Page 138 of Two Kinds of Stranger

‘Seventy-five. Half now. Half when the job’s done. Or find somebody else.’

‘Deal.’

‘Give me your information and I’ll do the transfer.’

‘Just one word of warning. When the job is done, you transfer the rest immediately. If you don’t pay, you become the next target. You understand?’

‘I got it. Your targets are Gabriel Lake and Melissa Bloch. You can find them in. . .’

Castro launched to his feet and began complaining, but the judge waved him away, and then asked Kate, ‘Miss Brooks, the first voice on the recording you say is this Mr. Mont. Who is the other person speaking?’

Kate said, ‘My law partner, Eddie Flynn.’

The rear doors of the courtroom burst open, and Eddie came through them.

He held up a hand to apologize for the interruption and took a seat at the back of the court.

Speak of the devil. . .thought Kate.

‘Detective Withers,’ said Kate, ‘Mr. Mont tried to kill our investigators last night and was fatally injured in the attempt. NYPD are aware of the circumstances. During this call, you hear what Mr. Mont normally charges to kill somebody, he admits murdering Betty Le Saux, and he threatens the caller that if they fail to meet their obligations to him they in turn will be murdered. Is that a fair summation?’

The detective nodded. Kate pressed her for a verbal reply and she said, ‘That’s fair,’ for the record.

‘Detective, Mr. Cross was set to inherit millions of dollars from his wife. He didn’t. He paid the down payment for the hit to Mr. Mont, so that he would kill his wife. I put it to you that when Mr. Mont didn’t get the rest of his fee he broke Mr. Cross’s arm, and threatened to kill him. That’s why another fifteen thousand was paid by Mr. Cross to Mr. Mont the day after the assault. That’s why he was unwilling to describe his attacker to police. When Mr. Cross didn’t come up with the rest of the money, Mr. Mont disabled the alarm system on my client’s property for eleven minutes, snuck into their home, knowing they had reasons to want Mr. Cross dead. He took their firearm and shot and killed Mr. Cross.’

Detective Withers’ mouth opened, but no words came out. She stared at the jury. Castro stared at them too.

It didn’t matter that Kate had just established reasonable doubt, corroborated by bank statements and a timeline – now the jury knew Cross was a killer, they didn’t give a shit about him.

‘Detective? That’s a reasonable theory as to who may have killed Mr. Cross?’

Castro started to object, but he was too late.

‘This information was not in the prior possession of police. This is the first time I am seeing this evidence. It is reasonable—’

Kate turned to the judge, said, ‘Your Honor, I move for a dismissal of this case.’

While she waited for the judge to respond, Kate thought of all the professional ethics and laws she had just broken.

Someone had framed Christine and Kevin for Cross’s murder.

Now, she had done the exact same thing.

She had framed Bruno Mont for Cross’s murder.

Eddie had used the stranger’s own tactics against him.

Never try to con a conman.

Kate waited for the judge to speak, and Harry took her arm.

Christine had covered her mouth with her hand, and Kevin was wide-eyed, staring at Kate.

‘In light of this new evidence. . .’ began the judge.

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Eddie