Читать книгу Silence is Golden - Grace Quincey - Страница 11

Chapter 5

No Meeting of the Minds

Dan had tried to settle down after having reached Jenene by phone, but there had been simply too much happening in one day—the appointment of Tom Harding (instead of himself) as the chief defense attorney in place of Kevin Moore, meeting that gorgeous green-eyed Cheri (and even now he felt that biological urge surging through his body), and his meeting with Arnie with the consequent picture being ever embodied in his mind of the blood-splattered taxi and the crumpled blood-splattered body of Arnie hanging out the taxi door. God, could he use a drink!

As he mixed himself a drink, he began thinking about the meeting with Arnie. In the aftermath of Arnie being killed, he had momentarily forgotten about the confession to him by Arnie to the killing of Jenene’s parents. Just how was he to handle this? By ethics he could not reveal this information to Jenene. Of course, on the other hand, he ethically could not conceal a crime either. Of course, there was always the theory that technically Arnie was not yet his client. No retainer had yet been received from Arnie, and there had not yet been an acceptance of Arnie by him as a client even though they were supposed to meet the next day to finalize this. And what about the plan to kill the governor? Would this be carried out now by someone else now that Arnie had been killed? Did Dan have an undeniable duty to report this to the proper authorities? He mixed himself another drink while waiting for Jenene, trying to figure just which way to turn.

Just maybe, I should keep quiet. This might be one of those times when silence is golden. I don’t know how yet, but I could turn this into a high-powered plus for myself. I wouldn’t have to tell Jenene anything—the death of her parents was a long time ago. She surely has reconciled to their death by now. Arnie is dead, so he wouldn’t be killing the governor, so I would not have to report anything to the authorities, he rationalized.

He poured himself another drink and turned on the nightly news to await Jenene. As Jenene entered the house, she found Dan standing in a frozen stupor as the anchorman on television kept repeating that the governor had been found dead in the one of the hotels and that further details would be given as soon as they were known. Jenene shook Dan and finally got him to sit down.

“Dan, what is happening,” she asked. “I need to know now and need to know if you know anything about this?”

“What do you mean you need to know if I know anything about this? This is your husband you are talking to. How would I know anything about this?”

“Read this,” she spat at him as she jammed the note from the cabin into Dan’s hand, “and tell me that there is no connection.”

“Where did this come from?”

“Under the cabin door,” she replied.

“And what were you doing at the cabin in this kind of weather, you and whomever?” he asked.

“You bastard!” she screamed. “Never mind that I have a threat on my life, you have to be worried about some imaginary lover of mine.”

“You had better not have a lover, my little wife, you are mine, and don’t you ever forget it!’ With that, Dan grabbed the keys and slammed out of the house.