“You don’t understand,” Jared pleaded. “You have to let me win.”

“Have you been listening? I don’t have to do anything.”

“Yes. You do,” Jared said flatly.

“I can’t believe this. Is it an ego thing? Is that it? You can’t stand seeing me beat you for once?”

“This has nothing to do with competition,” Jared said, his forehead covered with sweat.

“Well, you can forget it,” Sara said, turning her back to her husband. “The only person bringing home a victory is me. Hope you can live with it.”

Jared grabbed Sara firmly by the arm. “Listen to me! It’s bigger than you think!”

“I already heard you. Now let go of me.”

Refusing to loosen his grip, Jared shouted, “Sara, I’m begging you one last time: You have to let me win.”

“Why? What the hell is so important?” Sara shouted back, struggling to free herself.

Finally, Jared realized he had no other choice. Still holding on to his wife, he looked into her eyes. “Because if I don’t win this case, they’re going to kill you!”

Instantly, Sara stopped trying to pull away. “What?”

“You heard me. They’ll kill you. The only reason I’m on this case is because they threatened to kill you if I dropped it. That’s why I’ve been fighting so hard. That’s why I’ve been pushing so much. And that’s why I went through your briefcase. They’ve been following both of us since Kozlow was first arrested. They’re the ones who broke into our house. And they’re the ones who-”

“Oh, my God,” Sara said, sinking back on a bench.

“This is serious, Sara. We’re in trouble.”

“The people who approached you – did one of them have sunken cheeks?”

“Sunken cheeks? No, I was approached by Kozlow and…” Jared paused.

“Kozlow and who?” Sara asked.

Jared glanced around to make sure they were still alone. Then he stared directly at his wife. “It’s Oscar Rafferty. He’s been there from the start. He’s the one who-”

“That lying sack of shit!” Sara shouted. “We knew it – Guff called it the moment we left his office. Rafferty had you, and Sunken Cheeks had me.”

“What’re you talking about? Who’s this man with the cheeks?”

Sara quickly related her encounter with Sunken Cheeks, explained how he had threatened to kill Jared, and described his untraceable fingerprints.

When she finished, Jared said, “So if you gave in, he would’ve come after-”

“That’s why I didn’t give in.”

“But if he’s the one responsible for hurting Pop, why didn’t you arrest him?”

“I have no idea who he is. Besides, I was so nervous about what he’d do to you, I was terrified to touch him.”

“I know how you feel,” Jared said. He sat down next to Sara and brushed his fingers against the gauze pad on his chin.

“Who was it, Kozlow?”

“Took a pound of flesh on his own,” Jared explained. “But it sounds like your guy was helping you. I mean, wasn’t he the one who put you on Rafferty’s trail?”

“Not at all. We found Rafferty on our own. He became a suspect as soon as we saw Arnold’s will.”

“Arnold had a will?”

“See, that’s the problem with you defense attorneys. All you care about is getting your client off. We prosecutors are the only ones searching for the truth.”

Ignoring the jab, Jared said, “Tell me about the will.”

“There’s not much to tell. According to our reading, Rafferty stands to inherit Echo Enterprises now that his near-and-dear partner is dead.”

“Oh, you must be kidding me – Rafferty gets the business?”

“The whole thing,” Sara said, noticing the look of disbelief on her husband’s face. “Why? What does that tell you? I mean, besides the fact that he has a reason to kill his partner.”

“That tells us why Rafferty was so intent on winning the case.” Running his hand through his hair, he added, “Damn, that mean bastard is brilliant.”

“Why? What’d he do?” Sara asked, slapping her husband on the arm. “Tell me already.”

“It’s actually pretty simple. Do you remember what a slayer statute is?”

“A what?”

“A slayer statute. Slayer. As in killer.” When Sara shook her head, Jared explained, “A slayer statute prevents murderers from profiting from their own killings. Let’s pretend you have a will. And the will says that if you die, I’m the main beneficiary. That means I get all your money.”

“All twenty-five bucks?”

“Every last nickel. So now let’s pretend that I try to get the money early by having you killed. Under the slayer statute, if it’s proven that I had anything to do with your death, I’m not allowed to get a dime, a nickel, or a penny – even if your will says I get it all.”

“Does New York have one of these statutes?”

“I don’t know if there’s an official statute, but the common law has the same rule.”

“Then why didn’t they just settle it?”

“As I remember it, you can impute foul play from any of the parties involved – which is why Rafferty couldn’t let Kozlow accept a plea bargain or anything less than a full acquittal.”

“So Rafferty is worried that if Kozlow is implicated in any way, and it’s discovered that Rafferty hired Kozlow, Rafferty’ll never get his nest egg.”

“Not to mention the fact that he’s nervous about his own murder charge. I mean, that’s the only thing that explains Rafferty’s concern with this whole mess. If he was innocent, he wouldn’t care at all. And if he wasn’t obsessed with the money, he would’ve let me plea-bargain it down.”

“Do you think he could also be trying to protect Claire Doniger?” Sara asked, standing up.

“You’re really convinced she’s involved with this, aren’t you?”

“C’mon, Jared. The woman’s husband is killed and she doesn’t shed a tear. More important, she doesn’t lift a finger to help our investigation. Talking to her is like pulling teeth, and getting her to testify is like… it’s like…”

“It’s like pulling teeth,” Jared said dryly.

“Yeah. Lots of teeth. A mouthful of teeth.”

“Okay, so if she’s involved, what’s her motive? Does she get anything under the will?”

“Not a cent. But that doesn’t mean anything. Our theory is that she and Rafferty are sleeping together. When they knock off Arnold Doniger, they get all the money and they get to play snuggle-bunnies every night. The only problem we were having was proving Rafferty’s involvement. But it’s clear that he’s the man we’re after.”

“It’s not a bad theory,” Jared admitted. “And now that I think about it, he does get superprotective whenever she comes up.”

“Is there anything else Rafferty’s said that we might be able to use against him?”

Jared sat back on the bench and put his head in his hands. “Actually, you can’t use any of this stuff against him. It’s all protected by attorney-client privilege.”

“I’m not worried about winning the case anymore, handsome. I just want to make sure you’re safe, and get us out of…” Noticing that her husband wasn’t moving, Sara stopped. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Without saying a word, Jared stood up and wrapped his arms around his wife. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you, Sara. I only did it because I was worried about you.”

Feeling a wave of relief run over her, Sara held her husband tight. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I was just as worried about you.”

“But I-”

“Shhhhh, don’t say another word,” Sara said, still holding him close. “It’s over. It’s finally over.” Leaning back just enough to look into Sara’s eyes, Jared realized she was right. And for the first time in months, he decided not to argue. Instead, he pulled her in and lightly slid his hands across her shoulders and down her back. He loved the way their bodies fit together. Against her cheek, Sara felt the familiar scratch of his five-o’clock shadow. Closing her eyes, she took in the smell of the cologne she always complained about. And with her arms around his waist, she reached under his jacket and caressed the curve in the small of his back. She had forgotten how much she missed it all.