Legally Dead by Edna Buchanan

right now.”
    â€œGotcha.”
    â€œCan you stop by here for breakfast? I want you to meet him and then brainstorm with me about an idea I had last night.”

    Venturi was frying bacon and eggs over easy when Danny arrived on his Harley. Lyle Gates was still asleep.
    â€œYou and Luz sounded like you were having fun this morning,” Venturi said wistfully as he poured orange juice and coffee. “Reminded me of Maddy.” He smiled. “I thought about her a lot last night. You two are so lucky.”
    Danny dug into his eggs. “It’s not all bliss, you know. Kids screaming, baby crying, no sleep. Luz wanting me to stay home and organize the garage while I’m out trying to save the world. And now another baby’s on the way.
    â€œShe thrives on it,” he said. “If she has her way, we’ll have eleven kids—like Bobby Kennedy. He could afford them. I’m thinking we should stop at four. But she wants a damn platoon.
    â€œOf course,” he said reflectively, “I wouldn’t trade a minute with that woman for anything in the world.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œAnd the upside,” he said with a grin, “is the cleavage she develops when she’s pregnant. I’m looking forward to that.
    â€œSo who is the guy?” he asked, mopping up egg yolk with his toast. “Where is he?”
    â€œStill asleep when I unlocked his door.”
    Danny stopped chewing, raised eyebrows questioning.
    â€œHad to lock him in last night.”
    â€œAfraid he’d murder you in your sleep? Or escape your hospitality?”
    Venturi filled him in.
    Danny gave a long, low whistle after Mike finished his description of the slashing, the stabbing, the shooting, and the alligators. Then he smiled.
    â€œKnow why he’s alive?” he said, picking up his coffee mug.
    â€œI know,” Venturi said. “His name wasn’t on the goddamn blackboard in the sky. By the way, you might recognize that name.” He finished the story.
    â€œI remember him.” Danny looked impressed. “Everybody was after his ass. If he was guilty of a damn thing, even negligence, he’da been nailed for sure.”
    â€œThank you. Here’s what I’m thinking.”
    Danny cocked his head as he absorbed the details. “You sure you want to get that involved?”
    â€œI’m not saying it’d be easy. But it might make up for some of the shit I did for the Marshals Service—for Salvi specifically.” He shrugged. “Maybe the right word is atonement.”
    â€œYou don’t owe penance or apologies to anybody, Mike. You didn’t write the rules.”
    â€œNo excuse. I should have tried to change them, fought harder, and refused to follow them. I could have quit, blown the whistle, and gone to the press. But no, I was too wrapped up in my own personal problems.”
    â€œWhich you had at the time, bro.”
    â€œBut look at the cost. Two children dead. Two Brinks guards hurt, almost killed. And who knows what other crimes Salvi did while we were ‘protecting him’ and not the public? Maybe I can make up for it a little by helping somebody. And think of what an interesting experiment it would be, given what we know about human behavior. My question to you is, do you think we can pull it off?”
    â€œSure,” Danny said without hesitation. “We can pull off anything we set our minds to, man. Us being alive proves that. Remember Somalia, Afghanistan, Cali? Think about it, bro.
    â€œBut it’s not just us. What’s up with Alligator Man? Is he stand up or screw up? The real question is, can he pull it off?”
    â€œLyle was not exactly at the top of his game when we met yesterday,” Venturi replied. “But he’s smart and might want it bad enough. He’d have to work like hell. We would too. It’s tricky. We’d need proof of death: a body, evidence, or eyewitnesses so