The Cost of Commitment - KJ2 (44 page)

“Excuse me, what was that? No?” Nepperson nodded, as if this were a revelation. “In that case, you really have no way of knowing whether or not it was Mr. Breathwaite to whom they were referring, now do you?”

Kate didn’t answer.

“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I didn’t hear your answer.”

“No.”

“So they could have been talking about anybody?”

“They were talking about your client.”

“But you don’t know that for a fact, now, do you? Let me ask you again: did they ever refer to this mysterious man on the outside by name?”

“No.”

“Thank you. No further questions, Your Honor.”

“Mr. Green, any questions for the witness?”

Redfield’s attorney looked up. “No, Your Honor.”

The judge turned to Kate. “You may step down now. Court is adjourned until tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.” He gaveled the session to a close.

Kate was standing in the antechamber when Jay came running in. She hugged her tightly, both of them dissolving into tears.

“I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so, so sorry for what you went through.”

“It’s okay, Jay. It’s over now. I’m sorry you had to relive it with me.”

“No, I needed to know.”

“Well, now you do.”

“It helps explain some of your nightmares to me.”

“Oh.”

“It’s a good thing, Kate,” Jay said, trying to reassure her. “I feel better knowing.”

“Okay.”

“Are you all right? You want to go home?”

The Cost of Commitment

Kate sighed. “Let’s let the media clear out, then get out of here. I’d like to stay in town for the rest of the trial, though, especially now that I can sit in and listen.”

“Okay, love. Let’s see the rest of this through together.”

The prosecution rested the next day after calling Peter and Max Kingston to the stand to introduce the explosive audiotape of Breathwaite and Redfield’s conversations in the makeshift command center.

The prosecutor smiled triumphantly when Breathwaite’s voice boomed throughout the courtroom.

“Don’t you go getting holier-than-thou on me, Willy boy. You’re in this up to your neck. The plan was to get you installed as commissioner, just like you always wanted, then you were supposed to get rid of Kyle.

You weren’t able to accomplish that on deadline, and that forced me to take action. If you had just done what you were supposed to do, this whole thing wouldn’t have happened.”

“You orchestrated the entire riot?”

“Merely a distraction for the main event. The boys will call it off when the goal has been accomplished.”

The tape of the second conversation was even more damning, as Breathwaite fumed, “You want those three officers out of harm’s way or not?”

“Of course.”

“The object here is to kill Kyle, and extract them safely. I’m just giving you a way to get that done.”

Sitting in the audience and listening to the tapes, Kate was thunderstruck. The venom in Breathwaite’s voice sliced through her like razor blades. It was unfathomable that the man had coldly, cruelly calculated to kill her
. For what?
she thought.
Because I was standing
between him and a job. It doesn’t make any sense.

One of the pieces to the puzzle fell into place when Breathwaite reminded Redfield in the tape of the first conversation that what he had wanted out of the deal was to be made DOCS commissioner. Another piece clicked when Breathwaite said that it was Redfield’s job, once in place, to get rid of Kate. She supposed he hadn’t been able to do that because she had the governor’s support. So Breathwaite had apparently taken matters into his own hands.

Kate was convinced that there were still pieces missing.

Beyond that, she worried that there would be insufficient evidence to convict Redfield—until the prosecutor played the sections where he took an active part in the plot, his voice caught on tape helping to advance the plan.

Lynn Ames

“Okay.” Redfield’s voice could clearly be heard. “I’ll get the Inmate Liaison Committee in here to make it look legitimate. We’ll have them present the offer to the eight inmates. Do you have a way of contacting them directly?”

“Don’t go through the ILC. I have an ex-inmate I’m working with.

I’ll have him give them the instructions. I’ve got him stashed nearby. If he goes in there, they’ll know the order is coming from me.”

“If I don’t use the ILC, it might raise more questions.”

“If you do go through them, there’s no guarantee the eight will know where the order is coming from. Not only that, but it means involving more inmates in the plan. I don’t think that’s wise, do you?”

“I haven’t liked the plan from the beginning. This was your insane idea.”

“Insane or not, you’re stuck with it now, Willy. It would behoove you to make the best of it.”

In Kate’s mind, though, the final nail in Redfield’s coffin came when he admitted that he had deliberately ordered the CERT teams not to rescue her, despite Randy Garston’s wanting to send them in.

Breathwaite said, “Your boy Randy’s not happy with your decisions.”

“Neither am I, David. Where’s your contact man?”

“He’s ready.”

“How are we supposed to send him in with the message?”

“I have an officer who will deliver him.”

“We’re going to put another officer in jeopardy?”

“No, he’s been acting as a go-between for weeks.”

“Very clever.”

“Thank you, Willy. Not only that, but he’ll escort the journalists as well. That way we can be sure there won’t be any stupid heroics.”

“Just take care of it. I won’t be able to hold the CERT teams off forever.”

Knowing with certainty that Redfield could have saved her but didn’t, instead going along with Breathwaite’s twisted plan, made Kate furious.

She had never liked William Redfield, but she had never picked him as an accessory to kidnapping and murder. She was glad the evidence was clearly there to convict him.
May he rot in hell,
she thought, as the prosecutor sat down for the last time.

Breathwaite’s defense lasted exactly three minutes. As he had already browbeaten the inmates and ex-con on cross-examination as to their credibility, Breathwaite’s attorney didn’t bother going through that again.

His portrayal of them as pond scum with an axe to grind against anyone in a position of authority in his mind sufficiently eliminated them as
The Cost of Commitment

reliable witnesses. Instead, in a surprise move, he recalled Peter to the stand.

“Mr. Enright, is it not true that, when you obtained the warrant for a wiretap, you were furious at Mr. Breathwaite for what you perceived to be poor treatment of Ms. Kyle, a personal friend of yours?”

“Objection, Your Honor!” Levon Davis was on his feet before Nepperson had even finished his question. “The question of whether or not the wiretap was obtained legally and its admissibility was argued and settled during the preliminary hearings when he made a motion to suppress. This line of questioning should be disallowed.”

The judge nodded. “Agreed. Mr. Nepperson, unless you have something unrelated to the wiretap issue to ask of this witness, I suggest you move on.” He glared at the attorney. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I would ask you to disregard the previous exchange.”

“Your Honor, I was simply—”

“That’s enough, Mr. Nepperson.” The judge pointed a finger in warning at the attorney. “I won’t hear another word about the wiretap or anything related to it.”

“I rest my case, Your Honor,” Nepperson said smugly, having accomplished his goal of making the jury think about the circumstances of the wiretap.

“Scumbag,” Jay said heatedly under her breath.

“Easy, girl,” Kate patted her knee. “He’s just doing his job, disgusting as that may be.”

In truth, Nepperson had spent the better part of the night before, as he had on one previous occasion, trying to convince his client to plead guilty to a lesser charge. Breathwaite, however, had vehemently refused.

Nepperson sighed as he turned the floor over to Josiah Green.
Well,
he thought,
I took my best shot.

Redfield’s attorney called his client to the stand and asked him,

“Were you aware in any way of Mr. Breathwaite’s plan?”

“Objection, Your Honor!” This time it was Nepperson who was on his feet. “My client has not been found guilty of having involvement with any plan.”

“Sustained. Counselor, you’re going to have to rephrase that question.”

“Of course, Your Honor. Bill, did you know anything about the alleged plot to kidnap and kill Ms. Kyle?”

“No, sir.”

“Did you condone such a plot?”

“No, sir.”

“In fact, did you not act to save the lives you thought you could?”

Lynn Ames

“Yes, sir, I did. That is why I authorized the exchange for the three correction officers.”

“Why did you not try to save Ms. Kyle, Bill?”

“In my professional judgment, more lives would have been endangered by a rescue mission than would have been saved.”

“So you didn’t send the teams in, not because you were trying to have her killed, but because you were trying not to jeopardize the lives of the rescue team?”

“That is correct.”

“Naturally,” Kate mumbled under her breath.

“What a noble guy,” Jay answered behind her hand.

“Thank you, Bill. That’s all.”

The judge looked at all parties. “Any further witnesses?”

There was a chorus of “no, Your Honors.”

“Very well. Closing arguments begin tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m.

sharp. Adjourned.”

“What do you think, love?”

“I don’t know what to think, Jay. I didn’t get to see the whole trial the way you did. I should probably be the one asking you. What do you think?”

“I think I’d like to personally fry their butts.”

Kate laughed. “Unfortunately, honey, they’re not eligible for the death penalty, even if there were one in New York at this stage, which there isn’t.”

“In that case, I’ll settle for having them be some great, big badass’s concubine for the next eighty or ninety years.”

Kate kissed her on the temple. “That’s what I love about you, honey.

Not an ounce of vindictiveness in you.”

“Oh,” Jay said sheepishly. “Were you looking for my objective reporter’s assessment of the case against them?”

“Nah, I kind of like what I got instead. We’ll leave that objective stuff to the jury tomorrow.”

“Sweetheart?”

“Yes?” Kate drew the word out.

“You do realize the inauguration is the day after tomorrow, right?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“That means that you’ll have to be in D.C. before noon that day.”

“Correction, Scoop—it means
we’ll
have to be in D.C. before noon. If you think I’m going to experience this once-in-a-lifetime thrill without you by my side, you’re crazy. Besides, I’m counting on dancing the night away with you at a minimum of eight inaugural balls.”

The Cost of Commitment

“Eight? Why stop there?”

“You’re right. Let’s shoot for ten.”

“That’s better. You scared me for a minute there, Stretch—I thought you might be slowing down.”

“You wish.” Kate bumped Jay with her hip.

“No, actually, that’s about the last thing I’d wish for.” Jay smiled mischievously.

Kate and Jay shielded themselves as best they could from the elements—snow, wind, bitter cold, and the paparazzi—as they made their way into the courthouse the next morning.

“I’ll tell you this much: I sure won’t miss this weather.”

“You got that right. Washington is supposed to be a more moderate climate, right?”

“Yes, you delicate flower, it is.”

Jay gave her lover a mock glare. “Didn’t you just finish complaining about the weather?”

“Yep.”

“Then how is it that I’m the one who’s a delicate flower?”

“The description just suits you better than it suits me.”

Jay seemed to consider for a moment. “Yeah, I suppose it does, at that.”

“I knew you’d see it my way.”

“That is not a capitulation. I want to be clear about that.”

“Oh, no, you didn’t give in at all.” Kate nodded agreeably.

“I don’t like the way you said that.”

“What? I was agreeing with you.”

“It wasn’t
that
you agreed with me—it was
how
you agreed with me.”

“Ah, I wasn’t aware that there was a protocol for such things.”

“Well, there is. Now please familiarize yourself with the handbook before you go agreeing with me again.”

Kate laughed easily. “I’ll be sure to do that.”

They reached the front row and sat down just as the bailiff called the court to order.

The closing arguments were predictable and echoed the themes spelled out by the attorneys in the opening statements. Redfield’s attorney went first, painting his client as a hard-working, responsible public servant who was only doing his job. Commissioner Redfield, he said, used his best judgment as to the course of action to be taken. He managed to secure the release of three of the four hostages and kept as many as sixty CERT team members and another forty-two inmates from
Lynn Ames

being hurt in the process. He should not be held criminally responsible for doing his job.

Nepperson stood before the jury next, reiterating his assertion that the prosecution’s case relied on the word of inmates, convicts, and others who had an axe to grind with his client. Just because, he asserted, David Breathwaite was not the nicest guy on the block did not make him a criminal.

Levon Davis delivered the closing remarks for the prosecution, taking the jurors back through the parade of witnesses and mountains of evidence he said proved beyond a reasonable doubt that David Breathwaite and William Redfield were guilty of the crimes with which they were charged. He pointed out that, even if the jurors wanted to discount the word of the inmates, there were Kate, Marisa, the reporters, and the two defendants themselves to consider. The defense attorneys were right, he added, to say that convictions should be based on actual facts. The facts, he concluded, more than supported guilty verdicts on all counts.