When they met for lunch, Terry saw the same attractive characteristics in Mark that he had seen 40 years earlier. Terry found it odd, however, that Mark had never married, and he was strangely vague about his employment as an insurance adjuster. Terry did not press Mark for employment details; he had his own skeleton in that closet. When Terry described his occupation as an accountant for a family business, he omitted mentioning that the “family” was a notorious crime syndicate. He prided himself for having gotten away with skimming a healthy chunk of money off the family coffers over the last several decades.
The transplant surgery was successful, and the two exchanged emails for the next few years. Mark did a good job expressing his gratitude which left Terry feeling very satisfied and proud of his generous good deed. He was convinced that his organ donation had extended Mark’s lifespan by many years. According to his mental arithmetic, that act had counterbalanced much of the moral weight of his criminal business practices.
Two years after their last email exchange Terry was surprised to find Mark knocking at his door one morning. In the split second between seeing the silenced gun in Mark’s hand and the bullet entering his brain, Terry had time for two thoughts, “no good deed goes unpunished” and “now I know-a little too late-that insurance adjuster is a euphemism for mafia hit man. “