House Rivals by Mike Lawson Page A

funny, DeMarco. Anyway, when I asked her why she dropped the lawsuit I could tell she felt bad about what she’d done, but she wouldn’t tell me what happened. I finally gave up but as I was leaving she said, “I didn’t have a choice.” When I asked her what she meant, she got into her car and drove away.
    â€œAfter I met with her, I did some more research on her, the kind of research I should have done before I met with her. I found out that she had a son, but she was divorced and her son used her ex-husband’s last name and she uses her maiden name. Well, her son had been busted by the cops. He was an oxycodone addict and he broke into an old lady’s home to steal shit. He thought the old lady was gone but she wasn’t and she tried to stop him, and he pushed her down and she smacked her head. But she was a tough old bird. She followed him out of the house after he ran, got his license plate, and called the cops. The cops went to his house to arrest him, and he punched one of the cops. So her kid was charged for breaking and entering, robbery, assaulting an old lady, assaulting the cops, and resisting arrest. They had like a dozen charges against him and he was going to do time, maybe four years. Well, voilà. After Tyler drops out of the well water contamination lawsuit, her son’s case is pled down to two years’ probation, drug counseling, anger management classes, mandatory community service, blah, blah, blah. Everything but jail time.”
    â€œDid you find anything resembling evidence that Curtis had anything to do with her son’s case?”
    â€œNo. And fuck you for that resembling evidence crack . But the answer is no. I couldn’t find any evidence that the judge or the prosecutor in her son’s case had suddenly come into money or had some work done for free on their houses. But if you think it’s a coincidence that her son got off scot-free at the same time she dropped the suit, then you’re a complete idiot.”
    DeMarco was thinking maybe they should send her to anger management classes. Or charm school. “What makes you think Tyler will talk to you now?” he asked.
    â€œI don’t know that she will, but her son’s dead. He got high, ran his car into a ditch, and broke his neck. I know she felt guilty about what she did, and since her son’s gone, maybe she’ll talk.”
    Sarah again decided to meet with Janet Tyler by herself.
    DeMarco said, “I thought the whole point of me coming with you was for me to lean on these people. You know, I say I’m from Washington and I’m here to crush you with the entire weight of the federal government if you don’t tell the truth.”
    â€œYeah, but I’ve been thinking that’s not the right approach, not with these people. The four I picked are all people who I think have a conscience and might feel bad about what they did, so I don’t really want to scare them. I just want to convince them to do the right thing. And, frankly, you don’t exactly look like you’re from the government.”
    â€œWhat does that mean? What do I look like?”
    â€œWell, you look like a guy a loan shark might send to break the legs of somebody who owes him money.”
    â€œYou gotta be kidding,” DeMarco said.
    Sarah spent twenty minutes with Tyler and when she came back to the car she said, “I can’t believe how bad that woman looks compared to the last time I saw her. She’s lost about thirty pounds and looks like she’s seventy years old. I know she’s in her fifties.”
    â€œYeah, but did she tell you anything?”
    â€œNo. She started crying and saying she was sorry about what she’d done and how I didn’t understand that she had to do it for her son, but she wouldn’t give me a name or tell me how they got to her.”
    â€œYou sure you don’t want me to talk to her?” DeMarco