Animal Instinct by Rosenfelt, David (novels for students TXT) 📕

“LEAVING was not our only option,” Laurie says. “I’m not sure we did the right thing.”

She has been relating the night’s events ever since she and Marcus came back to the house. I was home while it was going on but came to Laurie and Andy’s when Laurie texted me the simple words “It’s over.”

That had sounded ominous to me, and based on the story I just heard, ominous doesn’t even cover it.

“There was nothing else you could do,” Andy says.

Laurie shakes her head. “The law says otherwise. Legally we were supposed to stay there, report it, and tell the story of what happened. We killed a man.”

“And what would you have accomplished?” Andy asks. “The legal system, which as you know I would like to exit, abhors a vacuum. They wouldn’t have shown up and said, ‘Oh, you guys killed him? No problem. You can go home; give our best to Andy.’ They would have started an investigation, and it would go on forever. And there would be no way of predicting how it would wind up.”

“He was a murderer. I’m an ex-cop; the presumption would have been with us.”

“He was a murderer? Who says so? The justice system? Then why wasn’t he ever convicted? Why wasn’t he ever even charged? Everyone in this room knows he was a murderer, he basically admitted it to you and even tried to demonstrate it on your neck. But according to the justice system, he was pure as the driven snow.”

Laurie is obviously getting frustrated by the conversation. “Look, I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you; nor is Marcus. We’re the ones who walked away. But there’s a moral issue here also.”

Time for me to speak up. “No, there isn’t. He tried to kill you. Marcus clearly acted in your self-defense. And he was a killer; the justice system may not know it, but facts are facts. He was a killer.

“I’m troubled by the legal side of this as much as you, Laurie … maybe more. But at the end of the day, there was no good option. I think I would have done what you did, but I can’t say for sure. I wasn’t there; you and Marcus were. It was what it was, and you did what you did. Let’s move on.”

Laurie frowns. “This is going to bother me for a while.”

I am frustrated too, but for different reasons. “Laurie, we have some real-world evidence that you did the only thing you could do. You think calling the police would have worked out just fine? I’m with Andy on this, and you know why? Because I did the right thing: I called the police when I found Gerald Kline’s body. And I’m walking around with a damn GPS bracelet on my ankle because of it.

“And you know what else? I had to spend my last million dollars on bail.”

Everybody laughs at this, including Andy and Laurie, who put up the money. Actually, Marcus doesn’t laugh because he wasn’t born with the laugh gene. The laughter takes a lot of tension out of the room.

The truth is that I don’t know what I would have done had it been me instead of Laurie. The Kline analogy doesn’t apply because I didn’t kill him; I only found his body. Marcus did kill Gardener, so his legal position would have been more perilous than mine, had I not been framed.

I also don’t know if my spoken view that Laurie did the right thing is how I really feel. It certainly must be colored by the fact that I’m the one we’re all working to help; I have a huge self-interest in this.

Laurie and Marcus were in that position because of me; I feel guilty and responsible for having put them in harm’s way in the first place. I owe them a debt that I can never repay. And speaking of pay, they are professional investigators who are not getting a dime for this.

So I am grateful to them and I am going to support them. What I would have done is and will remain a hypothetical, and I’m not going to worry about it. One thing Andy was certainly right about is that my GPS bracelet and I should not have been there; if I was shown to be on the scene, it would have been a disaster.

But that’s now behind us. Laurie was right when she texted me the message “It’s over.”

“We need to talk about our next steps,” Andy says. “Gardener, to state the obvious, is now a dead end.”

“Can we discuss it tomorrow?” Laurie asks.

Andy looks at his watch. “It’s already tomorrow.”

“I know,” Laurie says, “and I’m tired. Marcus and I have had a bit of a rough night.”

“I agree,” I say. “Tune in tomorrow.”

“YOU know I hang on your every word of wisdom, right?”

Pete Stanton was calling Andy at eight thirty in the morning as Andy had just returned from walking Tara and Sebastian. Knowing what the call had to be about, Andy took it on the speakerphone so Laurie could hear what was said.

“I know you do, Pete. That’s why I share it with you. On your own you’re not exactly the brightest bulb in the chandelier.”

“And you impart so much of that wisdom because you never seem to manage to shut up. Looking back, I particularly remember the time you told me that when it comes to criminal investigations, there is no such thing as a coincidence. I have found that to be so true.”

“You going to get to the point anytime soon?” Andy smiled at Laurie since they both knew exactly where Pete was going. Laurie was somewhat less amused; she was still shaken up and doubting her decision to leave the scene.

“Sure. You sent me a picture of Jake Gardener and asked who he was. I told you. I didn’t ask why you wanted to know because I basically didn’t give a shit. So last night the same Jake Gardener winds up dead, hit