Page 120 of Feared

Mary climbed the stairs wearily, holding on to the railing. The only sounds were her padded footfalls on the carpeted stair and the creak of the wood beneath, since it was an old house. She tried not to think about the fact that she hadn’t been able to prove that Machiavelli was behind John’s murder. She told herself that he would be brought to justice, especially with the others on the case, or that sooner or later, the police would realize that Shanahan was a false lead. She reminded herself that not everything could be accomplished as fast as she wanted. She soothed herself by saying that she had made incredible progress in a very short time.

She reached the second floor, but she had a bitter taste in her mouth, no matter what she told herself. The truth was that she had tried so hard to make it happen, and she had come so close, but she had failed. John had been brutally murdered, and she hadn’t been able to do anything about it. She thought of William at the duck pond, and how anguished he had been. She thought of the Hodges at the memorial luncheon, and how forlorn they had been. And in the end, she thought of John, who came through so beautifully for her when they had worked together. He had never left her side, not for a minute. And though Judy had told Sanjay and Jim they should be loyal to John in death, in the end, Mary had been unable to show him the loyalty he had shown her.

She felt tears well in her eyes, not happy tears but miserable tears, and by the time she got to her bedroom, all she could do was crawl into bed in her clothes, curl herself around her baby, and cry them both to sleep.

She didn’t wake up until after seven o’clock, when her phone pinged with an excitable text from Judy:WE HAVE AHHHMMMAAAAAZING NEWS!!! WE’RE COMING OVER TO CELEBRATE!!! SEE YOU IN 15 WITH PIZZZZAAAAAAA!!!

Mary texted back,Great, what happened? Let yourself in. I’m upstairs.

OK, YOU’LL SEEEEEEEEE!! XOXOXXOOXOXX OXOXO

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Mary sat up happily against her headboard, since her bedroom had been invaded by complete chaos, bearing carbohydrates. Bennie, Judy, Anne, Lou, and Roger had stacked pizza boxes on her dresser, with several bottles of champagne, soda, water, paper plates and napkins. The aroma of hot pizza and cold champagne filled the air, an unexpectedly fragrant combination. Corks had been popped, gooey pizza had been distributed on sagging plates, and everybody stood grinning in a circle around Mary’s bed, refusing to tell her the good news until everything was ready.

“So what happened?” Mary asked, delighted. “Tell me!”

Bennie raised a plastic glass of champagne. “DiNunzio, we toast to you, even though you can’t drink the good stuff.”

“To Mary!” Judy beamed, holding up her paper cup.

“To Maryandher baby!” Anne held up her cup, grinning ear to ear.

“Yes, to Mary and her baby!” Lou and Roger joined in, standing together, raising cups of champagne.

“To me, the baby, and Anthony!” Mary raised her bottle of water, hoping that the good news had to do with John’s murder. “Now tell me what happened!”

Bennie sipped her champagne, then took a deep breath. “We have reached a settlement with the other side inLondon Technologies,and it’s a whopper.”

Mary masked her disappointment with a smile. “That’s great news! What did you settle for? And how did it come about?”

Bennie practically wriggled with delight, warming to the story. “Well, after we got the call from you, Anne and I called Marcus Benedict. You know, from Barrett & Tottenham.”

“Yes, I met him when I defended Alex Chen’s deposition.”

“Oh, right.” Bennie nodded, still buoyant. “It took the whole night to hash it out, but we reached an agreement in principle. We can’t say they were difficult negotiations, as we’d like to take the credit. We know you get the credit, behind the scenes.”

Anne interjected, “Yes, we know that, Mary, and if you ask me, I thought Benedict wasrelievedto talk settlement. He knew it was a loser and we’re both guessing that was Machiavelli who told him that they could settle.”

Mary agreed completely. “It must have been, that’s why he did what he did. He didn’t want to pay to settle, but he also knew he’d lose.”

Bennie nodded. “Right, that’s true. We know that he had marching orders from Machiavelli to settle, thanks to you.”

“Thanks to Flavia.” Mary forced a smile. “I didn’t want to bargain with him. I wanted to put him behind bars, for John.”

“Understood, and I agree, we all do.” Bennie’s smile evaporated, and so did everybody else’s. Judy’s face fell, which was so heartbreaking that Mary was sorry she’d said anything, ruining the happy moment.

“Sorry, honey,” Mary said, trying to recover, and Judy set her plate on the night table and sank onto Mary’s bed, her shoulders slumping.

“It’s okay, I felt strange too. It’s hard to celebrate. It’s hard to be happy about anything, now.” Judy swallowed hard. “William is still at the hotel with the Hodges, so sad and disoriented. Idon’t think he should go back to Glenn Meade until Shanahan is found, just to be on the safe side, but it’s so sad to see him.”

“I bet. The poor guy.”

Judy took a deep breath. “But we’re allowed to be happy about the settlement. I know how much John cared about the case and he would’ve been thrilled that all of his hard work paid off, so I think we should enjoy this for him. If we don’t, the terrorists really will have won.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Mary said, meaning it. She was so proud of her best friend, for showing such bravery and heart in the worst possible circumstances.

Bennie rallied, straightening. “Yes, I think John would’ve been astounded with the settlement, which is, are you ready—$11 million!”

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