Final Exam: A Legal Thriller (32 page)

“That doesn’t exactly feel like the movies, does it?”

“No, but is there ever such a thing really?
 
I mean, I’ve thought about that a lot and have always wondered if there really is a person out there just for me, or for you.
 
When I was younger, I thought maybe there was and that all you had to do was look hard enough and long enough and eventually you would find that person out there somewhere.
 
Now, I’m not so sure that’s true.
 
At least not for everyone.
 
Then I thought about what would happen if I let Andrew slip away.
 
Now, I don’t know if Andrew is the love of my life or not.”
 
She paused and then smiled.
 
“I’ll deny all of this if you ever repeat it.
 
But I’m not sure that there’s ever any such thing.
 
Sure, for some people, maybe, but not for everyone.
 
I know Andrew loves me very much and I love him too, and as you can tell, he’s very protective of me.”

“No question about that,” Ben agreed.
 

“So, yes I love Andrew very much.”
 
She paused again, considering what she was about to say.
 
“I know I may seem, what’s the word, melancholy?

Ben nodded.
 
“That would be a good description for it, I suppose.”

“Okay, so I seem melancholy.
 
But Daniel’s death hit me pretty hard.
 
Of course I was shocked to find out about it.
 
Not that I wanted him back or I’m still in love with him or anything like that.
 
It’s just that I once cared for him so much that finding out that somebody murdered him was very difficult.
 
I’ve been wondering what could’ve driven someone to do that.
 
How could someone do such a thing?
 
Daniel may not have been perfect, God knows that, but I don’t think he was really capable of doing anything that would have made him deserve that.
 
But to answer your question, yes I’m happy here.
 
I’m happy with Andrew.
 
And he’s a very good father.”

Ben was startled.
 
“What do you mean?” he said.

She laughed.
 
“Didn’t you know?
 
We have a son.
 
His name is Brian and he’s about to turn three.”
 
She could see Ben doing some calculations in his head.
 
She leaned forward and whispered, “Yes, I was pregnant when I got married, but don’t tell anyone.”
 
She laughed again.
 
“It was just one of those things.
 
Passion got the best of us and one thing led to another and … I’m sure you can figure out the rest.
 
It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me though.”

Ben nodded.
 
He certainly could figure out the rest.
 
They talked about kids for a little while and Ben found himself liking Nora Scott in a strange way.
 
And he couldn’t quite convince himself that she was capable of murdering anyone.
 
They sat there studying each other for several moments and Nora broke off a piece of roll and stuffed it into her mouth. “You never did answer my question,” she said.
 

“Which one was that?”

“Do you believe there is someone out there for everyone?”

He exhaled.
 
“Oh, I don’t know.
 
I’m just amazed sometimes that there was anybody out there for me.”
 
She laughed.
 
“Really, I mean it,” he said.
 
“It’s hard sometimes to imagine that somebody would want to spend the rest of their life with you.
 
It’s kind of a big commitment, don’t you think?”

She nodded.

 
“No, I don’t think I’m that philosophic about things like this,” he continued.
 
“I don’t spend much time dwelling on whether or not I have found Ms. Right or even if there is such a thing.
 
I’m just not that philosophic.
 
That’s just not concrete enough for me.
 
I spend more time thinking about my own little section of the world and what I can do to influence it and shape it to my will.
 
When I met my wife and got to know her, I knew I wanted her so I went about getting
her
and fortunately, she had more or less the same idea and everything seems to have worked out.
 
The most I ever do is wonder sometimes when I meet a woman or get to know a woman whether or not she would have been fun to go out with.
 
It never gets much further than that.
 
At most, the whole exercise lasts about ten minutes until I decide to get back to getting what I want and I forget about the rest.”

“So the whole thing for you is you see it, you want it and you take it?”

“Crudely put, but probably true.”
 
Ben took a long drink from his beer and then another, satisfied with his expression of his views on relationships.
 
A moment later, the waitress came with dinner and they got caught up in their food for a little while before Ben turned back to Nora’s relationship with Daniel Greenfield.
 
“When was the last time you saw Professor Greenfield?”
 
Ben asked.

“Oh, I don’t know.
 
It’s been a long time now, probably almost two years.
 
I think I only saw him once, maybe twice after we broke up.
 
He tried calling for a while, but I made it clear that I didn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore and that the relationship was over.
 
Eventually, I guess he got the message and stopped calling.”

“Why did you come back to Chicago?”

“Just for Christmas.
 
Both Andrew and I have family in Chicago.
 
We came back to see them.
 
We flew in on the 23rd and left around noon time on New Year’s Eve.”

“You didn’t see or hear from Professor Greenfield during this period?”

“No, not at all.
 
Daniel never crossed my mind, to tell you the truth.
 
You may not believe this, but I’m very happy with Andrew and I’m happy here.
  
This is a nice comfortable place to live.
 
When Andrew got the opportunity to come down here and take over his uncle’s law practice, a law practice that once belonged to his grandfather and his great grandfather, I was a little reluctant at first, I’ll be honest.
 
But after a while, I saw the opportunity in it and figured that we both needed to get away from Chicago.
 
So we decided to come and we’re glad we did.
 
It’s a more relaxed lifestyle down here and things are going very well.
 
Not only do we have the law practice, but Andrew is involved with some real estate development as well.”

“Yeah, I saw the lot in Ocala Waterways Estates.
 
I wouldn’t plan on moving there anytime soon.”

She gave him a puzzled laugh.
 
“What would cause you to go there?
 
Bad address?”

“I guess.”

“I’m not even sure I’ve been there.
 
I take that back, I may have been there once with Andrew, but not more than that.
 
I don’t think he actually wants to live there.
 
It was more of an investment property.”

They ate their dinner and talked about Florida for a while and the differences between the Sunshine State and living in the Land of Lincoln.

“I’ll tell you this,” Nora said, “even being back there for Christmas, it’s awful easy to get used to the nice weather down here.
 
Sure I like the snow and stuff right around Christmas, but that’s about it.
 
Other than that, you can keep it.
 
The weather down here suits me just fine.”

Ben nodded in agreement as he put a nice piece of prime rib into his mouth.
 
“I know what you’re saying.
 
I’ve enjoyed the weather the last couple of days myself.
 
I’m not looking forward to getting back to the deep freeze.
 
Hey, let me ask you one other thing,” he said.
 
“What do you know about Professor Greenfield and drugs?
 
Did you ever know him to use drugs?”

She paused and considered the question.
 
“Never with me.
 
I can’t say that I ever saw Daniel use drugs, but I know that he and
Dorlund
got high together periodically.”

“What do you mean by high?”

“You know, they just smoked some dope now and then.”

“Anything stronger?”
Ben asked tapping his nose.

“Maybe.
 
It’s possible, but I can’t say that I ever saw it myself.
 
I suspected once or twice after he’d been with
Dorlund
that maybe they did more than just smoke a little pot, but I can’t swear to it.
 
Why?
 
What have you heard?”

“Just a little rumor going around the law school that he may have been enjoying a little toot now and then.”

“Hmmm,” she said, “part of me would say I’m surprised by that, but then again part of me would say that I’m not.
 
Like I said, I never witnessed it myself.”

They finished their meal and talked for a little while over one last beer.
 
Ben couldn’t help but like her and wondered why a woman like this would be wasting her time with someone like Daniel Greenfield.
 
He concluded that she was certainly better off without him even if part of her seemed to be settling for less than was possible.
 
Ben walked her to her car, parked under a dark leafy tree in the back of the parking lot.
 
The sun had set and the evening was pleasantly cool.
 
It felt to Ben more like late-June or early-July in Chicago than mid-February in Florida.

“Thank you for dinner,” she said.
 
“It was good.
 
It felt good to talk.”
 

Ben noticed that she subconsciously played with her wedding ring as she spoke.
 
This suddenly felt like the end of a strange date.

“Well, thanks for agreeing to speak with me.”

“You know,” she said, “you didn’t tell me how Daniel was killed.
 
All I know from friends of mine and from what I’ve been able to gather from news reports is that he was somehow beaten to death.
 
Is that right?”

“Since you knew him as well as you did, you’re probably better off not thinking about it,”
 
Ben said telling her the truth, but also not wanting to give away any details on the off-chance that she may have either been involved herself or known someone who was.
 
“Let’s just say he was bludgeoned and leave it at that.”
 

She cringed and closed her eyes.
 
“Daniel didn’t deserve that,” she said in a soft voice.
 

“No, I wouldn’t think that he did,” Ben agreed.

“Who’s your client?”

“Her name is Megan Rand
Cavallaro
.
 
We went to law school together.”

“What makes the authorities think she did it?”

“I’m not sure.
  
We don’t have all of the evidence yet.
 
In fact, we’re supposed to be getting some of that tomorrow.”
 

She extended her hand.
 
“Well, I wish you the best of luck with your defense, I really do.
 
It’s hard for me to imagine a woman bludgeoning someone to death and you seem awfully convinced that your client didn’t do it.
 
I hope it works out for you.”

“Thank you.
 
You’ve never heard of my client, have you?”

“No, never.”

“You never heard Professor Greenfield mention her?”

“No.
 
I’ve never heard of her and don’t know anything about her.
 
What’s her connection to Daniel?”

“Don’t know that either other than
we
both had him for Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure.
 
That hardly seems enough, now does it?”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Well,” Ben said, “I’ll let you get back home now.
 
I’m sure your husband is standing by the door waiting.”
 

She threw her head back in a relaxed laugh, perhaps the first truly unguarded moment of the entire evening.
 
“That’s probably the truest thing you’ve said.”

“Please,” Ben said, “do me a favor and think about this a little and if anything pops into your head, anything at all, please
give
me a call even if it doesn’t seem significant or important.
  
You never know.
 
I would greatly appreciate it.”