Dog Day Afternoon: An Andy Carpenter Mystery by David Rosenfelt

Author:David Rosenfelt [Rosenfelt, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Humour, Thriller
ISBN: 9781250324474
Google: xPjcEAAAQBAJ
Amazon: 1250324475
Barnesnoble: 1250324475
Goodreads: 195790587
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: 2024-07-02T05:00:00+00:00

Emma Stoneham, to my relief, has chosen an old-fashioned diner in Leonia for our coffee date.

It’s the kind of place with a hundred things on the menu, all designed to clog your arteries. I’ve got a feeling if you order a no-fizz latte here, they’ll throw you out on your ass.

I sit at a table in the back and wait for Stoneham to arrive. She’s ten minutes late and I’m starting to think I’m getting stood up; maybe the Carpenter phone charm has a shelf life.

Finally a woman comes in, looks around, and decides I’m the guy for her. She comes over. “Mr. Carpenter?”

“That’s me. Thanks for coming.”

She smiles sadly. “I almost chickened out.”

We order coffee; I also get a piece of banana bread, but she doesn’t want anything to eat.

“Please make this as painless as possible,” she says.

“I will, and I’m of course sorry for your loss.” I decide to get right to it. “Do you know why your husband was meeting with Charles Brisker?”

“I don’t, but I know it was important, or at least Gerald thought it was.”

“Why do you say that?”

“We were going away for two weeks; we had rented a house near Saratoga Springs. But Gerald delayed our going by a day when the meeting with Mr. Brisker came up.” Then, “That delay is now going to last forever.… I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be maudlin.”

“I understand. But he didn’t give any indication as to what was so important?”

“No. I know Mr. Brisker called him. They had gone to school together, but as far as I know hadn’t seen each other in years. Maybe they emailed or texted; that I don’t know.”

She’s calling him “Mr. Brisker,” so she obviously had no close connection to him. It certainly supports her claim that her husband and Brisker had little interaction over the years.

“Gerald worked at Quantum Care Insurance?” I ask, already knowing the answer.

“Yes. For almost twenty years.”

“What did he do there?”

“Well, that changed over time. At first he was in the claims department, an adjuster. Then he got promoted and was head of one of those groups. He was senior vice president.”

“Specializing in medical malpractice?”

She seems surprised. “Yes.”

I had taken a shot and it paid off. “But you don’t know if his meeting with Mr. Brisker had anything to do with his work?”

“I do not. Can I ask a question now?”

“Of course.”

“Why are we talking about this? Do you think Gerald was somehow a target? I thought it was just an evil, crazy person randomly shooting at people he worked with.”

I decide to be honest. “I don’t know if your husband was a target or was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But I do know for certain that it was not a random crazy person, and that the police arrested the wrong man.”

“He’s your client, so of course you would say that.”

“Actually I wouldn’t. Will you be attending the trial?”

She shrugs. “I can’t decide, just like I couldn’t decide whether to come talk with you.

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