The Widow

Eleanor Barnett, age eighty-five, a widow who lived alone in a modest suburban home she and her late second husband had purchased ten years earlier. That, of course, would not be true, since the old woman still had her money up until the moment she died, but nonetheless, the case would quickly devolve into a public relations nightmare for Simon. One truth was obvious: Simon Latch and his defense team should demand a change of venue and get the case away from these registered voters. He played video poker for two hours, won thirty-one dollars before finally quitting, and left a twenty-dollar bill on the bar for Valerie.