First to Die

Chapter 116

I STARED AT CLAIRE as the information settled in my mind. All along, Nicholas Jenks had been telling the truth. He hadn't been in the room when David and Melanie Brandt were killed that night. Nor in Napa. Probably not even near the Hall of Fame in Cleveland. I had hated Jenks so much I couldn't see past it. None of us had been able to get past the fact that we wanted him to be guilty. All the evidence- the hair, the jacket, the champagne -had been an incredible deception. Jenks was a master of the surprise ending, but someone had set the master up. I put my arms around Claire and hugged her. "You're the best." "You're damn right I am. I don't know what it proves," she answered, patting my back, "but the person standing over that poor boy at the murder scene was a woman. And I'm just as sure that she stabbed David Brandt to death with her right hand." My mind was spinning. Jenks was loose, hundreds of cops on the chase- and he was innocent. "So?" Claire looked at me and smiled. "It's the second-best news I've heard lately," I said. "Second best?" I took her hand. I told Claire what Medved had shared with me. We hugged again. We even did a little victory dance. Then both of us got back to work.