A Fatal Slip by Melissa Glazer

by eleven, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he shows up here before noon.”
    “I don’t think Hannah would allow that,” I said. “I’m sure I can manage without him for at least one day.”
    “Of course you will. Now for my news. I’m not sure if you realize it, but there’s a group of civil service workers who meet for coffee just about every morning in the basement of the courthouse. I have a standing invitation, but I rarely attend. This morning I thought I’d go by and see if anyone knew anything about Charlie Cobb, since he worked with them.”
    “What did you find out?”
    “Something pretty interesting. Charlie’s dad, Jerry, died forty-six days ago. Did you know that?”
    “I might have read about it in the paper. He wasn’t murdered, too, was he?”
    Jenna shook her head. “No, he had a heart attack. The reason his death is important is what the will said. Thelma at the clerk’s office told me about its contents, and I thought you should hear the exact way it was worded.”
    “She didn’t reveal something she shouldn’t have, did she? I’d hate to think someone was compromising their ethics to help us.”
    “No, it’s public record, if anyone cares enough to dig it out of the files.”
    “What did it say?” I put down the bisque piece I was holding and gave Jenna my full attention.
    “The will stipulated that each of the two heirs had to live forty-five days after the deceased to receive their inheritance, or their share would revert to the other beneficiary. It’s quite a coincidence that Charlie lived exactly forty-four days, don’t you think?”
    “So what happens to his share? I’m assuming Jerry left behind a hefty estate.” Jerry Cobb had owned a plant on the outskirts of town, and he must have done well for himself, since he’d lived alone in a five-thousand-square-foot mansion.
    “It was in excess of four million dollars,” Jenna said. “The interesting thing is that Charlie’s brother, Rick, gets it all now.”
    “What would have happened to the money if Charlie had lived one more day?”
    Jenna said, “It would have been a part of Charlie’s estate, so his daughter would have gotten it all. As things stand, she’ll barely have enough to finish college. At least that’s what Thelma said.”
    “So Rick gets four million instead of the two he had coming to him. Would he kill his brother when he was already getting two million bucks?” The number was unreal to me, a phantom set of digits beyond my scope of comprehension.
    “Don’t kid yourself. I’ve known people to kill for ten thousand dollars. Two million puts it entirely into the realm of possibility. We need to look into Rick Cobb’s alibi.”
    “Shouldn’t the sheriff do that? I know how you feel about meddling, and I don’t want you to go against your beliefs.”
    “I went to him with the information first,” Jenna admitted. “Do you want to know what he told me? The man had the nerve to remind me that I wasn’t on the bench anymore and that I should mind my own business and leave the investigation up to him. I’ve been defending him for years, and he has the unmitigated gall to say that to me. Perhaps you’ve been right. Sheriff Hodges has outstayed his welcome in office.”
    “And yet our townsfolk keep reelecting him, don’t they?”
    “They vote for him out of habit more than anything else. I’m sure of it. If he had one decent deputy, we could run him against the sheriff, but I’m afraid they’re all cut from the same cloth.”
    “The election’s five months away, and if you want to find someone to run against him, you’ve got my support. In the meantime, though, we have to deal with Charlie Cobb’s murder. What should we do with the information about his brother?”
    “I’m going to look into Rick Cobb’s whereabouts on the evening of the murder. That’s the first step. I’ll keep you informed.” She glanced at her watch. “I hate to run out on you, but I have a dentist