BooksBarbecue
Back The Deal Goes Down
Chapters (55)
  1. Cover
  2. Other Titles
  3. Dedication
  4. CHAPTER ONE
  5. CHAPTER TWO
  6. CHAPTER THREE
  7. CHAPTER FOUR
  8. CHAPTER FIVE
  9. CHAPTER SIX
  10. CHAPTER SEVEN
  11. CHAPTER EIGHT
  12. CHAPTER NINE
  13. CHAPTER TEN
  14. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  15. CHAPTER TWELVE
  16. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  21. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  22. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  43. CHAPTER FORTY
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  53. CHAPTER FIFTY
  54. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  55. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

“The cops won’t believe it. Sure, it’ll help if it gets to trial. Throw sand in the jury’s eyes. But we don’t want it to get that far. It has to go down one of two ways. Either, it’s a setup, so someone else is in the frame. For good and certain. Or it doesn’t look like murder at all, it looks like an accident or natural causes.”

“You’re right,” she said. “You’re absolutely right. How are you going to do it?”

That was a great question. That was the question. I had no idea. “I have to get to know the target,” I said.

“I can tell you a lot about him. Maddie can tell you more. Naturally.”

“No. I want to meet him. Observe him. Watch him in action.”

“Seriously, do you think you have a special Spider Sense to figure him out?”

“You know that old story about the blind men and the elephant? Each grabs a different part. One thinks he’s like a tree trunk, another like a rope, another like a hose, and so on. Perspective, point of view, determines what you see. Maddie knows him like a wife. Once she loved him, now she hates him. You know him as someone to sue. I need to know him as someone that I’m going to kill. And get away with it.

“Arrange it,” I said. “Arrange it so I can get close to him.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

PARTY TIME

“My husband and I have never considered divorce…murder sometimes, but never divorce.”

–JOYCE BROTHERS

Once an advice columnist, psychologist, TV personality, and she answered The $64,000 Question, which was once America’s #1 quiz show…

THERE WAS GOING TO BE a party. A fundraiser for Hudson Valley Libraries. A worthy cause. One that I could actually support.

Madelaine and Mick McMunchun were the hosts. Rich people had been invited to consort with writers. Several of them were mystery, detective, and crime writers. Madelaine came up with an immensely clever idea. Writers would be allowed—encouraged—to bring along as their guests, actual detectives, or even criminals. That would make the whole thing ever so much more scintillating and dramatic and would let me be there in a way that seemed totally natural.

Where would my invitation come from?

I knew the answer even before I asked the question. Beinhart. I would be his accessory. He’d probably have two. His wife had once been a detective. Good at it, too. She was attractive, gracious, and very likable. Many people wondered how they were still together.