She picked up the last message, from Linette. He had to know what was going on. If he couldn’t feel the almost seismic shift of power, they all had to be buzzing about it. He had called twice while she was on the phone, but she wasn’t returning his call yet. Let him sweat. He’d want to know her response to his offer, but she’d known the answer even when she was broke. Yesterday. And Bennie still couldn’t believe he was Robert’s killer, or had him killed. Not with Alice out there somewhere.
She checked her watch. Three o’clock. Sooner or later she’d have to call David. What am I going to say?
“Incoming,” Marshall said, walking in with another batch of messages. “What is going on, Bennie?”
“It’s like dominoes. When one fell, they all did.” Bennie threw up her hands, astounded. “I think we got our law firm back, and you got enough maternity benefits for triplets.”
“Well, congratulations to both of us.” Marshall smiled, with relief she let Bennie see for the first time.
“You were worried. I don’t blame you. I’m just happy you don’t have to worry anymore, and I’m going to miss you.” Bennie ignored the silly lump in her throat. “When this baby comes, do whatever you want. Stay home if you want to. I’ll pay you for six months, full benefits and all. You have to be free to do what your heart says.”
Marshall looked at her as if she were nuts.
“I read it somewhere.”
“You’re assuming this baby is ever coming out.”
“It’s gotta come out, Marshall. How’s it gonna go to law school?”
“Ha!” Marshall said. She set down the messages and wandered out, her hand on her lower back, and Bennie winced just from looking at her.
“I keep telling you, I’ll come to the desk and get the messages.”
“Walking is good for me!” Marshall called back as Bennie picked up the first message from her desk. Mr. Cho, of Cho amp; Co. He could be her new favorite client. She suppressed a smile and punched in the number.
Bennie was bleary-eyed by four o’clock, when there was a very loud knock on her door. In the threshold stood Murphy and Carrier, looking very pleased with themselves. Bennie set down the telephone receiver. “I hope you’re here to tell me you’ve been working like dogs. Because we got so much work it’s not even funny.”
“We heard. But we’ve been doing something I think you’d approve of, very much,” Murphy said.
“Very much.” Carrier nodded. “We totally stayed away from Linette because he could be dangerous and a killer and repulsive, like you said.”
Bennie eyed them. “So where have you been?”
“Lunch,” Murphy answered. “A really long, really late lunch. But not with Linette. We had a better idea.”
“What did you do and why didn’t you ask me first?”
“I went to lunch with Ross, an associate from Linette’s office, and I didn’t clear it with you because there was no risk or weirdness.”
“Also you would have said no,” Carrier added, and Bennie felt a tension she couldn’t explain.
“Carrier, where were you while she was having lunch with this Ross?”
“We worked as a team, and I was backup. I sat at the next table, incognito, in case she got into any trouble.”
“As I was saying, Ross Pacine is an associate who works for Linette.” Murphy eased into a chair opposite Bennie, and Carrier into the chair next to her. “I went over to Linette’s to drop off some papers-”
“What papers?”
“An extra copy of our complaint, which I know is bogus, but it gave Ross the chance to ask me out. Which he did. So I said how about a late lunch instead, and he said sure. And we went to lunch and he had a few Amstels and he dished.” Murphy licked her glossy lips. “Linette is having an affair with the new receptionist, the one you call Miss Texas. He bought her a love shack at the Water’s Edge, down on Front Street. Near his house.”
“Ross knows this for sure?” Bennie asked.
“Everybody in the office knows it for sure. But Linette didn’t go see Miss Texas on Tuesday, the night Robert was killed.”
“You asked him that? Murphy, this could be dangerous.”
“Of course I didn’t ask, but I know just the same. Because Miss Texas had a breast job on Tuesday morning, paid for by Linette. I’m guessing she wasn’t in the mood for love that night.” Murphy folded her arms. “So where was Linette on the night of the murder? He wasn’t anywhere he was supposed to be, and he wasn’t even where he wasn’t supposed to be.”
“I thought he could have another mistress,” Carrier interjected.
“Ross said he doesn’t, Miss Texas would kill him.” Murphy raised an auburn eyebrow. “We think it’s time for you to talk to Linette. Ask him what he did Tuesday night, in some casual way, and see if he lies to you. Then Murphy and I can follow up.”
“Follow up?” Bennie repeated. “You two?”
Carrier was nodding eagerly. “And you know what else we found out? Ross says that Linette has a big goon who hangs around him from the old days, when he did criminal defense. This guy supposedly does all sorts of sleazy jobs for Linette, and I was thinking maybe Linette hired him to kill Robert. His name is Luke Deal.”
Oh, no. Bennie’s mouth went dry. “Luke Deal was tried for a brutal double murder ten years ago, in Bridesburg. The case made all the papers. Linette was his lawyer, and he got him off on a technicality, by suppressing his confession.”
Carrier’s face lit up “That’s incredible! Maybe Deal’s the one! We should definitely follow this up. I’ll research Deal online and find out where he lives.”
Murphy bubbled with excitement. “What if Linette was with Deal the night Robert was killed? They could have been in it together! I’ll call Ross and see if he wants to meet me for dinner, and afterward I’ll make up some excuse to stop by Linette’s office. I wonder if there’s a way I can slip away from him and sneak into the financial records and see if there are any suspicious payoffs and then-”
“Are you two nuts?” Bennie shouted, suddenly furious, and the associates looked at her in surprise. “Why do you think you can go running around after murderers!”
“What are you so mad about, boss?” Carrier asked, confused. “You do it all the time.”
Murphy frowned. “And why do you have to get so freaked out? We know what we’re doing!”
“I can take risks like that, but you can’t!” Bennie shot back. Then she heard herself shouting. She was so freaked out. She couldn’t let them get hurt solving this case. It made her realize something. She loved them. Loved them. The thought silenced her, at least for the moment. And the two girls, oblivious, kept chattering away.
“It only got dangerous when Ross made his move,” Carrier was saying with a smile. “He tried to grab Murphy’s knee under the table. Then I stepped in and saved the day, like Batgirl.”
Murphy looked askance. “You saved the day? Please. I handled him.”
“Oh, don’t even start with me! I was the one who dropped my fork and stabbed him in the ankle, accidentally on purpose. That’s why he yelped!”
“That’s not why! He yelped because I kicked him in the shin. It was nothing my Manolo couldn’t fix.” Murphy wiggled her overpriced designer pump, and Carrier laughed.
“No way! You needed me!”
“Who needs Batgirl when she has Blahnik?”
“Oh, blah blah Blahnik. You did!”
“Did not!”
“Did too!” Carrier gave her a playful shove, and Murphy shoved her back, less convincingly.
“Bennie, she hit me!”
Bennie let them bicker-her thoughts were going elsewhere. Her smile faded, and a chill came suddenly over her. Because she had realized something else:
She knew who had killed Robert St. Amien.