Julie, according to the indictment, wanted to kill Primo simply because he had dumped her, apparently in a not-so-nice way. She’s awaiting trial for first-degree murder. The Twitterverse commentary about her, which is extensive, suggests she’s planning to present a defense based on allegations that she was abused as a child and by Primo, too. I hope to avoid testifying in that trial because it will waste a lot of my time. On the other hand, if that’s what I need to do to keep her off the street, I will. Oh, and believe it or not, she somehow got her hands on a copy of the final exam for my Law of Sunken Treasure seminar and mailed in her answers from jail. I didn’t bother to read them.
One of the things I’ve wondered about is how the attack on Primo came about when he was sitting in my office drinking my coffee. As near as I can figure out from the extensive testimony at the sanity hearing, the attempt on me and Primo simultaneously was pure serendipity. Greta and Julie had been planning to get both of us separately some time later that week, but when Julie found Primo alone in my office while I was on the phone across the hall, she managed to dump the poison in his coffee without his seeing her do it. Then, when Primo fell quickly into a semiconscious state, she dumped some of it in the coffeepot, too, hoping I’d drink it later.
Had I done so, Greta would have expected to buy my condo from my estate. Because I didn’t drink it and didn’t die, she later figured she could force me out by framing me for Primo’s murder and buying the condo when I went to jail. Barring that, she figured I’d at least have to look for a new job in another city—if I could find a job at all.
Oh, and I think I figured out how the receipt for the chemical got in my jacket pocket. Julie must have dropped it in right after she poisoned Primo. The jacket—one of four I have that are identical—was hanging on the back of my office door. Later on I took it home and hung it in my closet, where the police found it when they did their search.
I’ve tried to patch things up with Tommy, but he hasn’t returned any of my phone calls or responded to my e-mails or texts. And he’s never cashed the check I left for him at the Chemistry Department to reimburse him for the dead-bolt lock. But he hasn’t blocked my e-mails or texts, so perhaps there’s still hope there. So far as I know, he had nothing to do with the crimes. He did, however, tell the police about my having gotten my hands waxed, and the police apparently told Greta. I’ve forgiven Tommy for that, though. He was just being a good citizen. Maybe he’ll forgive me one day.
The dean, in his own way, has tried to make amends. A few days after the arrests, he took me to lunch at the Faculty Center instead of Oroco’s and assured me that my tenure application was back on track. When, not long after, I got tenure, he threw a big party for me at his house. Even better, he tells me he has located an alum, the wife of a wealthy shipping magnate, who wants to endow a chair in admiralty law and fund an admiralty studies center. Frankly, I think the school is being so nice because they’re worried I’m going to sue them.
One thing that continues to bother me is the library episode. The official engineering report says there was a minor earthquake at the time the shelves fell on me, and they fell because the bolts were missing and the earthquake tipped them over. Supposedly the bolts on all the shelves had been replaced the week before in a seismic upgrade, but they’d missed replacing them on that one shelving section. A mistake, nothing more. The two things came together in, as the report put it, “a most unfortunate way.” Do I believe it? Not really, but with Greta out of the way, I’m no longer worried about it.
Robert has gone back to France with Tess, although he claims he’s not planning to stay there forever. He’s also promised to pay up on the bet he lost and take me and Oscar to dinner at At.mosphere at the top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. I told Tess she was welcome to join us, but that Robert had to pay for the trip himself.
Oscar has gone back to New York to be with Pandy. I do hope to meet that woman someday.
Aldous gave the law school notice in early December that he was departing in January for “a great opportunity” in Buffalo. We’ve exchanged a few e-mails, but I assume they will peter out, and he’ll soon become someone I used to know.
You probably wonder about the map. It’s never been found. Neither has the red mailing tube. My own theory is that Julie took it and ditched it somewhere after she poisoned Primo. I heard the police did extensive searches of Julie’s apartment, locker and storage unit, so maybe they have it and will use it as evidence in her trial. If so, they’re not telling.
You probably also wonder what happened to Quinto. He transferred to USC and is pursuing new investors there. I suggested to the DA that Quinto be investigated for fraud, plus perjury in his deposition. But, so far as I know, no investigation is underway.
As for me on a personal level, I’ve put my condo on the market. As soon as it sells, I’m planning to get a cool place at the beach. There have already been three offers, and it’s only been on the market for a week. And I’m dating Dr. N. It seems to be going well. So well that we’re planning to go to France together for a month in the summer. Maybe we’ll even drop in on Robert and Tess while we’re there. Mainly I’m looking forward to spending lots of time with Bill, eating good bread and great cheese, drinking fine wine and doing not much at all. I deserve it.
THE END
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to my agent, Erica Silverman, for encouraging me to write a sequel to Death on a High Floor, to my editor at Thomas & Mercer, Alan Turkus, for taking the chance that I could actually write one, and to the rest of the crew at Thomas & Mercer, especially Jacque Ben-Zekry and Anh Schluep, for making the publishing experience such a pleasure. I must also express my deep appreciation to my developmental editor, Charlotte Herscher, who wields an edit pen that is somehow both gentle and, at the same time, razor sharp and wonderfully effective, and to my copyeditor, Randy Ladenheim-Gil, who did such a splendid job, not only of sharpening and smoothing the writing, but of managing to identify even the smallest error, from a minor biblical misquotation to the misspelling of an obscure type of purified water, to the incorrect name of a UCLA academic document. They both improved the manuscript immensely. And, last but very much not least, to my excellent proofreader, Rebecca Jaynes, who found not only the many little things, but one big thing, too.
Special thanks are due Deanna Wilcox—one of the best lawyers I know—for the suggestion that in her new job as a professor Jenna become an expert on the law of marine salvage and sunken treasure.
I also want to acknowledge the many friends who provided encouragement, who read the manuscript in its various stages and drafts and then gave me such helpful, candid notes, as well as those friends, old and new, who were kind enough to share their expertise. The entire list is long, but it includes especially Roger and Susan Chittum, Linda and John Brown, Melanie and Doug Chancellor, Roger Rosen, Amy Huggins, Marty Beech, Brinton Rowdybush, Joyce Mendlin, Julie Rutiz, Michael Haines, Krista Perry, Dan Wershow, Becky Novelli, Alison Anderson, Paul Bergman, Joanna Schwartz, Cameron Furey, Maxine Nunes, Julie Serquinia, Maureen Gustafson, Doreen Weisenhaus, Rodney King, Prucia Buscell, Diana Wright, Susan Nero, Lauren Gwin, Nona Dhawan, Dick Birnbaum, Christine Ong, Brad Hansen, Yoko Miyamoto, Joyce Mendlin, Deborah Coonts, Tom and Juanita Ringer, Harriet Young, Dale Franklin, Patty Nolan, Maria Elena Frances-Benitez and Ruben Benitez, Harold Kwalwasser, Melissa Lee, Holly D’Lane Miller, Lu Ann Homza, and Carlos Galvez-Pena.
And with thanks to my son, Joe, for his perceptive comments on voice, pacing and story arc in the early drafts, and, as always, to my wife, Sally Anne, for her patient and perceptive comments as the chapters emerged, one by one, into the initial drafts, as well as her encouragement when words sometimes failed me.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © Deborah Geffner
Charles Rosenberg is the author of the bestselling legal thriller Death on a High Floor and the 1994 viewer’s guide to watching a criminal trial, The Trial of O. J.: How to Watch the Trial and U
nderstand What’s Really Going On. He was one of two on-air legal analysts for E! Television’s live coverage of the O. J. Simpson criminal and civil trials. Rosenberg has also been credited as the legal script consultant for television shows Boston Legal, L.A. Law, The Practice and The Paper Chase. After graduating from Antioch College and Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the law review, Rosenberg has had a long career as a partner in large law firms and as an adjunct law professor at several prominent law schools, including Loyola, UCLA and Pepperdine. He is currently a partner in a three-lawyer firm in the Los Angeles area, where he lives with his wife. This is his second novel.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication Page
CONTENTS
Jenna James
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
CHAPTER 47
CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 49
CHAPTER 50
CHAPTER 51
CHAPTER 52
CHAPTER 53
CHAPTER 54
CHAPTER 55
CHAPTER 56
CHAPTER 57
CHAPTER 58
CHAPTER 59
CHAPTER 60
CHAPTER 61
CHAPTER 62
CHAPTER 63
CHAPTER 64
CHAPTER 65
CHAPTER 66
CHAPTER 67
CHAPTER 68
CHAPTER 69
CHAPTER 70
CHAPTER 71
CHAPTER 72
CHAPTER 73
CHAPTER 74
CHAPTER 75
CHAPTER 76
CHAPTER 77
CHAPTER 78
CHAPTER 79
CHAPTER 80
CHAPTER 81
CHAPTER 82
CHAPTER 83
CHAPTER 84
CHAPTER 85
CHAPTER 86
CHAPTER 87
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR