“I KNEW IT WAS HIM!” GUFF SAID, RUBBING HIS HANDS on his pants. “Wasn’t I the one who said it? Wasn’t I? I was the only one who said Rafferty was in on this!”

“Fine, fine, you were right,” Conrad said. “Get over yourself.” He turned to Sara, who was sitting on her desk. “What else did Jared tell you?”

“That’s about it,” Sara said. “Rafferty threatened Jared, he’s been involved since the beginning, and if Jared doesn’t win the case, he says he’s going to have me killed.”

“Do you think you can trust him?” Conrad asked.

“Who? Jared? What kind of question is that? He’s my husband.”

“He’s also your opponent. Which means he could be using this to set you up.”

“Sorry, but I think you’ve been smoking too much grassy knoll. This is serious.”

“Hey, don’t make fun of the knoll,” Guff warned. “It’s no joke.”

Ignoring her assistant, Sara said to Conrad, “He even showed me pictures of us kissing. Not a pretty sight.”

“Pictures? Where’d he get pictures?”

“My best guess is-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Guff jumped in. “You guys were kissing? Was there sex going on in this office? Because if there was, I should know about it.”

“It was nothing,” Sara said. “A hapless accident between friends.”

“Tell me about the photos,” Conrad said.

“It looks like they were taken from over there,” Sara said, pointing out her window to two offices across the way. “Both of them belong to other ADAs.”

“Any idea who took them?”

“It had to be Victor,” Sara insisted. “He may be working behind the scenes, but he’s had his hand on the monkey wrench since this started.”

“That may be true,” Conrad said. “But until we can prove it, we don’t have a thing on him. Even if he’s suspicious, he still hasn’t done anything illegal.”

“That’s why I want to start digging. Jared gave me Rafferty’s private number, so I want to run a search on it.”

“I can do that,” Guff said. “I assume you want to see all the calls that’ve been made by that number as well as all the ones that have been made to it?”

“Everything you can get,” Sara said.

Guff looked over to Conrad. “Can I-”

“I’m approving all of it,” Conrad said. “If you have any problems, tell them to call me.”

Sara nodded a thank-you. “Now, here’s what I really need your help with. Jared said Kozlow spent some time in the military. I have this feeling that’s where he met Sunken Cheeks. And since we can’t do anything until we know who he is, I was wondering if we could-”

“Just tell me what you need,” Conrad said. “Names of everyone in his division? Everyone at his base? Photos? Fingerprints?”

“Photos would be best. A name won’t mean much, but I might be able to recognize him if I saw a picture.”

“I’ll have them here as soon as they can get them together. By the time the trial’s over, we’ll know the size of this guy’s pinkie ring.”

“No, no, no,” Sara said. “I need it before the trial starts. If we wait until it’s over, one of us’ll be dead.”

As Conrad and Guff were leaving Sara’s office, Sara said, “Conrad, can I speak to you a second?”

“Uh-oh, lover boy, now you’re in trouble,” Guff teased.

Reading Sara’s uneasy expression, Conrad shut the door behind Guff. “Let me guess what this is about.”

“I know it’s awkward, but we really have to talk about it.”

“Sara, you don’t have to say anything. I know how you feel about Jared. He’s your husband.”

“It’s not just that he’s my husband. He’s-”

“He’s the man you love,” Conrad interrupted.

“No,” Sara said. “He’s more. Much more.”

Conrad sat down on the sofa. “I’m sorry, Sara. I never planned for that to happen.”

“You don’t have to tell me. When you leaned in, I didn’t exactly run away.”

Leaning his elbows on his knees, Conrad kept his head down. “Damn,” he muttered.

“Please don’t beat yourself up.”

“It wasn’t right – I shouldn’t have done it.”

“Conrad, every friendship has a few awkward moments. This one’s ours. And regardless of how much we apologize, I think the only way to get past it is to let it go.”

“That easy, huh?”

Sara looked away. “I don’t know… maybe.”

Watching her reaction, Conrad knew there was no other choice. “I swear to you, I never-”

“No explanations necessary,” she said, putting on her strongest face. “We’ll live.”

“I’m sure we will. But I truly am sorry, Sara. I read you the wrong way and I won’t let it happen again.”

“Deal,” Sara said with a smile. She extended a handshake. “Onward and upward?”

Conrad shook her hand. “Sure can’t get any lower.”

“Are you ready for Thursday?” Rafferty asked when Jared answered the phone.

“I’m trying,” Jared said. “I’m just having a hard time getting organized.”

“You’ve been getting organized for weeks. What else do you have to do?”

“I have to finish my opening statements, I have to finish my direct examinations, I have to finish my cross-examinations, I have to think about jury selection, I have to decide what kind of juror is most likely to see Kozlow as sympathetic. All in the next three days. It’s overwhelming.”

“I don’t care. Figure it out. Any other news from your wife?”

“Just that I’m back in the house. I told her I didn’t like sleeping at Pop’s, and after that disaster with Conrad, she felt too guilty to keep me out. Otherwise, there’s not much to report.”

“Are you sure?”

Jared didn’t even pause at the comment. “Absolutely,” he said. “And according to the notes in her briefcase, she’s not calling Patty Harrison as a witness unless she needs her.”

“Believe me, even if she calls her, Ms. Harrison isn’t the same witness she used to be.”

“Please do me a favor and stay away from her until we know what Sara’s going to do. I don’t want to have to add witness intimidation to the list of Kozlow’s crimes.”

“Don’t worry. We have that side under control.”

“I know you do,” Jared said deferentially. “Now let me try and get some work done. I’ll speak to you later.” As Jared put down the receiver, he looked up at Kathleen, who had been listening to the entire conversation.

“Do you think he knows?” she asked.

“I have no idea,” Jared said. “He’s getting antsy, but I still think he’s too nervous to suspect anything. I just hope Sara gets some answers before the trial.”

At quarter past eight that evening, Jared arrived at home, slamming the door as he stepped inside. “Sara!” he barked the moment he saw her standing in the kitchen. “When the hell are you planning to hand in a witness list?”

“Whenever I’m ready,” Sara shot back as she walked toward the bedroom. “And I’m not ready yet.”

“Don’t walk away from me,” Jared shouted, following her. “You’re turning this into a trial by ambush.”

“Call it what you want, but I have until opening statements to finish my discovery work.”

“Are you nuts? Nobody takes that long. Common courtesy says you should-”

“Common courtesy can kiss my ass. Those’re the rules, and I plan to take full advantage of them. Now if you want to move back in, you better make yourself comfortable on the couch. Otherwise, leave me the hell alone.” With a quick shove, Sara slammed the door in Jared’s face.

A moment later, Jared carefully opened the door and tiptoed into the bedroom. Sara was already sitting in front of their computer, at the desk in the corner of the room, hunting and pecking at the keyboard. As he approached her, he read the words on the computer screen: “How was your day, dear?” Leaning over, he kissed the back of Sara’s neck and took over the keyboard.

“It was fine,” he typed back. “Spoke to Rafferty. I think it went okay. I don’t think he suspects anything. He’s too nervous.” He let Sara use the keyboard again. As she laboriously typed, Jared pulled up a chair, so they were both seated in front of the computer screen.