Read Online Dying in the Dark by Valerie Wilson Wesley - Free Book Online

whispering about his carrying-on, but very little proof. Word was, he was a lady's man in spades, and he liked his women cut from the same cloth as him—a little crazy, a little shady with a touch of wild-ness. There was a young assistant DA who was carrying on with him for a while. But it didn't last long. He's the kind of man who plays at night, but always goes home to mama in the morning; he would never leave his wife. Rebecca Donovan was definitely the angel to his devil. So why are you so interested in the late Judge Donovan?”
    “No reason.”
    “This isn't connected to Brent Liston, is it? He was one of those dudes who got the book tossed upside his head.”
    “What did he do to make the judge mad?”
    “I don't know, but it must have been something bad. The brother had just done time for murdering a family member, and the judge sent him back on an assault charge for another few years. He just got out of prison a couple of months ago.”
    I filed that away for later reference.
    “So you're not going to tell me why you're interested in Donovan?”
    “I think I might have known him in high school,” I said, connectingthe Clayton Donovan that Jake just mentioned with the Clayton that Larry Walton said had been his friend. “He ran with Larry Walton, part of a trio of guys who were the hottest things around. At least in high school.”
    “So the name of Larry Walton comes back again. I'm not surprised Donovan was popular in high school. Some folks are born charismatic, and he was one of them.”
    “Have you ever heard of Annette Sampson? How about Aaron Dawson?”
    Jake laughed. “Wow, baby! What are we playing here, twenty questions? Come on, Tarn, I don't know everybody in Newark. Most folks don't come anywhere near my radar. Is Annette Sampson married to Drew Sampson?”
    “Yeah, I think she is,” I said, remembering his name in Morgan's guest book.
    “Now that name, Drew Sampson, is familiar. So you're working on a new case?” He refilled my glass and then his own. ‘And this case is paying well,” he added. Jake worries about my finances almost as much as I do.
    “The client is deceased.” I avoided his eyes.
    “Deceased! I assume said client paid you before he died.”
    “More or less.”
    “More or less? Tamara, you've got to do better than that.”
    “I know,” I said, like a recalcitrant child.
    “Listen, I've recommended you to a guy I know, a very rich guy I might add, who is looking for somebody good to do some work for him. You ever heard of Francis B. Cosey?”
    “Isn't he that big-time developer from Short Hills?”
    “Yeah. He said you did some work for a friend of his, Sam Henderson, on a divorce case he was handling, and Henderson is still singing your praises. I told him I was certain you'd take the job. Hope you don't mind. Call him as soon as you can, and it's yours.”
    “So Cosey's getting a divorce?”
    “No, corporate stuff, boring but it pays, and you won't have any losers like Brent Liston drifting into your life. But the case will take some time, and he'll need you a week from next Monday or the deal is no good. Are you going to be finished with this craziness by then?”
    “Craziness?”
    “If it involves Liston that's what it is. I assume you'll be ready by then, right?”
    Jake is tender-hearted, but he's practical, and the look he gave me told me I would want to be finished with whatever I was doing in a week and a half. I knew he was right. He knew and I knew I had to start packing away some serious money for college. Soon I would have to let Celia and her wayward son drop back into my past.
    “Yeah, I'll be finished one way or the other.”
    “You've got to be. Since you're obviously not doing whatever you're doing for the money, why is it so important?”
    “Remember Celia Jones?”
    He looked puzzled for a moment, then his eyes softened the way everyone's eventually did when her name came up. “From high school, yeah. She was younger than me, about