FiFty Fifty

Chapter Twenty - Five

SHE
It was just after midnight. The trial would begin in nine hours. Her feet were a blur on the sidewalk. She'd found a steady rhythm in her stride and there were miles ahead of her. The run let her mind wander to the recent days' events.
She had not looked at her sister those first two days in court as the lawyers chose the jurors. She could feel her eyes on her, but she didn't look. Couldn't look. She focused on the judge, her lawyer and the jury. That was it. She knew if she turned to look at her sister she would not be able to resist a smile and she couldn't let anyone see that. She could not let her mask slip during the trial. All of her work had come down to this.
The chess game in her apartment was an exact match of the old game she had played with her sister. All the pieces in their positions from when the last move had been made. Before Mother broke her neck.
Since that day, she had been playing the match against Sister in her head. Setting up her pawns. Moving a knight and a rook into a perfect position for attack. Her queen in reserve. Soon the queen would come out to play. The most powerful piece in her arsenal.
Taking her father's fortune wouldn't be half as sweet if her sister wasn't also punished.
The final moves in this lifelong game would happen in the courtroom, in nine hours' time.
She would need all of her strength to see it through. During the day, she was the innocent sister, falsely accused of her father's murder. During the night, she would have work to do.
Her pace slowed as she approached the restaurant. She jogged by, glancing through the window. Hal Cohen took the hand of the young woman across the table. Cohen dressed in a smart black suit, Armani or Lagerfeld. The woman wore a red dress so tight it cut off her circulation, but, conversely, was sure to get Cohen's blood pumping. She guessed the woman was half Cohen's age, and at least twenty years' younger than Cohen's wife.
She stopped outside the large side window of the restaurant. Her cell phone sat in an armband with a clear plastic cover on it. She wore wireless ear buds. Tapping the button on her ear bud, she triggered the camera on her phone. Her

arm at the perfect angle to capture the clandestine couple.
She took the phone from the band, selected the photo and texted it to Hal as
she walked around the corner toward the alley. Before she turned into the alley, she took a photo, pressed send on that one too. Hal would come through the kitchen and meet her out back.
There was little light penetrating the alleyway. She moved further along, past the dumpsters, to the steel doors at the rear of the restaurant. One of the doors opened, Hal stepped out and shut it behind him. If what he'd told her was accurate, there was business to be done. The kind best completed in darkness.
'I got your message. Is it true?' she asked.
'See for yourself,' said Hal, removing a single piece of paper from his inside jacket pocket and handing it to her.
Using the torch on her phone, she scanned the page, her heart quickening. 'That's a Xerox, of course, but you can see I'm telling the truth,' said Hal.
She nodded, said, 'You wrote in the text that we should talk about a deal.
Aren't you forgetting we already had a deal?'
'That was before,' said Hal.
'Before what?'
'Before I found that,' he said, pointing to the page. 'And this changes things how?'
'Well, I'm thinking your sister might pay more?' said Hal, a mischievous grin appearing on his darkened features. It looked more menacing in the half-light, like a dog baring its teeth before it bites.
'Where's the original?' she asked.
'The DA's office have it. I sent it in a few days ago.'
'What?'
'It has no value without me. Don't you see? It's practically worthless without
my testimony.'
'What have you told the DA about it?'
'Very little, but they're anxious to talk.'
'How much is your testimony worth?' she asked.
'Ten, to you. Upfront.'
'I don't have that kind of cash,' she said.
'That's your problem. You've got till nine o'clock tomorrow morning, then
I'm talking to your sister. I can swing my testimony either way, depending on who is willing to pay more.'
He flung open the back door to the kitchen, returned to his mistress in the restaurant and let the door close behind him.
She put her hands on her hips. She didn't have ten million dollars right now.
When her inheritance came in, she could realize that kind of cash without much difficulty, but right now – impossible.
Breaking into a run, she pounded down the alley, and by the time she reached the streetlights she had a plan.