Page 48 of Feared

“I hope you like it. I’m having present anxiety.”

“Don’t be silly.” Mary took the wrapping off and set it aside, revealing a flat rectangular white box. She shook it, prolonging the moment. “What’s in here?”

“Edible undies.”

“Don’t be disgusting.”

“Why stop now?” Judy grinned, with a final sniffle, and Mary took the lid off the box, then moved aside some hot pink tissue paper to find one of the most beautiful baby blankets she had ever seen. The design of the fabric was absolutely miraculous, a weave of fuzzy threads in a warm pink alternating with cornflower-blue threads, which together formed a sweetly fluffy cloud of babyness.

“Oh my God, did youmakethis, on your loom?” Mary took the blanket out of the box, marveling at how soft and light it felt in her fingers.

“Yes, it’s my first big project. I mixed the two colors since we don’t know whether you’re having a boy or girl.”

“That’s a great idea!”

“Do you like it?”

“I love it! Thank you so much. How long did it take to make?”

“Forever. Do you feel guilty yet?”

“Yes.” Mary felt a wave of happiness wash over her, followed by a wave of sadness, as if she were in an emotional wave poolat a nightmare amusement park. “This is really lovely of you to do, and I really appreciate it. I’m so sorry about John.”

“I know honey. I’m sorry too.” Judy sighed heavily, and Mary felt a final wave, this time of exhaustion. Maybe it was the release, nestled into the safety and security of her home, her best friend, her husband, and a golden retriever with worse gas than her own.

“Boy, am I tired.” Mary pulled up the blanket to her chin. “I could fall asleep right here.”

“Why don’t you, honey?”

“I can’t, I shouldn’t.” Mary closed her eyes, and weariness numbed her to the bone. She had never known exhaustion like the kind that came with pregnancy, which could make her almost crazy with tiredness at times, but she had so much to do before bed. She had to empty the dishwasher, make sure Judy had fresh sheets, and put towels in the guest bathroom and find a tube of toothpaste that wasn’t folded in an accordion…

But in the next minute, she had fallen asleep.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Sunday morning dawned clear and sunny, and Mary sat at the conference table, trying not to think about the fact that John wasn’t alive to see this lovely day, but was instead lying on a stainless-steel table in the morgue, maybe being autopsied right now. Judy sat to her right, sad and solemn, her shoulders sloping downward in her cheery yellow T-shirt. She had tried to call William, but there had been no answer. Anne was placing a greaseboard on a large easel, so she could bring them up to speed onLondon Technologies.In truth, none of them felt like coming into the office this morning, but they’d had no choice because there was a deposition tomorrow. Bennie had come in, too, and she was in her office with Roger, working on their reverse-discrimination case.

Mary felt worried that Judy was in legal jeopardy, because sooner or later, Detectives Krakoff and Marks would find out that she had been at John’s apartment the day he was murdered. They had discussed it with Bennie and had sent Lou out canvassing today on John’s street, to see if anybody had seen or heard anything.

Mary shifted away from a beam of sunlight streaming through the window, which hurt her itchy eyes. They were justabout to get started, now that she had updated Anne on the few details of John’s murder, and Judy had revealed to Anne that she’d been dating John. Anne had been as surprised as anyone else, but they talked it over and tried to start work.

“Okay, let’s begin.” Anne stood in front of the easel in a trim white sleeveless dress with her thick red hair in a bouncy ponytail, like the prettiest kindergarten teacher ever. “Mary, just so you know, I did try to get the deposition tomorrow postponed given the circumstances, but I couldn’t. The other side refused. I could ask the judge for a postponement and I think he would grant it, but I don’t want to ask him. I pick my battles.”

“I get it.”

“Besides, I don’t want to back up the deposition schedule, which is heavy, and I printed it out so you could put it in your calendars.” Anne handed them both a deposition schedule. “Of course, we’ve already taken depositions of some of the middle-management types, building the case from the bottom up, so when we depose the big guns, we’ll have the facts at our disposal. So the best is yet to come.”

“Or the hardest.”

“That too.” Anne smiled, still perky. “I emailed you both a copy of the Complaint and their Answer. You probably didn’t get a chance to read them.”

“We tried,” Mary answered, speaking for them both.

“I understand, no worries. It’s a massive Complaint, 134 pages, and their Answer is almost as long.” Anne plucked two thick packets off a stack of paper and gave one to Mary and the other to Judy. “I had copies made in case you want to follow along. I’ll take you through the basics and then Mary, I’ll tell you about the witness whose deposition you’ll be defending tomorrow.”

“Great, thanks.” Mary flipped through her copy of the Complaint, trying to remember what she had read, but so much had changed since then. Judy didn’t open her copy, but Maryknew that she didn’t have to, because she was smart enough to follow along. Even at half speed, Judy was smarter than anybody Mary had ever met.

“First, let me say, the good news is this case is a sure winner. We have the facts, we have the law, and as you’ll see, we have hard evidence of bad intent by the defendants. Our goal is a great settlement. We’d win at trial but that costs too much for these guys. That’s why the Complaint is so detailed. We put it all out there, setting up a great settlement.”

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