Tail Spin

and personal. He told me his family was furious with him.”
    “An understatement,” Cullifer said absently. He sat back in his chair, crossed one leg over the other, and tapped his fingers together. “He also told me he’d told Jacqueline and his daughters. They were exceedingly upset, as you can imagine. Jacqueline wanted him to keep quiet. They had several extended phone conversations about it.”
    “Were you furious with him?” Rachael asked.
    Cullifer said after a moment, “To be honest, I was devastated. You see, I knew something was wrong with Jimmy, knew it to my soul. I remember how distracted he was, how there were new lines on his face—a face, I might add, that was always youthful until the last year or so. But you know, I got caught up in a lawsuit and any concerns about Jimmy dropped out of my mind. Until it was too late. And then you came back from Sicily and told me what you were going to do, Rachael.”
    Rachael said, “The guilt was eating him alive; that’s why he was going to confess everything.”
    Cullifer said, “Yes, I know. Now, like everyone else who heard the FBI press conference, I wondered and wondered who would want Jimmy dead. Who would take such a risk? And believe me, killing a United States senator is a huge risk. The thing is, even after Agent Savich said he was murdered, for the life of me I couldn’t figure out a motive, not for Laurel or Quincy, not for his ex-wife, who’s very well off financially, believe me, or any of his colleagues. I honestly can’t imagine any of them killing him to avoid a scandal—that’s simply too far out there.”
    Cullifer looked thoughtful. “Tell the world what he did—I told him it would mean the end of his career, it would mean a huge scandal, a lawsuit to break the bank, it would have meant beggaring the estate, depending on the sharks the little girl’s family hired. But most of all, I told him he would be tried and convicted of vehicular homicide and go to jail.
    “Of course he knew all this. He also fully realized his family would be dragged into it—Laurel and Stefanos, and Quincy, all his staff on the Hill, me because I’ve been his lawyer for nearly forever.”
    Jack said, “Regardless, someone took it upon him- or herself to silence him. Rachael is convinced it’s Laurel and Quincy.”
    Brady asked, “You’re certain only these people knew what he was preparing to do?”
    “As far as we know,” Jack said.
    “This was why Jimmy had stopped drinking and driving his car?”
    Rachael nodded. “Alter he killed the little girl, he never took another drink, and never drove his car again. That’s what he told me and I believed him.”
    “During the press conference, Agent Savich mentioned that a woman was involved.”
    Jack said, “Yes, we think so. But we don’t yet know who hired her.”
    Rachael said, “Sir, do you think Laurel and Quincy could have murdered Jimmy?”
    Cullifer arched a sleek eyebrow at her. “Laurel? Quincy? Kill their own brother? Evidently you believe it. As for me, Rachael, I don’t know. Again, the motive isn’t strong enough. I would prefer Greg Nichols, only because I don’t know him well. And he would indeed go to jail when Jimmy confessed.”
    He shook his head. “A real-life assassin, and you brought her down in the Barnes & Noble in Georgetown. Amazing.”
    Rachael said, “There’s something else, Mr. Cullifer. Jimmy was committed to telling the truth. After he died, as you know, I decided to make his confession for him because it was what he planned to do, and what he wanted to do. And I told those same people, to prepare them, just as I told you.”
    Cullifer didn’t say a word, just continued giving her that emotionless lawyer look until she said, “Someone has tried to kill me— three times.”
    It was rare to see a good lawyer caught off-guard. Cullifer leaped to his feet. “No! I can’t believe that, no, Rachael, it simply—” He stopped dead in his tracks. “That’s why you’re with an FBI agent, isn’t it? He’s protecting you?”
    “Yes,” she said.
    “Because you plan to make Jimmy’s confession for him and someone is trying to stop you.”
    “Yes. I can think of no other reason.”
    “Are you still going to make his confession?”
    “I don’t know. I was sure about my reasons, sure about what Jimmy wanted, but now, I don’t know.”
    “It is a difficult question,” Cullifer said, and nothing more.
    Rachael said, “Several people have pointed