Lady Justice and the Candidate Read Online Free PDF Page B

wrong.
        “This is the perfect cover,” Mark continued enthusiastically. “We had to figure a way to bump you off without having to deal with a body. People are sucked away into oblivion every year by that old river and no one will question the notion that a brave officer was shot, fell into the river and his body was lost at sea, so to speak.”
        “You seem to have my demise pretty well planned.”
        “Indeed we do, and seeing as how it’s going to happen two days from now, I’d suggest that you get your affairs in order.”
     

     
        Panic!
        That’s what I was feeling once the reality that I wasn’t going to be around two days from now finally sunk in.
        Being on the cusp of seventy, naturally the idea that my days were numbered had crossed my mind, but unless one has a terminal illness or a crystal ball, it just doesn’t seem real.
        Maggie had cancelled her real estate appointments so that we could spend our last hours together and so that I could make sure that she understood how to handle all of my household responsibilities that would now fall on her shoulders.
        It turned out that about the only two things that I had been solely in charge of were paying the few bills that came in the mail each day and taking out the trash.
        She assured me that she was capable of doing both.
        Her biggest fear was playing the part of the bereaved wife.
        It was going to take all her acting skills to feign the appropriate amount of grief, knowing that I was still alive and kicking.
        Another big challenge was handling the reactions of my family and friends.
        Since pretty much all of them were my age and older, the last thing we wanted was for one of them to be so grief-stricken that they would have a real, honest-to-goodness coronary of their own.
        Even though my impending death was not real, knowing that this assignment might actually end up that way, I decided to take the time to spend some time with each one of them.
        I have heard so many people say that if they had just known, they would have said this or that to the loved one before they passed.
        I actually had the opportunity to do just that.
        Mary Murphy had been the manager of my flophouse, the Three Trails Hotel, for many years. She was delighted when I picked her up and took her to the Dairy Bar for an ice cream soda.
        Willie, my best friend and maintenance man, had saved my skin more than once when my cases had gotten me in over my head. We took a walk together in Gillham Park where he and I had posed as two old codgers playing checkers in order to collar a purse snatcher, my first week on the force.
        My dad, who had just recently come back into my life after years of absenteeism, had been doing his best to make up for all of those lost years.
        I spent an hour with him and Bernice going through some old photos of our early life together.
        As always, the Professor had words of wisdom to impart. I’m sure he had no idea how often his counsel had helped me through difficult times.
        I even stopped long enough to hear Jerry’s latest monologue that he was preparing for amateur night at the comedy club.
        The two days passed in the twinkling of a eye and in the wee hours of the morning, as I laid awake holding Maggie in my arms, I couldn’t help but wonder if this might be the last time I would feel her soft skin against mine, feel the beating of her heart and her warm breath on my chest.
        I was glad that it was dark and that she was asleep so that she wouldn’t see the tears that fell from my eyes and soaked the pillow under my head.
     

     
        You could feel the electricity in the air as the drug task force gathered in the staging area.
        All eyes were on Sergeant Rocky Winkler who was in charge of the operation.
        "Gentlemen, there has never been and most likely never will be another