Someone Else's Husband(107)

“Do what, exactly?”

“Call Gretchen and say you slept with Richard. Then I’ll leave.”

There’s no way he’s just going to go. I raise the scraper. “Get out, Brooks. Now.” He stares at it for a long moment. When he looks up, he does not seem surprised or afraid.

“Before you think of doing anything crazy with that—whatever it is you’re holding—I wrote an email that will send automatically to my wife tomorrow if I’m not around to stop it, explaining that you and I have been having an affair, you’ve been acting unstable, and you have a history. If you know what I mean. So if anything happens to me, she’ll be sure you’re prosecuted. She is one vengeful bitch, trust me.”

“Leave, Brooks. Now.”

“Fine. Then how about money?” he goes on. “You and I both know you’re willing to do all sorts of things for money.”

“Did you push Van?” I ask.

He just stares and stares at me, his face chillingly expressionless, eyes empty. He doesn’t jump to deny or defend. He doesn’t do anything. It’s like he’s not even in there anymore. Like no one is.

I wave the scraper in front of me. “Get the fuck out of my apartment, Brooks.”

“I will, just as soon as you make one quick call.” He holds my phone out again.

But we both know he’s not leaving me alive to tell everyone the truth afterward.

Run. It’s my only option. I stare down at the phone in his hand and count—one one-thousand, two—

I launch myself toward the door. Sprinting across the apartment. Arms pumping.

I am knocked forward. My knees crack against the hardwood. And Brooks’s hands are on the back of my neck. Shoving me down against the floor, my face pressed to the side. But the scraper. It’s still in my hand. And I am just an animal. An animal about to die.

I shove back once with all my weight. But it’s no use. The rest is a blur. A struggle. Brooks shouts, “Knock it the fuck off!”

And then, suddenly, my arm is free for a second—one second—and the scraper knife is swinging. Swinging. I am swinging it. Until it sticks, sickeningly. With a wet, tearing sound.

Brooks freezes, grabs his neck. The awful gurgling sound he makes. The blood is everywhere.

And it’s all over me.





Grand Jury Transcript


Testimony of Investigating Detective Raul Reyes


Conducted by Abigail Hoffman, Assistant District Attorney



November 30


Q. Thank you for returning to testify for a second time. This is a complex case—a case within a case, actually—and we just want to be sure that the grand jurors hear the evidence in the order easiest to understand.

A. “Complex” is a good word.

Q. You testified earlier that you had assumed at first that the blood at the scene indicated that Frankie Callahan had been murdered. Did you eventually learn that conclusion was incorrect?

A. Yes, when the DNA results came back and revealed that the blood was not Frankie Callahan’s. And also that the body was not hers.

Q. What did you do when you found out the blood was not hers?

A. Well, first off, we created a new case for the Jane Doe we had found.

Q. Did you eventually identify her?

A. Yes, Carole Rybak. She was a cleaner at one of the offices nearby. That’s why her fingerprints were damaged.

Q. Aside from beginning a separate investigation into Carole Rybak’s murder, what did you do?

A. We had to release Richard Falk. Because we couldn’t prove that he killed Frankie Callahan if we had no evidence that she was actually dead.

Q. Did you believe him to be innocent?

A. No. He had that blood on his clothes. So I believed he did something. And it didn’t seem like he was being truthful. But I had no idea what crime had been committed at that point.

Q. Did you eventually discern that a crime had taken place?

A. Yes.

Q. And what crime was that?

A. The murder of Brooks Grace.

Q. How did you learn it was Brooks Grace who had been murdered in Frankie Callahan’s apartment?

A. We investigated, interviewed witnesses, followed up on leads. Collected evidence. Brooks Grace was missing, and it seemed possible he was involved. We got a DNA match to him for the blood in the apartment. And then his wife got an email implicating Frankie. Rather, she opened it then. There had been a delay because she and Brooks Grace were separated.

Q. And what was the result of all that evidence collected?

A. Frankie Callahan was charged with the murder of Brooks Grace.

Q. Which has resulted in this grand jury here today. Is this your case, Detective?

A. No, it isn’t. It was given to another detective. Under the circumstances, it seemed wise to give the investigation a fresh start.

Q. Did you or anyone else ever place Frankie Callahan under arrest?

A. To my knowledge, she remains a fugitive. That’s why this is a prosecution in absentia.

Q. You seem to think that’s funny.

A. It’s better than nothing, I guess. I just don’t think there’s any way in hell you’re ever going to find her. Someone able to pull something like this off? They know how to not get found.





Epilogue


Two Years Later