Chapter Nineteen
Judy and Mary zoomed toward Philly on a Schuylkill Expressway slick with rainwater. They had packed all the cash they could find in a duffel bag, and it came to about $50,000. Judy had driven the whole way home paranoid that they would get in an accident or be carjacked. The duffel was in the trunk of her car, which meant the total worth of her vehicle was $55,000.
Judy checked the rearview mirror again, and all was well. Her aunt and her mother dozed in the backseat, with Penny sleeping between them like a furry demilitarized zone. The two sisters had reached an uneasy truce while they packed Aunt Barb’s luggage to move to Judy’s apartment, but Judy felt preoccupied the whole time, worrying about the secret money and her aunt’s mastectomy.
“You all right?” Mary asked quietly. “I’ve been yapping away about the wedding again. The dress, the band, the hall, and the pigs in a blanket. Sorry if the wedding is taking over my life.”
“No, it should, and it’s fine. It’s good to talk about something happy.” Judy managed a smile as the city skyline popped into view in the distance, its modern neon lights outlining the ziggurat of Liberty Place and the pointed spike of the Mellon Center.
“But what’s up?”
“I just want my aunt to be okay. I can’t believe this strain is good for her.”
“It can’t be helped, and you heard what she said, that it took her mind off of everything.”
“I guess.” Judy took the Montgomery Drive exit.
“I think it’s a good idea for them to stay at your apartment, unless it comes to fisticuffs.”
Judy smiled. The best thing about Mary was that she could always cheer her up, no matter what the circumstances. “Thanks so much for all you did tonight.”
“No problem. I’m glad I was there.” Mary checked her phone, and a quick flash of light illuminated her face. “It’s getting late. Bennie said to text her when we get close to the office. She’s in, getting ready for trial.”
“I’ll pull up in front of the building, and my mother and aunt can wait in the car. It won’t take that long, will it?”
“No. The kids are asleep, right?” Mary glanced behind her in the backseat. “I didn’t want to say this in front of them, but your getting attacked tonight made me rethink my theory about Iris’s death.”
“Me too.” Judy swung the car onto the West River Drive, which bordered the winding Schuylkill River. Tall, leafy oaks lined the riverbank, but the dark river glistened like a winding black python. “I can’t wait to see those autopsy results. It’s just too coincidental that these alleged prowlers were there tonight. I wonder if they were staking out the house, waiting for me to leave. I was there last night, and this is the first night without me. I’m thinking she was in business with them.”
“What kind of business? Drugs?”
“What else could it be, right? Maybe the autopsy will show a drug overdose or that she did have a heart attack, but it was caused by a drug overdose, or there were drugs in her system. It wouldn’t have to be hard drugs like heroin or cocaine, it could just be something like prescription pills. Iris could have been using her own supply. That would explain her death and also the presence of the money.”
“Why was she on the road then? Why did she miss work?”
“She was making a delivery or picking up a supply. She got a mystery call, maybe that was it. Either way, it’s clear by now that she was living a secret life, isn’t it? And with something like drug dealing, she’d come in contact with a lot of unsavory people. Dangerous people, thugs.” Judy shuddered to think that thugs were in her aunt’s backyard, maybe with a gun. “It was a lucky break that we went there tonight, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, but tomorrow, you’re going to need foundation.”
Judy managed a smile, but was still shaken. She didn’t want to believe that Iris was guilty of drug dealing, but tonight had almost changed her mind. “Still, it’s so hard to believe, if you had seen Iris. Really, she was a cute little person.”
“Get real, Jude. You say the undocumented community is very close, and there have to be people who sell it drugs. That must be what she was up to, and Daniella, too.”
“A fine friend she turned out to be, huh? She leaves town before Iris is even buried.”
Mary snorted. “I’ll never do that to you when we start our drug business.”
“One way or another, we’ll be partners.” Judy steered around the curve past Chamonix Drive, practically devoid of traffic. The tires rumbled on the wet asphalt.
“Right! Meanwhile, you have to go home and throw boyfriend out of bed.”
“I know. I texted him, but he didn’t text me back. Either he’s asleep or he’s mad.”
“You texted him about your head and he didn’t write you back?”
“No, I didn’t mention my head.”
“Why not?” Mary frowned. “You were assaulted.”
“Why, do you think he’d rush to my aid?”
“You didn’t give him the chance.”
“Trust me, he wouldn’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
Judy looked over in the dark car. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”
Mary shook her head. “I am, but I have to be honest. You’re being hard on him. The guy can’t win.”
“I hate when we disagree.”
“You and him?”
“No, me and you.” Judy steered past the Victorian boathouses on the opposite bank of the river, which usually made a picturesque backdrop, but tonight were shrouded in darkness and fog. “I’m trying to lighten up on him, but I can’t. Or every time I do, he just does something else to make me mad. I don’t think it’s the worst thing that he stays at his grandfather’s for a week or two.”
“It’s going to be longer than that.”
“Whatever, the break will do us good.” Judy had been thinking as much all night, but it was one thing to mull it over and another to say it out loud. “I want him to miss me. He’s taking too much for granted. Anyway, it can’t be helped.”
“You sound like you’re falling out of love. Are you falling out of love, honey?”
Judy thought about it. “No, I’m still in love. But I’m falling out of like.”
“That’s worse,” Mary said softly.
“I know.” Judy hit the gas, and the VW zoomed past the Art Museum, its Grecian columns lighted from beneath.
“When I called Bennie, I told her what happened tonight, and she’s wondering what’s going on with you.” Mary paused. “She mentioned that a client named Linda Adler called her because you didn’t return her call.”
“Oh no.” Judy kicked herself. “Linda is the plaintiff in a sex-discrimination case Bennie gave me. We traded calls, but I dropped the ball, it’s true.”
“She says it’s not like you, not to return a client’s call. Maybe you should tell Bennie about your aunt, huh? That’s the reason, isn’t it?”
“I’m not going to pimp out Aunt Barb’s mastectomy as an excuse for my mistake. It’s my aunt’s personal business.”
“I didn’t mean it that way, and Bennie really is worried.”
“Worried enough to save me from the lawyer hell of asbestos damages? I’m dreading working those cases.” Judy shook her head, driving toward the city. “What’s the value of a human life? Do I really want to think about that right now? How much would I get for Uncle Steve? Or my aunt? I mean, there are worse jobs, like picking mushrooms, but is that the test?”
Mary’s tone brightened. “You know, you could even use Allegra. It would give her something to cut her teeth on.”
“I like Allegra too much to put her on these cases,” Judy said, meaning it. Allegra Gardner was their teenaged intern, a genius-level prodigy who had actually been their client, having hired the Rosato firm to investigate her theory that the man convicted of murdering her sister was actually innocent. That she’d turned out to be right surprised everyone but the girl genius. Judy sighed, driving toward the city. “Mary, everybody hates asbestos cases. Remember Stalling and Webb? They lost associates in droves.”
“We won’t lose you.”
“No, of course not,” Judy rushed to say, though she wondered if she meant it. “But I’ve been thinking about it, and I’m going to ask Bennie to decline the representation.”
Mary looked over in disbelief. “She already accepted it, and she won’t turn down that much business.”
“It’s not worth the money. Let them go kill somebody else’s soul.”
“We don’t have a choice, as a firm.” Mary frowned, her mouth tilting down unhappily at the corners.
“Yes we do. We have free will. We choose how we make money in this world. Who knows how long any of us will be alive?” Judy was thinking again of Aunt Barb, even Uncle Steve. “You can’t give up your life to earn a living. All you have is your integrity. Did we forget that?”
“No, but we have to be realistic. We can’t lose that business.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I can lose that business. It’s not my firm, as an associate, but it is my practice and my life.” Judy made a decision. “I’m going to talk to Bennie.”
“Okay.” Mary’s tone grew gentler. “But do yourself a favor. Wait until her trial’s over, your chances are better. She should be finished Wednesday morning.”
“You think it can wait?”
“Sure. It’ll take a while to get those cases and files. You want me to go in with you? I’ll be your co-counsel.”
“No, thanks.”
“How about I soften her up first?”
“Is that even possible?” Judy couldn’t help but crack wise.
“Good point.”
“Text her, will you, Mare? We’re almost there.”