Free Play Dead by David Rosenfelt Page A

side?”
    I nod. “He is.”
    She breaks into a wide smile and smacks her hands together, generating more of her infectious enthusiasm. “This is gonna be great!”
    I had not asked Karen to come to the office, and I’m not a big fan of unannounced visits. “What are you doing here, Karen?”
    “I don’t know… I’m just real nervous, and excited… and I thought I could hang around and help. You know, run errands, get coffee… I spoke to Edna and she was okay with it.”
    “Edna was willing to give up running errands and making coffee? You must be quite the persuader.”
    I tell her that she can hang around now but that she should call before coming by in the future. I understand her excitement, and as a person who knows her brother and knew his fiancée, she can be helpful. However, I do not instantly share all information with my clients, and I can’t have her rushing to him with constant updates.
    I turn on the television to follow press reports about the shooting on the highway last night, and it’s being treated as a pretty big story. They’re calling it a random shooting, though the fact that I was one of the intended victims is duly noted, as is my recent representation of Richard Evans.
    “You got shot at?” Karen asks, but I don’t bother answering, since she’s just learned the answer to her question from the television.
    Instead I pick up the phone and call Pete Stanton in his office. Even though the state police are handling the shooting case, I’m hoping that Pete can use his police contacts to find out what he can about the dead shooters.
    When Pete hears that it’s me calling, he says, “Let me guess… You need something.”
    “That’s amazing… How could you possibly have known that?”
    “Well, we’re already meeting at Charlie’s tonight, so you’re not just calling to say hello. And the last one hundred and forty-seven times you’ve called me in my office it’s because you needed something.”
    “Do you have any idea how much you’ve just hurt me?” I ask. “I’ve just been through a traumatic experience, actually a near-death experience, and I don’t think I’ve ever been so emotionally vulnerable.”
    He’s unmoved. “Can we get to it already?”
    “Well, you know I was shot at last night.”
    “That’s the good news,” he says. “The bad news is, they missed.” Then, “I’ve already put in a couple of calls.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “To find out what I can about the shooters,” he says. “That is what you wanted, isn’t it?”
    “You are a goddamned legend, and just for that, I’m buying at Charlie’s tonight.”
    “You got that right.”
    I send Karen out to get some doughnuts and Necco wafers, with specific instructions to try to find a package of all chocolate Neccos, which are far superior to the multicolored kinds. It’s about time to put her to the test.
    I use the time for a quick strategy session with Kevin. As I see it, there are three possibilities behind this case. One is that Richard is guilty and the prosecution’s position was completely correct. While that still may be true, it doesn’t help us to consider it.
    The second possibility is that whatever is behind this centers on the murder victim, Stacy Harriman. Among the problems with this is that it doesn’t make much sense that the murderers would kill her and take Reggie off to safety. If their goal was simply to kill Stacy, they would likely have just left Reggie on the boat with Richard. Even if they were somehow dog lovers, to have taken Reggie in the midst of committing the crime seems very difficult to believe.
    The third possibility is that Richard was framed solely because of Richard himself. Either he had made an enemy or he knew or had something that could be dangerous to someone else. This seems to be the most fertile ground for us, especially because of his job with the Customs Service, and will first require an in-depth interview with Richard.
    Karen comes