The Stein Ch 02

The pain I was feeling in my chest was more than could be caused by my wounds. I began to wonder if Nicky had just dealt me the final blow. Everything wasn't clear to me yet so I knew that I had to proceed slowly to avoid making a big mistake. I reviewed all possible scenarios and kept coming back to just one conclusion, Nicky was already in the house when I was shot. She had to have been upstairs with the shooter when I came into the house. Now I had to figure out what that mean and what I should do about it.

I was very angry and knew that when Nicky came home the confrontation would be ugly. I tried to plan what I would say to her but my anger was such that I knew I wouldn't be able to contain it and it scared me. The thought of Nicky being upstairs alone with another man was making me crazy. Finally I decided that I would not be able to talk to her because I was afraid I might hurt her.

Once I had all of the facts put together in the right order I knew it was time to talk to Tony but before I called him there was someone else I needed to talk to.

Jim Culkin and I had grown up together in Glendale. We had been best friends for as long as I could remember. Jim had been the best man at my wedding and I had been his best man. I hadn't seen much of Jim for the last couple of years. Jim still lived in Glendale and with Nicky and I living in Sherman Oaks it seemed to be just too much of an effort to get together as much as we would like. It was Jim I called that evening.

"Hello, Jim?"

"Eric?"

"Yes, how are you."

"I'm good, how are you?" he asked.

"Not too good right now. I have a problem that I am going to need your help with," I said.

"You know you can count on me," Jim said. "After all, what are friends for?"

"I appreciate that, but in this case I don't need you because you're a friend, I need you because you're a lawyer."

"What's the problem?"

I told Jim everything. I explained about the shooting, and the apparent burglary and how nothing was taken. Then I told him about the airline vouchers and what they meant and then I told him what I wanted him to do for me.

"You can count on me," Jim said. "What time would you like me to come over?"

"Why don't you plan on being here at nine o'clock," I said.

"Okay then, I'll be at your house at nine o'clock."

"Thanks, Jim, I can't tell you how much this means to me."

"Like I said, what are friends for?" Jim said.

As soon as I hung up from talking to Jim I called Tony on his cell phone.

"Tony, it's Eric Anderson."

"Eric, I am glad you called. I have some news for you," he said.

"Is there any chance you could come over here tonight at nine o'clock? I have something important to tell you concerning this case." I said.

"You haven't been playing detective, have you?"

"No. I came across something that may shed some light on this case though. I am not happy about this but I have to talk to you about it," I said.

"You have me curious now. I will be there at nine," Tony said.

When I got off the phone with Tony it was seven forty-five. I had another hour and fifteen minutes to kill before Jim and Tony arrived. I hoped that Nicky would get home before they arrived so that she wouldn't walk into the house and find them already there.

I spent the next hour making my plan of action. I got a legal pad and a pencil and sat at the kitchen table making notes. I was still sitting there when Nicky walked into the house at 8:50.

"What are you writing?" she asked.

"Just making some notes for something I have to do later," I said.

"What's that?"

'That's not important right now," I said. "We are going to have some company in a few minutes."

"We are? Who?"

"Jim Culkin and Tony Trenca," I said.

"We haven seen Jim in a long time," Nicky said. "Why is he coming over?"

"I told him about the shooting so he's coming over to see if he can help," I said.

"It'll be nice to see him again but what can he do to help?" Nicky asked.

"I guess we'll have to wait and see."

"Why is Detective Trenca coming over?" she asked.

"He said he has some news about this case," I said.

I could see a lot of concern cross Nicky's face. "Have they caught the burglar who shot you?"

"I don't know," I said. "We'll have to wait till he gets her to find out."

Nicky went upstairs to change clothes and I sat down and waited for my guests to arrive. I hoped that they would arrive soon. I was finding it very difficult to hide my anger.

Jim was the first to arrive at nine o'clock on the dot. When he came in I could see him looking me over to see what condition I was in. We were still standing in the foyer when Nicky came down the stairs and gave Jim a hug.

"Nice to see you again Jim," Nicky said as she kissed him on the cheek.

Before our conversation could go any farther the doorbell rang. I opened the door and invited Tony in. After I made the introductions Tony looked at me as if to ask what Jim was doing there.

"For now let's just say that Jim is an interested observer." I said.

Tony accepted my explanation and we all headed into the family room to sit. I had already made a pot of coffee and I asked Nicky if she would help me serve our guests.

Once we were all seated with our coffee I turned to Tony.

"Tony, on the phone you said that you had some news for us," I said.

"Yes. I wanted you tell you that the gang of burglars we suspected in your shooting have been arrested. They were caught in the act of burglarizing a house about ten blocks from here this afternoon," Tony said.

I could tell by the look on Tony's face that he had something more to say that was probably not good news.

"Tony, I am getting the impression from you that you don't think these are the guys responsible for shooting me."

"How did you know that?" Tony asked.

"Like I told you on the phone, I have made a bit of a break through in this case myself," I said.

Nicky grabbed my arm and said, "What? You know who shot you?"

"No, I don't know who shot me but I think I can help Tony find out who did," I said.

I looked over at Jim and he was just sitting back watching all of us. I turned to Tony and he was staring at me.

"Okay, Eric, you have the floor," Tony said. "I am very curious to hear what you have to say."

"You'll have to be patient with me. I need you to understand how this all happened for it to make sense."

"Take your time and I'll hold my questions for later," Tony said.

"This came to me tonight. I was double-checking the contents of my safe when I came across two $300 American Airline travel vouchers. Ever since I woke up in the hospital I have been trying to remember everything that happen from the time I entered the house and walked up the stairs until I was shot. I was hoping that I would remember what the shooter looked like or that something else would come to me but the only thing I could remember was that the shooter was holding the gun in his left hand and he was wearing an onyx ring.

"When I found the travel vouchers I realized that I had to go back farther to start putting everything together. One thing that I was clear about but I didn't want to think about was that my original plans for coming home from Dallas had me arriving at LAX at 5:30 Friday evening. Nicky was going to pick me up at the airport and we were going to stop for dinner on the way home. But my plans got changed.

"By Thursday my project was running a little ahead of schedule and it appeared that if we worked late on Thursday we could finish the project and would be able to go home earlier on Friday. I discussed this with my team and the customer and we all agreed to stay late Thursday and finish the project.

"That night we broke for dinner at 5:00 and I called the airline and asked if I could change my flight to something earlier in the morning. The girl at American said that they had a flight out at 7:45 AM that would get me to LAX at 8:54 AM. I told her to book that flight. We finished the job at 11:30 Thursday night.

"Friday morning I was at the airport at 6:15 AM. I got a cup of coffee, a muffin and a newspaper and waited at my gate until the gate attendants opened the counter. As soon as they opened up I went to the counter to get my seat assignment and to do one other thing that I always do when I am not on a tight schedule,. I asked the gate attendant if the flight was over booked. She said that it was and I asked if they needed volunteers to take a later flight. She said that they did so I handed her my ticket and said that I was volunteering.

"In exchange for my ticket American Airlines gave me a $300 voucher for future travel and gave me a seat on a flight schedule at 9:15 AM. That flight was also over booked and I got a second $300 voucher and was booked on the 10:05 AM flight. This flight was not over booked and I arrived at LAX at 11:15 AM.

"In twenty minutes I had collected by bags and caught a cab. Traffic was light on the freeways that morning and so we were able to make very good time from the airport to the house.

"When I walked into the house I set my bags down in the hall just as the grandfather clock in the living room chimed on the quarter hour. I remember looking at my watch and seeing that it was 12:15. Up until I found those vouchers I couldn't remember what I did when I first came into the house. Now I remember. When I set my bags down in the hall I went into the family room, opened the safe and put the two vouchers in the safe. I locked the safe and then went back out to the foyer, picked up my bags and headed upstairs. We all know what happened then."

Nicky, who hadn't let go of my arm since we sat down, squeezed it tighter as I reminded her of what happened on the stairs.

"Once I remembered what I did when I came into the house I realized that there had been no burglars downstairs. As you can see there is no place anyone could have hidden in here. If someone had been in this room I would have seen them. I would have also seen the mess they had made but there was none.

"At this point the whole time line became a problem. I entered the house at 12:15. There was no sign of a burglary in progress on the first floor. By the time I headed upstairs at least two more minutes had passed making it about 12:17 when I was shot. Eight minutes later, at 12:25 Nicky finds me and calls 911. That would have meant that in the eight minutes between my getting shot and Nicky calling 911, the burglars decided to throw things around on the first floor to make it look like a burglary but they didn't steal anything.

"Nothing made sense to me. If the burglars had been in the house but hadn't taken anything yet and hadn't even started to search the first floor when one of them shot me why would they trash the family room to make it look like a burglary. Why wouldn't they just leave to make it look like a straight out murder? Why would they draw attention to themselves?"

"That was very well thought out," Tony said. "I can see that you are beginning to think along the same lines I am. So who do you think shot you and why?"

"I still don't know who shot me or exactly why, but I think I know someone who does," I said. "I believe that there were two people upstairs that day. One of them shot me. The other one sat with me and watched me bleed for eight minutes before she called 911. In the mean time the shooter trashed the family room to make it look like I had walked in on a burglary in progress."

Nicky had pulled away from me and was now curled up in the corner of the sofa crying.

"I believe that Nicky can tell you who shot me and why," I said.

Tony didn't look at all surprised. "I am sorry, Eric. That is what I was beginning to believe happened too," he said. "I am going to have to take her in for questioning."

"Tony, can we have a few minutes?" I asked.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea right now. I don't think you should talk to Nicky until we get this straightened out."

"Not for me. I want Nicky to talk to Jim," I said. "He is her attorney."

"You arranged for your wife to have her attorney here even though she is probably involved with your shooting?" Tony asked.

"I don't know what was going on between Nicky and the man who shot me but I can not believe that she would have intentionally caused this to happen," I said. "I just want to make sure she has excellent legal counsel from someone she trusts. If you let Jim talk to Nicky for a few minutes I think she will cooperate with you and answer all of your questions."

Nicky was still curled up on the sofa and hadn't said a word.

"I am going to go with you on this," Tony said. "She can talk with Jim and then I will give her the chance to voluntarily come to the station and answer questions. If she chooses not to come down we will issue an arrest warrant. I can't do any more than that."

Jim, Tony and I all stood up together and walked to the door. I shook Tony's hand and thanked him for giving Nicky the chance to come in voluntarily. Then Jim shook Tony's hand.

"I'll bring her into the station within an hour," Jim said. "I know her pretty well. I think she will want to cooperate."

"I hope you're right," Tony said as he turned to walk out of the house.

When the door closed Jim turned to me and said, "I'll go talk to her now. You do understand that anything Nicky tells me will be confidential and I will not be able to discuss it with you."

"I understand," I said. "I asked you to do this because I know Nicky would be more comfortable with you representing her than someone she doesn't know. I would never use our friendship to try and make you betray a client confidence and I know you wouldn't do that even if I did ask."

"I knew you would understand that under normal circumstances," Jim said, "but these are not normal circumstances. Is there anything you would like me to tell Nicky?"

"If the police let her leave after they question her she will have to go to her parents house," I said. "I still love her but I can't be with her now. Tell her that I will call her dad and tell him what is going on. I'm sure he'll come to the police station to be with her."

"You look like you want to say something else," Jim said. "What is it?"

"It's just that I don't know how all this is going to come out but it doesn't look good for my marriage," I said. "I want you to do the best you can for Nicky in this matter but I would ask you not to represent her in divorce proceedings. I know you can't represent me, that would be a conflict of interest and I sure as hell don't want my best friend sitting next to my wife during divorce proceedings. If she asks just refer her to another attorney."

"No problem," he said. "I wouldn't want to be involved on either side in divorce proceedings between you and Nicky. Let me go talk to her now. I think it will be better if you don't talk to Nicky again until this is resolved. If you need to tell her something you can call me. Agreed?"

I told Jim that I agreed but that I would also communicate with Nicky through her parents if necessary. Then I went up to our bedroom while Jim went into the family room to talk with Nicky.

Twenty minutes later Jim called up to me from the bottom of the stairs and I went down to see what he wanted.

"Eric, Nicky would like to go upstairs and pack some clothes to take with her."

"I'll go into my study, then she can go upstairs and pack," I said.

I wanted to ask if Nicky agreed to cooperate with the police investigation but I knew that I couldn't. Jim would tell me what he could but for the rest I would just have to wait and see what happens.

While Nicky was upstairs packing her bags I sat at my desk trying to make sense out of everything that had happen that day. There had never been any indication of trouble in our marriage or had I just missed the signs? The idea that Nicky would have been in our room with another man just didn't make sense to me but that is what the evidence led me to believe. Tony was thinking the same thing even before it occurred to me.

Was Nicky really having an affair? Had her lover shot me? Tony had told me that the shooter had definitely wanted me dead but he wanted me to die slowly. Why? I wonder if once I found out who shot me if that would make any more sense. The hardest thing for me to understand is why Nicky hadn't called 911 immediately. Eight minutes passed before she made that call. Was she hoping that I would die? Did she hate me that much? I refused to believe that.

Nicky had always been a loving wife. Since the shooting she has done everything possible to show me how much she loved me. I supposed that guilt could have something to do with that but could it be something darker. Was she trying to convince me that she couldn't have had anything to do with my being shot?

What scared me most was that I might never know the complete truth about what happened.

*****

When I heard footsteps coming toward my study door I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes and turned as the door opened. Jim stuck his head in the door.

"Eric, we're leaving now. You said you were going to call Nicky's father, right?"

"I will call him in a few minutes. Thanks, Jim."

I sat at my desk and waited until I heard the front door close. I felt like I was about to break down but I knew I had to hold myself together a little longer. I still had to call Nicky's dad and I wanted to make sure I caught him before he went to bed. No one wants to get the kind of news I was about to deliver and if he was already in bed when I called it would just make it worse.

"George?"

"Oh, Eric. How are you, son?" Nicky's father said.

"I am improving," I said. "I am afraid I have something disturbing to tell you."

There was silence on the line for a moment and then, "What is it, Eric?"

"Nicky is at the Sherman Oaks police station. She is being questioned about her involvement in my shooting," I said.

"Oh, my God. You can't be serious," he said. "You can't believe that Nicky would have anything to do with that."

"Listen, George, I know this is a shock. It was to me also," I said. "I can't tell you any more than that right now. I just wanted to ask you to go down to the police station and be there for her. She is going to have to stay with you and Mary for a while."

"Eric, I don't know what to say. There has to be some kind of mistake. Nicky loves you. I can't believe this."

"I'm sorry, George. I know this is hard to accept," I said. "Will you go to the station?"

"Of course. What are you going to do Eric?" he asked.

"I don't know yet."

"Please don't do anything rash. Wait till we find out what really happened before you make any long term decisions," he said.

"I will, George, thanks."

I put the phone down and lay my head on the desk and tried to push all thoughts out of my mind. This was going to be the hardest time since this all started. I didn't have time to really think about what this all meant earlier. From the moment I found the travel vouchers in the safe my mind had been kept busy by all the things I had to do. I had to call Jim and explain everything to him. I had to contact Tony and ask him to come over to the house. I had to think about how I was going to explain everything to Tony so that he would understand. After that I had to talk to Nicky's dad. Now that all of that was done and I was left by myself to ponder what had had been done to me and decide what to do about it.

As hard as I tried I could not get the thought out of my mind. Nicky had a lover and he shot me. He wanted me dead so that he could have Nicky to himself. Was he planning to kill me or did he only shoot me because I showed up at the wrong moment? How long had their affair been going on?

I knew that with these thoughts spinning around in my head I wasn't going to get any sleep so I took one of the pain pills the doctor prescribed for me and went to bed. The powerful painkiller put me to sleep in less than ten minutes.