Sidney Sheldon's After the Darkness by Sidney Sheldon

at him in disbelief. “You’re saying you don’t mind that Lenny Brookstein robbed you blind?”
    â€œI’m saying he didn’t rob me.”
    â€œBut he did. It’s right here in black and white.”
    â€œHe m-must have had his reasons then. Lenny’s dead. He’s not here to explain, to d-defend his good name.”
    â€œHis good name ?” Harry Bain laughed out loud. “Lenny Brookstein? The man was a crook, John. So was his wife. That much we know. The question is, what don’t we know? What are you hiding from us?”
    â€œI’m not h-hiding anything.”
    â€œWhy are you protecting him?”
    â€œHe was my friend.” My only friend.
    â€œHe wasn’t your friend. He used you, John. He used you from the beginning. Why do you think a brilliant guy like Lenny needed a schmuck like you on the team, huh? D’you ever ask yourself that question?”
    All the time.
    â€œBecause you gave him legitimacy, that’s why. Because you were dumb and adoring and blindly loyal. Like a dog.”
    John looked up. It was Harry Bain’s face sneering at him, but the voice was Caroline’s. You’re a lapdog, John. You’re pathetic! Stand up and be counted!
    â€œNo. I wasn’t Lenny’s d-d-dog. It wasn’t like that.”
    â€œNo? What were you, then? Because the way I see it you’re either a fucking moron who couldn’t see what was going on right under your nose. Or you knew.”
    â€œNo. I d-didn’t know anything.”
    â€œI don’t believe you. Where’s the money, John?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œWhere’d you stash it, huh? You and your good friend Lenny Brookstein. The guy who trusted you so much. Who relied on your advice. Where’d you put the cash?”
    â€œI’ve told you. I don’t—”
    â€œMaybe it’s Andrew Preston we should be talking to. Was Preston the one Lenny really trusted?”
    â€œOf course not. Lenny was always much c-closer to me than to Andrew.”
    â€œSo close that he gave your shares to Grace?”
    A high-pitched whistle in John’s head was getting louder, like a boiling kettle.
    â€œWhere is it, John? Where’s the money? If you weren’t Lenny’s little dog, prove it.”
    The whistle was so loud, he thought his eardrums would shatter.
    â€œWHERE’S THE FUCKING MONEY, JOHN?”
    â€œI DON’T KNOW!” Slumped over the table, John Merrivale broke down in sobs. “For G-God’s sake, what’s the matter with you? I don’t know.”
    On the other side of the two-way glass, Angelo Michele turned to the psychologist.
    â€œWhat do you think?”
    â€œI think he’s telling the truth. He doesn’t know anything. When he saw that partnership document, it blew him away.”
    Angelo Michele nodded. I agree.
    I wonder if that automaton Williams is having any more success with Grace?
    Â 
    â€œW HERE WERE YOU WHEN YOU SIGNED these documents?”
    Grace tried to focus. Still reeling from the shock of seeing Lenny’s body, she found it hard to remember where she was. The gruff, gray-haired man sitting opposite her was from the FBI. He’d arrested her as she left the morgue and driven her somewhere, but she couldn’t remember where, or how long it had taken. Now she was in a white, windowless room. Images of Lenny’s mutilated corpse flashed through her mind like a horror movie. The man kept talking.
    â€œThey’re dated June eighth.”
    Lenny’s skin, waxy and white, like the stuff that covers the skin of a newborn baby.
    â€œMrs. Brookstein, these documents prove that you knowingly made yourself a partner in Quorum International LLC, with a view to profiting illicitly from illegal trades, made between 2004 and 2009.”
    Lenny’s swollen finger, the skin bursting around his wedding ring.
    â€œWhat do you know about the whereabouts of