Capitol Offense (37 page)

She took his hand. “Look, Ben. I want to apologize.”

“For what?”

“For being such a pain. From the start. I’ll admit it—I just didn’t like Dennis. I didn’t trust him. I know how easily you’re bruised, and I didn’t want to see you hurt.”

“Who says I’m easily bruised?”

“Are you kidding? You’re like the most hypersensitive person since Spider-Man. Except his Spidey-sense is useful. Yours, not so much.”

“A lawyer should be able to empathize with others.”

“Is that what you’re doing? Because I think it would be hard to go around feeling the way you do.”

Ben made no reply.

“My point is just that I didn’t mean to make this affair more difficult than it already was.”

“You didn’t,” Ben replied. “It’s always good having someone thinking over your shoulder. Catching what you miss.” He squeezed her delicate freckled hand. “I need you.”

She blushed a little. “Well, yes. You do. But it’s nice to hear you say it.” She fluttered her eyelashes. “So if that’s not what’s troubling you, what is?”

“Our temporary insanity defense failed.”

“Well, insanity is such a subjective concept. You remember that quotation I showed you from Angela Monet? ‘Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music.’”

“Clever. But it doesn’t change the fact that my defense flopped.”

“I know. I was there.”

“We did eventually get him off.”

“There for that one, too.”

Ben paused for a moment. “But … we never proved he didn’t pull the trigger.”

Christina stared back at him. “Shaw testified that they drugged him.”

“Which explains why Dennis doesn’t remember what happened. No matter how intense and memorable it might have been. They gave Loving the same drug, and as a result, he lost his memory of everything that happened after he was captured. Anything could’ve occurred after Dennis went to that hotel room. Dennis would’ve forgotten it.”

“But Shaw said that he and his boss wanted to eliminate Christopher Sentz. That he was getting a bad case of the guilts. He was dangerous. Had to be eliminated.”

“True. So several people had motives to kill Sentz.” He looked at her pointedly. “That still doesn’t tell us who pulled the trigger. Shaw never said he did it, not specifically. And if he didn’t, then …”

She took Ben’s hand, led him to the window of the reception area, and silently gazed out at the panoramic view of the Washington skyline.

Finally, after five minutes that felt like fifty, Christina spoke. “I think Dennis is innocent.”

“You do?”

“Of course. He’s such a nice man. So spiritual.”

“He told me that after his wife died he was consumed with fury.”

“But he wasn’t a criminal. Shaw was a criminal.”

“But not a murderer. As far as we know. And it was really his boss who wanted Sentz dead, not him.”

Another silence fell upon them. This one lasted even longer.

“I still don’t think it was Dennis.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” She inhaled deeply. “In fact, I’m certain of it.”

“You are?”

“Yeah. Certain.”

Ben nodded. “Good. So am I.”

“My instincts are good.”

“They are.”

“So there. That settles that.”

“That settles it.”

“We did the right thing, Ben. We did.”

“Agreed.”

“I mean it.”

“Sure.”

“Really.”

“Absolutely.”

And they stood in silence for the longest time, arms entwined, staring at the stars.

As usual, I am indebted to many people for their assistance. First, I want to thank the home team at Ballantine: Gina Centrello, who proves that successful publishers can also be nice people; my editor, Junessa Viloria, who made numerous helpful comments about the manuscript; Cindy Murray and David Moench, who master the murky waters of publicity; Kim Hovey, my longtime friend and an extraordinary talent; and all those in promotions and sales, without whom you would not now be reading this book.

I want to thank Dave Johnson for his help and advice regarding police procedure, specifically with regard to missing persons cases. The Joslyn Thomas horror is based on several true cases, the worst of which differs from this fictional case only in that even more time elapsed before the police finally decided to take action. I want to thank my father, Dr. William Bernhardt, for his help with medical and hospital issues. I want to thank Debbie Newton and James Vance for reading and commenting on an early draft of the manuscript. And I want to thank my children, Harry, Alice, and Ralph, for making my life so rich and interesting, and my dear wife, Marcia, for making every day a joy beyond measure.

Sadly, all the facts and statistics cited herein are accurate as of the time of this writing. The United States does have a higher incarceration rate than any civilized nation and we have more women behind bars than any other nation on earth. We treat all crimes the same: victimless crimes, white-collar crimes, crimes arising from dependency problems (believed by some to be as high as 70 percent of the total), and crimes motivated by need or hunger are in most cases all punished in the same manner, essentially the same way crimes were punished five hundred years ago. The cost to the taxpayer of maintaining this huge, antiquated system is enormous. Meanwhile, DNA evidence proves over and over again how often our criminal justice system gets it wrong. Instead of another “law-and-order” candidate suggesting that stiffer sentences will solve everything, perhaps what we need is someone who will seriously consider alternative approaches to redressing society’s mistakes.

Readers are always welcome to email me at [email protected] or to visit my website: www.williambernhardt.com.

—William Bernhardt

WILLIAM BERNHARDT
is the author of more than twenty novels, including
Primary Justice, Murder One, Criminal Intent, Death Row, Capitol Murder, Capitol Threat, Capitol Conspiracy
, and
Nemesis: The Final Case of Eliot Ness
. He is one of fewer than a dozen recipients of the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award, given “in recognition of an outstanding body of work in which we understand ourselves and American society at large.” He is also one of the most in-demand writing instructors, teaching at various conferences throughout the year. A former trial attorney, Bernhardt has received several awards for his public service. He lives in Tulsa with his wife, Marcia, and their children.