Page 68 of The Better Sister

It only took him a second. I could see the flicker in his eyes. Jake was probably the smartest person I had ever met. How many times had Adam and Bill said that he was the resident genius at Rives & Braddock? The lawyer part of his brain probably even admired Olivia for the move, realizing he never would have fallen for it if it weren’t for his loyalty to me.

He turned calmly to the judge, his eyes moving quickly past mine. “I’m not going to answer that question.”

Jake’s own objection triggered one from Nunzio. “Inadequate foundation for the question, Your Honor.”

Olivia was prepared with a retort. “Ms. Taylor’s testimony laid a sufficient foundation, Your Honor. If necessary, I can recall her to the stand.”

I had said everything except Jake’s name. It wasn’t our fault that Nunzio hadn’t made the connection to Olivia’s late addition of a family friend as a character witness.

“The objection is overruled,” Rivera said. “You must answer the question, Mr. Summer. Unless there’s an applicable privilege, of course. I can give you a recess to give you an opportunity to retain counsel if necessary.”

He looked up at Olivia and set his mouth in a straight line before speaking. “On the advice of myowncounsel,I refuse to answer on the grounds that it may incriminate me.”

“Did Chloe Taylor tell you prior to Adam Macintosh’s murder that her husband was physically abusing her?”

“On the advice of my owncounsel,I refuse to answer on the grounds that it may incriminate me.”

Over and over again, he repeated the same phrase, like a mantra.

“Did you provide a burner phone to Ms. Taylor so your private conversations with her would go undetected by Adam Macintosh and other members of your law firm?

“At approximately five p.m. before the murder, did you receive a phone call from Ms. Taylor notifying you that she would be at a party and that her husband, Adam Macintosh, would be alone that night, less than a mile from your own home?

“Where were you the night that Adam Macintosh was killed?

“Jake Summer, did you stab Adam Macintosh?”

That was the question that finally made him flinch. I could see how badly he wanted to defend himself. Instead, he looked at me, a pained expression on his face, as he answered one last time, “On the advice of my owncounsel,I refuse to answer on the grounds that it may incriminate me.”

When he left the witness chair, he used the opposite aisle through the courtroom so he did not have to walk directly past me. As I watched him leave, Nicky and I glared at him, just like Olivia had us practice. After all, he was the man who must have killed my husband.

35

“Has anyone ever told you you’re a terrible driver?”

Technically the speed limit on this section of Abraham’s Path was thirty, but even civilians averaged a little over forty. Guidry could see from the passenger seat that Bowen was rolling at a constant thirty-one, and that’s when he wasn’t tapping the brakes for reasons known only to him.

“Pretty much every person who’s ever ridden shotgun with me. I grew up in Queens. Went into the navy. Managed to never drive a car once until I decided I wanted to be a cop. You haven’t noticed I’m more than happy to sit in that seat over there?”

“Thought you were overcorrecting for the fact I’m female.”

“You overthink.”

“Or maybe you just like sitting here to jam all your candy into the seat cushion like a fucking squirrel preparing for winter.” She slipped two fingers into the upholstery tear, pulled out a gummy bear, and tossed it out the window. “Seriously, what is wrong with you?”

He chuckled. “Just seemed funny at first. Then I started wondering if you’d ever notice.”

“I’m taking the car home tonight and having Amy sew this up for good.”

Guidry’s cell phone buzzed in her blazer pocket. A 917 number, a city cell phone.

“Guidry.”

It was Agent Damon Katz from the FBI. “I got your message asking about the Gentry Group.”

“Not Gentry per se,” she clarified. “Their lawyer, Adam Macintosh.”

Bowen tapped the brake at the mention of Macintosh’s name, sending Guidry lurching against her seat belt. She shot him an annoyed look and gestured for him to pay attention to the road.

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