Cate let it go. She didn’t think that sympathy had a gender. “But he knew Richard, didn’t he? They seemed close at trial.”
“Nate didn’t know him that well. Not well enough, anyway. He only knew Richard’s professional side.”
“But what about at the trial, after I ruled? Richard got so upset about my judgment, he attacked Simone.”
“He lost his temper, but it wouldn’t last. It never did. He would never kill Simone. He would never stay angry enough to kill Simone, or anyone. He would never ever do that, not knowing a baby was on the way. His baby.”
“Maybe he felt even worse because he’d lost, with a baby on the way. Now he knew he’d have a family to support.”
“No. My family has money, and I have a trust fund, that’s why we’re not in financial trouble. We’ve lived on my trust fund for this past year, after Richard quit his job to write screenplays. His lawsuit was never about money, it was about his pride in his writing and the fact that Simone was getting away with stealing his work.”
Cate began to feel the tiniest wedge of doubt that Marz had been the killer.
“He told me, more than once, that he wouldn’t be that upset if he lost the lawsuit. He expected to lose the lawsuit, and Nate told him he would, too. Besides, Richard was a lawyer, he knew the law. He knew his case was a long shot, but he thought if he got to the jury, he had a chance. And he really wanted to hold Simone accountable.”
“He wanted his day in court.”
“Exactly.”
Cate nodded. It was just what she’d thought. She would have done the same thing.
“Richard did not kill Art Simone. And he did not kill himself. I just know it.”
“The police are sure of their case, and it’s closed. They’re good cops. Smart.” Like Nesbitt, Cate thought but didn’t say.
“But other detectives don’t agree at all, like Frank Russo. He knew Richard better than any of them.”
“Russo?” Cate burst into laughter.
“What?”
“He tried to kill me last night, upstate. He thinks I killed Art Simone.”
“What?” Sarah’s brown eyes flared in disbelief.
“It’s in the newspaper, didn’t you see it? A small headline, relatively, and almost no article. Maybe I should have been offended.”
“I didn’t see it. I haven’t seen a newspaper since Richard died. We suspend our normal activities to sit shiva, and it lasts seven days.”
Maybe I should convert. Maybe everybody should.
“What happened?” Sarah asked, and Cate told her, making attempted murder as entertaining as possible. This girl didn’t need more tsuris. “So I’m not sure Russo is your best argument. Did he know Richard well?”
“Well enough to know Richard wasn’t the type to commit suicide. Don’t you see?” Sarah leaned forward on the tiny stool. “Russo’s instincts told him that my husband wasn’t the killer, but he was just wrong about who was. I don’t know who did it, either. I just know that Richard didn’t. And I think that that person killed Richard and made it look like a suicide.”
“Let me ask you something,” Cate said, against her better judgment. She set the plate of food down on the glass coffee table. “What happened after that day in court, after I ruled from the bench?”
Sarah thought a minute. “You made your ruling, and Richard got into that fight in the courtroom, then you left the bench and they separated Richard and Simone. Simone left with his lawyer, and Richard hugged me and said he wanted to be alone and asked would I please take Mom home, because she was upset, too. So I did.”
“And he disappeared after that?” Cate frowned, and Sarah raised a hand, as if to stave off the thought.
“It’s not as weird as it sounds. Richard frequently went off alone, to think. He was a scholar, a philosophy major at Swarthmore. He thought about things.” Sarah’s eyes came alive with love. “He was internal, always pondering. That’s why he liked computers so much. He was an intellectual. Not a man of action, or violence.”
“He attacked somebody in open court, Sarah.”
“Attacking isn’t shooting to kill, Judge.”
Cate smiled. True, that. “Where did he go, to think?”
“To temple, to the library, or sometimes the park. Off by himself. That’s where I think he was when whoever it was killed Simone, outside the restaurant.” Sarah raised her voice, vehement. “Richard would never do that! We didn’t own a gun. Where did he get it?”
“Where everybody does. Bought it or got it off the street from somebody.”
“We didn’t know anybody who could get him a gun ‘off the street’.”
“But he was an assistant DA. Didn’t he meet criminal types there?”
“No, he handled computer crime. He met geeks. And when did he buy this gun, supposedly? He rushed right out after court and bought it?”
“Why not?”
“He wouldn’t even know how to fire a gun.”
“It can’t be hard,” Cate said, though she had never fired one, either. “Too many dumb people are good at it.”
“Judge, don’t you see what I’m saying?” Sarah asked, newly urgent. “Don’t you agree with me?”
“I don’t know.” Cate shook her head. “I see your point, I do. And even if I was agreeing, I don’t know what I could do about it.”
“Ask the police to reopen the case. I’ve already written them, and they refused. Maybe they would do it, if you asked. A federal judge, who heard the case.”
An ex-federal judge, but you don’t read the papers. “Forget the police, they won’t do anything officially. They reopen cases for newly discovered evidence, not supposition.”
“But Richard didn’t do it, and the killer is still out there. Free.”
“Tell you what, I’ve come to know Detective Nesbitt, who worked on the case. I’ll bring it up with him and see what he thinks, unofficially. I’m sure I’ll be talking with him later.” At least I hope I will be.
“Thank you! Thank you!” Sarah jumped up and impulsively threw her arms around Cate, giving her a heartfelt hug. “I knew you would help.”
“Please don’t have any false hopes, though.” Cate rose and hugged her back, then held her off, steadying her. “Hear me? You have to be realistic. Nesbitt believed his original theory and he has hard evidence to support it. I’m not sure your pregnancy changes anything for him, or anybody else.”
“I know, I know, but I think it will. I pray it will.”
“Chillax,” Cate said, using as motherly a tone as she could muster, borrowing Nesbitt’s expression, and Sarah laughed, her tone lighter than before.
“I can’t, I’m so pleased.” Sarah clapped her smallish hands with delight, and Cate started to worry she was getting carried away.
“You know, even if we manage to get them to reopen the case, which I swear we won’t, it wouldn’t bring Richard back.”
“I know that,” Sarah said, her expression growing suddenly serious. “That’s not what I’m hoping for.”
“What are you hoping for?”
“That his name is cleared. That the world knows he’s not a killer, and that justice is done. I know it will never bring Richard back, but it will bring back my friends. My community. Look around you.” Sarah gestured at the empty room. “I don’t want to raise a baby like this, apart from community. I don’t want people whispering about our family, or her father. Can you imagine what that does to a little girl?”
Uh, as a matter of fact, I can.
“People will whisper about him, about us, and it’s unnecessary. Her father was a great man, and I don’t want her raised knowing only lies about him, even if it protects her.”
“Good girl!” Cate said, her heart speaking for her.