Read Remains Silent for Free Online Page B

Department to become New Jerseys first female U.S. Attorney. Recently, she had uncovered major corruption in Monmouth County involving kickbacks by a contractor to mayors and assemblymen to assure his participation in a public housing project already behind schedule and running three times its estimated cost. Word was, Jake knew, that she was angling for governor, and he suspected shed succeed. Her ambition and single-mindedness had scared him off when years ago they had dated briefly (Petes idea); he supposed those attributes had only intensified. Markis, Jake guessed, didnt mind them. He was a high school football coach, affluent by inheritance and arrogant by nature, but, Pete had told him, so much in her shadow it was sometimes tough to see him at all.
     
     
Elizabeth caught up to him on the church steps after the service and took him over to Markis and the kids. Markis was younger than Elizabeth, in his mid-thirties, Jake guessed, with thinning brown hair and dark eyes. His hostility toward Jake was badly disguised; he glared as though Jake were responsible for his father-in-laws death. Probably hates me because I once went out with her. If I tell him all I got out of her was a kiss, and that an icy one, would he feel better? Markis insisted on being called by his last name by anyone outside his family, his only pretension. Elizabeth didnt object maybe, Jake guessed, because it made him sound important.
     
     
Elizabeth grabbed his arm. Can I talk to you for a minute? She was tall and thin and auburn-haired. Jake remembered how beautiful she was, but also how indifferent when they dated.
     
     
She led him up the stairs to the door of the church. Elizabeth, Im so sorry.
     
     
She bowed her head. Thanks. I feel terrible that we didnt visit him more, but a rueful smilethe kids are a handful, and Ive been incredibly busy.
     
     
So I read in the papers. No need to blame yourself. I didnt see enough of him, either.
     
     
Still, I should have been a better daughter. Its not that his death wasnt expected. I mean, he had a heart condition and couldnt sit still for two seconds. I tried to talk him out of working. Fat chance.
     
     
He was stubborn as hell.
     
     
You said it. She blew her nose, took a step closer. And on top of everything else . . . A couple of times when I called him at night, I could tell hed been drinking. I hardly knew what was going on in my own fathers life. Made me feel like a truant until Dad owned up.
     
     
Cancer, Jake said, the word escaping too loudly.
     
     
So Dad told you, too.
     
     
No. I guessed. What kind was it?
     
     
Pancreatic. A death sentence. Incurable, inoperable, unbeatable.
     
     
Ah, Pete, you stoic bastard. I hope the rest of that scotch was ambrosia. He remembered something Harrigan always told his medical students before they entered the morgue for the first time: Its the heart that animates life. When the murmur of the heart finally ceases, the rest remains silent. He wanted Pete to break his silence for one more day so he could tell him he loved him.
     
     
Daniel and I drove up last Monday, after Dad and I had a heart-to-heart over the phone earlier that morning and he admitted he was sick. We had dinner with him. Daniel went back to New Jersey, and I stayed the night and had a federal marshal pick me up and take me to the office. He didnt seem particularly upset said he knew his body and that something was very wrong. He spent most of the time telling us about the case he was working on, the one with the skeletons, and how youd come to help. I cant tell you how thankful I am that I was there. It was the best talk we ever had. She squared her shoulders. At least I got to see him. But I didnt think it was going to be this quick.
     
     
Jake felt a twinge of resentment. Pete confides in his daughter but not in his best friend? He put his hand on her back. He had a good life and a long one. He got to see you that Monday night you know how much he adored you and