The Victim's Wife

by Dan Decker

  “What have I got myself into?” I muttered aloud as I opened Barbara’s text and responded, thinking back to how she had made me dinner several nights before because I’d mentioned in passing it had been a long time since I’d had a good plate of spaghetti.

  9

  I opened the door and walked into Pacino’s at two minutes past noon. Perhaps it was passive-aggressive of me, but I had arrived early, so I had sat in my car, scrolling through the news on my phone before getting out and walking reluctantly into the restaurant.

  I have a client’s life on the line, I thought as I walked in, I have to be more than civil.

  The hostess greeted me with a toothy smile as she stuck a pen behind her ear. “Are you looking for a table?”

  “I’m here to meet—” I suppressed a groan when I saw Cindy in the back, waving to me.

  “I’m meeting her,” I nodded toward Cindy. The eyes of the hostess climbed into her hair before she forced a grin to her face.

  What was that?

  I didn’t dwell on it long.

  Cindy was particular. If she frequented this restaurant, no doubt most here would know who she was and already have an idea of what she was like.

  “This way,” the hostess said while picking up a menu and walking back towards the table.

  Was it just my imagination, or was she all of a sudden more brusque with me?

  Cindy stood when I arrived at the table, giving me a huge grin and extending a hand. “Mitch, good to see you. I am delighted to meet with you today.”

  “The pleasure is mine,” I said, relieved that she hadn’t tried to hug me, or worse, give me a peck on the cheek, both things she had tried in the past.

  After we sat, I gazed at Cindy as she smiled and turned her attention to the menu. For the briefest moment, I was reminded of why I had been interested in her more than a decade ago.

  Her hair was blonde and straight. Her lipstick and the rest of her makeup were immaculate. I didn’t know much about designer clothing, but I figured that everything she wore could easily have been more than triple the price of my suit.

  “Isn’t this exciting?” Cindy said, leaning forward.

  “How do you mean?” I asked carefully, uncertain if this was a trap.

  She was as boring as they came. When we had been together, all she had wanted to do was stay inside. That had been okay at first, but eventually, I had wanted to get out. It became apparent she did not care to do that.

  She was just not somebody I was interested in spending time with once I had gotten past my infatuation.

  She had been nice enough, and I had assumed she would find somebody else with whom she could be happy, rather than follow me throughout the years of my schooling and into my professional practice.

  Perhaps I am being too harsh on her, I thought, since she joined the prosecutor’s office, I’ve had almost nothing to do with her. I’ve hardly seen her at all. Maybe I ought to rethink how I feel about her now.

  Even though our last interaction had not gone well, I had seen her once or twice in the courthouse since that time, and she’d been pleasant and polite, but also distant, looking at her watch and trying to get away from me as quick as possible.

  “It’s been a long time since you and I have had a case against each other, hasn’t it?” Cindy said, in answer to my question.

  I studied Cindy, wondering if I dared mention my missing notebook, but then I shook my head.

  If anything, it had helped me win the case because it had sent my mind into overdrive, so perhaps I ought to thank her rather than still hold that against her. It also had shown me a weakness in my approach to practicing law that I had since dealt with; there was that to be grateful for as well.

  I nodded. “I didn’t know for sure I was gonna procure a confession on the stand.” I held her gaze with unflinching eyes. “I also ran into some unexpected difficulties that day.” I couldn’t help myself.

  “Did you?” Cindy said, a smile fleeting across her face before it became blank once again. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  I noticed she didn’t ask for details.

  “I didn’t think you would pull out a confession,” she said. “That came out of nowhere.”

  I shrugged. “Sometimes you get lucky.”

  Or sometimes my notebook walks away of its own accord, and I have to make it up as I go.

  Cindy shook her head. “That’s the kind of thing that only happens in movies or on television. I’ve never had it happen in my experience except for that one time. What was her name again?”

  “It’s been too long. I can still remember her face. She had not expected to slip up. I’d gotten other confessions, usually from people who are too smug to think that I can trick them into telling the truth.” I gave her a big smile. “One time after a witness slipped, he immediately fingered his father.” I felt guilty about that one, not because of the justice that came from it, but because of how gleeful I felt because of the win.

  I always had to remind myself that I was dealing with people’s lives and that I needed a greater sense of humility.

  It didn’t usually work.

  Cindy waited, hesitating as if she were going to say something, but then thinking better of it.

  “I’ve often wondered if I have you to thank for my win that day,” I said, keeping my eyes on Cindy without even blinking. I didn’t want to miss her reaction.

  Cindy gave me a curious look, but I could tell from her eyes my suspicions were correct.

  “Oh, how so?” Cindy was fiddling with her menu now, hoping to find something to distract her. She looked like she was thinking fast about how she was going to respond.

  Perhaps if it had been somebody else, I would not have been so direct, but Cindy and I had a history that was not all terrible. I could get away with teasing her.

  I waited until she glanced at me and then gave her my biggest smile. “It was most unlike you to steal my notebook.” I leaned forward. “One of the biggest shocks of my life.”

  Cindy looked like she was going to deny it before blushing and shaking her head.

  “I was going through a phase.”

  I waited, expecting an apology from her, but none came.

  I raised an eyebrow. “Phase?” I did my best to hide my smile. “I am not offended. At the time, I was worried about what I was going to do, but if anything, you helped me. Perhaps I can give you credit for an assist?”

  Cindy didn’t answer, glancing at her menu, and then bringing her eyes up, steeling herself with a hard confidence that I found impressive.

  “I lived in fear for a couple of months, thinking every day that I was about to face a bar complaint. That was the first and last time I ever tried to play dirty on a case.”

  “Really?” I shook my head and leaned forward. “I’m tempted to play dirty on all of my cases. I usually don’t though

  She raised an eyebrow. “Usually?”

  “I have to keep you on the edge of your seat, don’t I?”

  “That was one thing I always admired about you,” Cindy said, “you could look at the world more objectively than me. I tend to see it one way and have a tough time seeing the other side.”

  I was surprised at the admission, particularly because I had not realized she was so self-aware of her weaknesses in this area.

  I nodded, thinking that was part of why we had not worked out. Perhaps things might’ve been different if she had come to this realization back then.

  “I’ve always believed that’s why you broke up with me,” Cindy said slowly, holding my gaze the entire time, unflinching like a bird of prey.

  She really has learned a new trick or two. I’m going to have to be more careful around her now than I ever have.

  I didn’t quite know what to make of it, so I just nodded while trying to think fast. As she had just commented on our past relationship, it seemed natural for me to do the same, though I certainly didn’t look back at it with the degree of fondness that she apparently did.
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  “We had a good time.”

  Cindy brightened. “We did, didn’t we?”

  I nodded. It was time to remind her why we had broken up. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to last. I’m a very different person from you, as you pointed out.”

  Cindy leaned forward. “Opposites attract, you know.”

  I hesitated and struggled to find the right words. Cindy had never been this confident before. It was a side I’d never seen, and one that I found difficult to look away from. I could feel my old attraction to her returning, which was surprising because I had not felt that for her in years.

  My phone buzzed.

  I pulled it out and saw that I had just received a text message from Barbara, hoping that I was having a good day. I must have blushed because Cindy smiled.

  “Your current flavor?”

  “Come on, that’s not fair. I have dated like four women in the last decade. Hardly a flavor of the week. Barbara and I have been together now for several years.”

  “I see.” Cindy was looking down at her menu again and was not looking as energetic as she had a moment before. She had to have known that I had a current girlfriend when she suggested this meeting, so I just pretended not to notice the look on her face as I picked up my menu and looked it over.

  “What’s good here?”

  “Almost anything,” Cindy said, relief evident in her voice at the change of topic. “I love the turkey sandwiches, that’s why I come.”

  “Maybe I should try one.”

  “I recommend it.”

  I looked at the list of sandwiches, deciding on one that came with a fried turkey breast, bacon, and bleu cheese, before setting down my menu.

  As much fun as this trip down memory lane had been, it was time to get down to business.

  “I was surprised you requested a meeting so early in the case. I just signed my client last week. I don’t have much to say at this juncture.”

  She had a look on her face that seemed to say, “Oh, right.”

  She folded her menu neatly in front of her.

  “I thought it might be good if you and I had a chance to sit down and talk this over before we get into the nitty-gritty of it. I was surprised you’re going to fight and figured it would be best if we had a parley before we kicked off the case.”

  “Sure, what did you have in mind?”

  “Are you serious about fighting?”

  I gave her a look and didn’t respond.

  She let out a long sigh. “Of course, you are. That’s how you look at every case until you have to plead it out. Would it help if I told you I’m overloaded with cases right now, and it would be really nice to just get through this one?”

  “Cindy...”

  “I know better. Don’t get me wrong. I still believe in justice, mercy, and all that. It’s just that I am bogged down. I’m working sixty hours a week right now, and I don’t exactly get paid overtime.”

  “I like to give everybody a fighting chance. It’s my little way of ensuring that justice is done.”

  Cindy nodded. “That’s another thing I always liked about you.”

  It was starting to become more awkward. I got the sense that she had wanted to meet, hoping that things might have changed between us.

  Have they? I wondered. I couldn’t deny that my level of attraction to her was similar to what it had been all those years ago.

  What am I doing? I’m in a relationship with a woman that I’m thinking of marrying.

  It’s no time to get distracted now.

  It was only two nights ago that Barbara and I had first broached the topic.

  Just getting cold feet, that’s it.

  Cindy was laying it on a bit thicker than I had anticipated. I was surprised that her apparent purpose for the meeting had been to reconnect rather than discuss the case.

  I had thought she was going to approach with a plea bargain. It was something I would take back to my client—the law required I pass along all offers—though I would advise him not to move on it until we’d had a chance to complete a preliminary investigation.

  “To me, it seems like an open and shut case,” Cindy said slowly as if trying to shift gears and having a difficult time doing it. She picked up her menu again, even though I was certain she had a favorite here and was ready to order what she wanted.

  “If you’re serious about going to war, that’s fine; however, if you’d like to talk about a preliminary offer, I’m happy to entertain the idea.” The almost playful tone had become a little bit more serious, but it was still there, just hidden under her professional veneer.

  “Is there an offer on the table?” I asked.

  “Not yet, but if you’re interested, I can make one.”

  I nodded. “I’ll make sure to pass that on to my client.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about a number right now?”

  I smiled, knowing that she was trying to get me to go first. “If you have a number you want me to take back to him, I will do so.”

  “We’ll wait on it for now. Let me know if you’re interested.”

  I nodded. “Fair enough.”

  “Where’s the waitress?” Cindy said. “She should’ve been here by now.”

  I hid a smile as I picked up my menu. I didn’t know what Cindy was hoping for from this meeting, but it did not seem like she was getting it.

  Had she really proposed this because she wanted to reconnect?

  Some things never change.

  10

  I felt restless after my lunch meeting with Cindy and didn’t want to head back to the office just yet, so I drove half an hour out to where Mason’s company was located, listening to the radio on the way and trying to think about anything but the case.

  The meeting with Cindy had left me unnerved, not because of anything she had said about the case, but because of the changes she had made in her life.

  And her hope that we would get together.

  It was almost as if she had thought that the years had changed my mind about her. I could not get past it.

  And it almost worked for her, didn’t it? I thought.

  She appeared to be more settled than she had ever been. She had not mentioned if she was dating anybody, but she had talked about a guy that I assumed was a prospect of some sort. For all I knew, he could’ve been an actual boyfriend, but she was trying to downplay him to show she was still available.

  I wished her and that guy well. At least I tried to. I couldn’t stop going back to my attraction to her.

  Why, after all these years?

  I unrolled the window for some air.

  What am I thinking? This is Cindy Seakowics I’m thinking about. No way would I ever go back to her.

  It had been a moment of weakness, nothing more.

  I stuffed away the annoyance I felt, reminding myself about my dinner plans with Barbara. I did not want to do anything to jeopardize my relationship with her. She was the nicest woman I’d ever dated, always going out of her way to help me if she thought I wanted something.

  Marriage? Am I ready to get married? I’ll never do better than Barbara.

  I tried to think of myself as a father and had a hard time doing it. At the same time, the thought did not seem bad either.

  When I pulled into the parking lot of Mason’s office, I was surprised at the building’s size. At first, I assumed that they had only one floor of the building, but the big sign out front made it clear that Meridian Solutions, Mason’s company, fully utilized the building.

  I had got the idea by the way Mason had talked about it during my initial interview with him that it was a small business with fewer than thirty people.

  The building in front of me looked like it held several hundred, if not more.

  What does Meridian Solutions do? I wondered as I parked. I pulled out my phone and began to research the company.

  It was a warm day, so I unrolled the windows before turning off the engine.

  I leaned my seat ba
ck a touch while I did my research, oblivious to any who might walk by. I was in my Porsche, which would draw attention in and of itself.

  I had planned to park on the street to examine the office building from a distance, but parking in the lot would not draw much attention considering how big it was.

  I was soon looking at the company’s website, reading about their history.

  It looked like Mason was one of the original founders, along with two other individuals who had long since sold their ownership in the company. Meridian had been in business for more than twenty years. I had not been on their website long before I concluded that I had been thinking of the wrong question.

  What don’t they do?

  They started out as a small code for hire company but had quickly branched out from there, getting involved in everything from agriculture to real estate. It looked like Meridian Solutions owned many other companies, and that was why they were in so many diverse industries.

  “It’s a big one,” I muttered to myself. I had not asked Mason how much ownership he had in the company, but even less than five percent of the company would have been millions of dollars.

  I shook my head, wondering why Max and Mason could not have just got along. Wasn’t it enough that they had made plenty of money and had built a multinational multimillion-dollar conglomerate?

  Apparently not.

  I went to the leadership page of the company’s website and was surprised to see that Mason had already been taken off.

  Max was still there, but he already had an in-memorium section for him.

  That was fast.

  That left just the three remaining partners, Vivian Fuger and the other two guys.

  Vivian.

  She was the one Penny blamed for Max’s death. What did she actually have to do with it?

  I studied her picture. This was my first look at her. When Mason had told his story, I had just assumed that she was in her mid-fifties because that was Mason’s age. This was not the case; she was in her mid-30s, if not maybe a little before that.

  She was not a founding partner. She couldn’t be. She would’ve been a teenager at the time the company was started.