Exposed (Rosato & DiNunzio #5)(50)
“But this time I mean it. That time I lied!” Bennie hit Refresh again, wondering about what Mary had said, that there was a defamation suit filed against Simon. It struck Bennie as an overreaction to an individual ADA case and she sensed Nate was taking out his anger at her on Mary and Simon. She couldn’t imagine a basis for any suit against Simon, but she didn’t have to guess.
“Babe! Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
“Okay, here I come!” Bennie logged on to the website for the Common Pleas Court, clicked on the magnifying glass for its searchable case index, and plugged in OpenSpace in the block for plaintiff’s name and Simon Pensiera for the defendant’s. In the next moment, a link popped onto the screen, and she clicked it, opening a complaint that had evidently been filed in the case today. She rose with the laptop as she read the allegations, walking outside into a cloud of barbecue smoke.
“You’re like a kid with that thing.” Declan flipped his hamburger, and Bennie crossed the small deck to a faded red canvas chair that matched the reddish trim on the A-frame house, which was surrounded by Declan’s pastures in the middle of the country. His horses grazed near the fence, having been fed and turned out for the night, and the air felt cool and breezy as the sun slipped behind the jagged tree line.
“I’m reading a complaint that got filed today, in what can only be retaliation for Mary’s suit against OpenSpace.”
“Not a counterclaim, an entirely separate lawsuit?”
“Yes, for defamation, based on some comment Simon made about Eddington and also for trade libel based on quality control.”
“Man.” Declan waved the smoke away from his face. “Do you think your buddy Nate knows about that litigation?”
“I think so,” Bennie answered, because she had been thinking the same thing. “He wouldn’t normally, but this time, he’s taking it personally.”
“Because you’re involved. Hell hath no fury like a lawyer scorned.”
“You think he’s doing it to get to me?”
“Yes.” Declan nodded, matter-of-factly. “You know what convinced me? His bringing Mary in front of a disciplinary board. That’s way out of line. You could ruin somebody’s career. And for what? A judgment call?”
“I know, right? It’s weird.”
“Not weird, obvious. He knows you care about her, so he’s going to hurt her. He’s throwing everything he has at your girl.” Declan picked up a spatula and a platter from the side of the grill.
“Hmm.” Bennie scrolled to the complaint, skimming the statements that Simon was alleged to have made. “I don’t believe a word of this. I think this Todd is a liar. Was a liar. I just don’t know why they would do this. And I don’t know what, if anything, either of these suits has to do with his murder.”
“It was definitely murder,” Declan said, with the confidence of a former cop. “Unless they find a note, not a suicide. And maybe even if they find a note. Not a suicide.”
“I agree, but what makes you say that?”
“It’s almost impossible to kill yourself by stabbing yourself in the chest. The sternum gets in the way. It’s even hard to stab somebody else through the sternum.” Declan took the food off the heat and set it on the table. “Dinnertime.”
“Educate me,” Bennie said, rising with the laptop. She came over to the picnic table, sat next to him, and set the laptop on her right so she could keep checking.
“The sternum is a big, thick breastbone that runs down the center of your chest. It’s meant to protect the heart. It does a good job. I arrested a guy once, he broke a hunting knife on another guy’s sternum.” Declan picked up the ketchup and squirted it all over his burger, and Bennie tried not to imagine blood.
“Did the guy live?”
“Yes. The knife died.” Declan grinned crookedly. “You have to pick the exact right spot. The ribs get in the way.”
“But it’s possible. If Todd didn’t do it himself, then somebody did it to him.”
“I didn’t say it couldn’t be done. I said he couldn’t do it himself. Highly unlikely.” Declan placed his hamburger bun on top of his burger, then mashed it down with the flat of his hand. Ketchup oozed out of the sides, and Bennie started to lose her appetite. She had been so preoccupied with the case that somehow, she had forgotten the fact that a human being had died.
“This is so awful, I don’t know who would kill Todd Eddington. A sales manager at a cubicle manufacturer? Sitting in a parking lot at his country club?”
“You told me he drove a Porsche. Could’ve been a carjacking gone wrong. What about his wallet and watch?” Declan took a big bite of his burger, chewing away.
“I don’t know. And they left the car.”
“When the job goes wrong, they don’t take the car.”
“But a carjacking in broad daylight?”
“It’s pouring in Philly. Visibility is low. Nobody’s outside. Nobody’s playing golf. The lot couldn’t have been that full. Opportunity plus motive equals crime. I’m good at math.” Declan chewed happily away, but Bennie had grown used to his gallows humor, having been around enough homicide detectives to know that it was a defense mechanism.
“But how random could it be? A country club is private property.”