Chapter 5: Delible

"Bob, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Of course. What's wrong?"

Eames paused. She'd been debating how to handle what happened with Victor. She was taking a calculated risk telling Dwight about it. If forced to choose between her word and that of his trusted henchman, Dwight would of course take Victor's side. But it would be extremely suspicious if she kept her mouth shut and he found out about it some other way. "It's about Vic. Last night...he threatened me. He accused me of being a cop."

"I see." He frowned. "Lily, you know not everything I do is strictly legal..."

"I understand that. But he had a gun. For a minute, I thought he was really going to shoot me."

"We had some police trouble a little while ago. Victor's just being overly cautious. I'll talk to him, okay?"

She nodded. "Thank you."

Goren met with the woman he'd talked to over the phone. Laura Szekely was in her forties, with long dark brown hair and a thin rectangular face. Her eyes were red-rimmed and watery.

"I was an expert witness in a malpractice case. That's how I met Harold. We started talking after the trial...I can't believe he's gone."

"Ms. Szekely, how close were you and Judge Yap?" Goren asked.

She sighed. "We were having an affair." She bit her lip. "Were. We broke it off. I broke it off." She buried her face in her hands. "God, this is all my fault."

"Why do you think that?"

"I told him...I wasn't going to be second place. He would either leave his wife, or...and he told me he loved us both."

"So you walked away," Goren said sympathetically. "Of course you did. It was the only thing you could do."

Her features tightened. She wasn't in tears, but she was close to it. "Last week he started calling me. I didn't return his calls. The last message he left...he said he could never choose between us, and that he...that he wasn't going to ruin my life. I didn't know what he meant. I guess I do now."

"You couldn't have known what he might do."

"You don't understand, detective." Something like a sob came from her throat, but she still held her tears back. "I loved him. I really did. I know it was wrong. I know it was improper. But that's the way it was."

"I do understand," he told her sincerely. He understood what it was like to love someone he wasn't supposed to, better than he could admit. "Do you still have that message?"

"No, I erased it."

"Do you mind if our computer techs see if they can recover it?"

"Why? I thought you said it was suicide."

"What I said is that he was found shot in his home with his gun. It's still an open investigation." She was becoming uncooperative. He decided it was time to put her on the defensive. "Where were you Friday morning?"

She stared at him. "I was at work. All day. You can check with my boss."

"I will. In these kind of cases, the most likely suspects are the wife and the lover. His wife insisted this wasn't a suicide. Laura, that doesn't look good for you."

"I didn't kill him."

"You might want to let our techs try and recover that message," he suggested.

After a moment, she nodded.

Eames was finishing up her work at the casino when she heard someone walk into the office. She tensed.

"You did some good work today, Lily," said Dwight.

She turned to him. "Thank you."

"I talked to Victor; he won't give you any more trouble."

"You don't know how much I appreciate that."

He smiled at her. "Come on. I'll take you home."

"You don't have to."

"I want to. I insist."

With a shrug and a yawn, Eames followed him out, thinking over excuses she could use if he made a move on her. As they walked toward Dwight's car in the parking lot behind the building, a dark SUV drove by and began to slow. Eames' cop sense instantly sounded the alarm.

"Get down!" She tackled Dwight to the ground as a hail of bullets spat at them from the SUV's back window. She closed her eyes and thought of her family, her nephew, Bobby. Would she ever see them again? Would she die without telling Bobby she was sorry?

As soon as it began, the shooting stopped. The wheels of the vehicle squealed as it sped away. She looked up only to see the license plate had been removed. "Are you okay?" she asked Dwight.

"I'm fine. You saved my life."

She looked at him, not sure how she felt about saving this man's life. "Should we call the cops?"

"No," he replied, glaring down the road. "Those were William's guys. We'll handle it ourselves."