down at Mary, prone on the far side of the bed. “Iknewyou wouldn’t listen! And John wouldn’t listen, either! He was going to ruin everything! I only went there that night to tell him not to quit, to come back to your firm! But no, he wouldn’t listen!”
“I did listen to you, Roger.” Mary was trying to placate him. Her heart was beating out of her chest. He had to be deciding what to do with her and Judy. He couldn’t kill them both at once. He needed an exit strategy. Mary was trying to give him one. “Roger, I listened to you, and that’s why we stayed the course on our case.”
“You didn’twantto listen to me! You fought me every step of the way!”
“But I came around, in the end,” Mary said quickly. “You showed me the way. You changed my mind. Remember, what I said to you before the interview with Vanessa? I told you, ‘I learned from the master,’ and I did. You. And Judy listened to you too. We listen to you. We admire you.”
“Iknowwhat I’m doing! Lawyers come to me because I know what I’m doing! If they knew whattheywere doing, they wouldn’t be getting sued for malpractice, now would they?” Roger laughed, without mirth. “You would think that would be a wake-up call, wouldn’t you? You would think that would cause a lawyer to question his judgment, wouldn’t you? You would think that wouldmake a lawyer learn to take directionfrom somebody who knows better, wouldn’t you? Lawyers hire me when they’re in trouble, but they don’t listen toa wordI say!”
