“Not guilty.”
Pete turns to me and we hug. Hugging is not something that Pete and I do, but here we are doing it in public. They’re even snapping pictures of it. It’s going to be tough to live this one down.
“You did it,” Pete says.
“The team did it.”
“I’ve never been that scared in my life. I thought I was going down.”
“Never in doubt, buddy. Never in doubt.”
“I need to calm my nerves,” he says. “How about buying me a beer?”
Richard Wallace comes over to offer us both his congratulations. Pete shakes his hand warmly; if there are any hard feelings, I don’t see them. And I’d bet anything that Richard is glad he lost.
Laurie waits until after we have dinner, tuck Ricky in, and then make love, before she brings up the issue that has been hanging over us. “Andy, I know what you’ve been through, so if this isn’t a good time, I’ll understand. But at some point we need to talk about Ricky.”
“There’s something I need to tell you,” I say. “I was positive I was going to die today. You know how they say your life flashes in front of you? Well, mine didn’t. What flashed in front of me was my obituary. And it said that Andy Carpenter had died, and that he was a lawyer. A prominent lawyer.”
“So?”
“So I realized what I really want my obituary to say. I want it to say that Andy Carpenter was a loving husband and father.”
“Husband and father?” she asks, emphasizing the word “husband.”
“Husband and father.”
“That’s your idea of a wedding proposal?”
“No good?” I ask.
“Plenty good,” she says, and her smile says she means it.
This beautiful, incredible woman actually wants to marry me.
Go figure.
Charlie’s has never had an event as classy as this.
There are balloons everywhere, paper tablecloths on the tables, and the beer is flowing like, well, beer. It’s the first wedding in the history of the place, so we’re pulling out all the stops.
It’s hard to believe we planned all this in two days; it must have taken almost that long to blow up the balloons. But once we confirmed with Ricky that he and Sebastian were okay with the plan, we sprung into action.
I had been worried about the conversation, so of course I let Laurie take the lead. “Ricky,” she had said, “we love you and want you to be part of our family.”
He didn’t respond, so I added, “Forever.”
“Sebastian too?” he finally asked.
Laurie smiled. “Of course. Sebastian too.”
“Cool,” he said, and that was that.
We do the wedding ceremony first. Ricky gives Laurie away, Tara is her maid of honor, and Sebastian is my best man. Ricky has dressed Sebastian in a top hat, but Tara doesn’t wear anything except a rose in her collar. Tara is a no-nonsense girl.
There are about fifty people there. Our whole team, of course, and Pete and Vince, and a bunch of our friends. Cindy Spodek has come down from Boston with her husband. I invited Richard Wallace, and am glad that he showed up.
It’s a quick ceremony, and before I know it I am kissing the bride, as the place erupts in applause. “I love you,” Laurie says, and I say, “That makes us even.”
“Is this going to change anything?” I ask.
She nods. “We’ll stop having sex.” And then she smiles. “But we can start the new policy tomorrow.”
As soon as the ceremony is over, we take a picture of the five of us: me and Laurie, Tara, Sebastian, and Ricky, our son. I probably should have worn my new sneakers, but I think Tara will block them in the photo anyway.
Then we have a great party. The TVs are turned to the Mets game, and they are winning. All is right with the world.
Edna tells me that she has decided not to retire after all, that she thinks she can do both, maybe even train for her crossword puzzle tourneys in the office, when we’re not busy. Since I have no intention of taking on any clients, I tell her it’s workable.
She also has an idea. “Maybe I can wear a sweatshirt at the tournaments with your name on the back, like ‘For a great lawyer, call Andy Carpenter.’ You know, like advertising.”
I tell her that may not be workable.
Marcus has brought his wife, Jeannie, to the party. This surprises me in a couple of ways. For one thing, I had no idea that Marcus was married, and for another, she refers to him as “my Markie” when I’m talking to her. She makes it sound like he’s a poodle. Jeannie is spectacular-looking, but I would doubt that too many people would try and hit on her with “her Markie” around.
Hike pulls me aside at one point and sincerely wishes me a long and happy marriage, but adds, “although based on the statistics, the odds are against you.”
Willie apologizes to me for telling Joseph Russo to follow me, but in light of subsequent events, I decide to forgive him. I’m very gracious that way.
Pete has been reinstated in full to the police force, and tomorrow is his first day back on the job. “You did good,” he says to me. “You were worth every penny.”
“You didn’t pay me,” I say.
He nods. “My point exactly.”
All in all it’s a great night, but one highlight sticks out. I overhear Ricky and Vince talking, and I hear Ricky call him “Uncle Vince.” But then he refers to “my dad.”
And he’s talking about me.
ALSO BY DAVID ROSENFELT
ANDY CARPENTER NOVELS
Unleashed
Leader of the Pack
One Dog Night
Dog Tags
New Tricks
Play Dead
Dead Center
Sudden Death
Bury the Lead
First Degree
Open and Shut
THRILLERS
Without Warning
Airtight
Heart of a Killer
On Borrowed Time
Down to the Wire
Don’t Tell a Soul
NONFICTION
Dogtripping: 25 Rescues, 11 Volunteers, and 3 RVs on Our Canine Cross-Country Adventure
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Rosenfelt is the Edgar and Shamus Award–nominated author of five stand-alones and twelve previous Andy Carpenter novels, most recently Unleashed. After years living in California, he and his wife recently moved to Maine with the twenty-five golden retrievers that they’ve rescued. Rosenfelt’s hilarious account of this cross-country move, Dogtripping, is available from St. Martin’s Press.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
HOUNDED. Copyright © 2014 by Tara Productions, Inc. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.minotaurbooks.com
Jacket design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein
Jacket photograph © Premium Royalty Free/Masterfile
eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publishing Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-02474-9 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-02475-6 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781250024756
First Edition: July 2014
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