The Competition
Page 40
“I’ll drink to that,” Toni said. “Anyone else?”
It was unanimous. We all piled into J.D.’s car, with Bailey on Drew’s lap, and headed to the Pacific Dining Car. Toni and Bailey and I ordered our usual. Ketel One martinis, very dry, very cold, straight up, with olives on the side. Drew and J.D. opted for a bottle of Ancien Pinot Noir. Graden ordered a shot of Glenlivet.
“Did you see the letter Evan’s parents wrote to the families of the victims?” Graden said.
“No,” J.D. said. “It was a public thing?”
“Yeah,” Bailey said. “They posted it on the Fairmont High Facebook page—”
Evan’s parents—like Logan’s—had been bombarded with death threats and hate mail, so they’d moved away. But shortly after relocating, they’d written an open letter to all the victims’ families, including the family of the as yet unidentified man Evan had used as a decoy at Taft.“What did they say?” J.D. asked.
“The only thing they could say,” Toni said. “How sorry they were, how they’d have done anything to stop it if they could—”
“‘If they could,’” Bailey said. “It just gets to me the way they had no clue—”
I nodded. “The way they still have no clue.”
“And the victims’ families?” J.D. said. “Did they respond?”
“They’re going to. They sent me a draft to look at. It’s incredible. They said they know the parents aren’t to blame and that they’d lost their children too. Just asked that they help Jenny and Michael with their project—”
“Your shrinks?” Drew asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “They’re heading up a study on these mass shooters. The plan is to come up with a handbook to help parents and teachers spot the warning signs.”
“Damn,” Toni said. “That is incredible. So they’ve already found a way to make something good come of this.”
J.D. shook his head. “Those people…those families. Amazing.”
“They really are,” Bailey said. “I’m not sure I could do that.”
We all fell silent for a few moments. Then Graden asked what Toni was up to.
“Just finished a kidnap/attempted murder. The wife wanted a divorce. The husband didn’t. So of course he had to kidnap and kill her. What else could he do?”
“He didn’t say that,” Bailey said.
“Yeah, he did. Well, close. It was a version of ‘the bitch had it coming.’”
“Kind of weird a case like that wound up in Special Trials,” I said. Sadly, a husband killing his disenchanted wife was not unusual.
“Not so weird. He was a cop down in Riverside. They moved up here because he got a job with the LAPD.”
“Oh, man,” Drew said. “That’s crazy.”
Bailey looked aghast. “We hired him? He couldn’t have been around long.”
“Try twelve years,” Toni said.
Bailey groaned. “Embarrassing. Just friggin’ embarrassing.”
Graden shook his head.
“Hey,” I said. “We’ve got Vanderhorn.”
Graden laughed. “Right. You win.”
“Lucky, lucky us,” Toni said.
We all laughed and drank to that.
It had been a while since I’d laughed like that. Living through so much darkness, I’d forgotten about the light—about the goodness that would always ultimately outweigh the evil. I thought about the strength of the Fairmont High parents, the selfless forgiveness and determination to do all they could to prevent others from suffering the same tragedy. But most of all, I thought about the bonding love that would somehow get them through. Then I looked around the table.
I raised my glass. “To families.”
About the Author
Marcia Clark is the author of Guilt by Association, Guilt by Degrees, and Killer Ambition. A former prosecutor for the state of California, she is now a frequent media commentator on legal issues. She lives in Los Angeles.
Contents
Cover
Disclaimer
Title Page
Also by Marcia Clark
Copyright
Prologue
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Epilogue
About the Author
Table of Contents
Cover
Disclaimer
Title Page
Also by Marcia Clark
Copyright
Prologue
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
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Epilogue
About the Author
Table of Contents
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