Hide & Seek - James Patterson [88]
Ah well, it was too late for second guessing. Nathan Bailford finished his closing statement and wearily sat down.
The forty-six-day drama was finally over.
It was next to impossible to read the jurors’ faces.
Yet Norma could guess: Maggie Bradford was going to be convicted of murder.
And then, she thought to herself, the real fireworks can begin.
CHAPTER 106
“NEVER IN DOUBT. It wasn’t even close, sports fans. To the victors! To us!”
Dan Nizhinski sat back in his chair, took a big sip of pilsner, and beamed at his three associates.
“To the victors!” the group chanted.
“What was it?” he asked, as if he didn’t know the answer, “the all-time record for fastest verdict in a major murder case?”
“Not to suck-ass too much, but you did a great job, Dan,” Moira Lowenstein, his youngest associate, said. “You got the jury to waive their emotions and look hard at what actually happened. No mean feat. You got them to realize that if they let her go, they subverted the whole system of justice.”
“I couldn’t have done it without you all,” Nizhinski said, insincerely, leaving them with the impression he could have succeeded just as well with anyone else.
“What’s next for you, boss?” Bob Stevens, Nizhinski’s closest associate, helped himself to his fourth beer in less than an hour.
Nizhinski grinned. He was still performing, couldn’t turn it off. “To tell you the truth, I haven’t made up my mind. The exposure during the trial won’t hurt. I have to admit that, I guess.”
“And the state could use some cleaning up,” Moira added. Peter Eisenstadt, the third associate—the quiet one—glared at her. Yeah, and guess who wants to go to Albany on your shirttails, boss?
“I’ll decide in due course,” Nizhinski said. They all knew he would run for something big. “For now, let’s enjoy the moment.” He raised his beer can. “To a great victory.”
“To victory,” his colleagues echoed, and they all drank, laughed, congratulated one another.
Then the phone rang.
Dan Nizhinski picked it up himself. “Nizhinski.”
“Kahn,” the caller said. “Barry Kahn.” Something in his voice chilled the prosecutor. “Norma Breen and I are coming right over to your office. She’s discovered something that might interest you.”
CHAPTER 107
GUILTY.
Guilty.
The word rang in my head like a religious chant. No, it was more like a dirge. Guilty. I’ll go mad in prison. I’m already half-mad.
Norma and Barry came to see me as soon as I was transported back here from court today. They were full of smiles and secrets. Don’t worry, they told me. They would start appeal proceedings immediately in a higher court. Everything was going to be all right.
How could it be? A life in jail isn’t “all right.” Trust me on that.
I know there are appeals, and that my fate won’t be decided for months, probably years. Still, the chances for reversal are small, no matter what anybody says. My chances are terrifyingly bad.
So why was Norma hopeful and cheerful? Why did Barry press me so hard to remember exactly what happened the night I shot Will when I’ve gone over it, and gone over it? Simple answer: They wanted to try and take my mind off what had just happened.
Guilty.
The Scarlet M still emblazoned on my chest.
I guess I never really expected this. I’d hoped that in the end I would go free. It just didn’t happen that way.
Guilty.
CHAPTER 108
THAT NIGHT IN my cell, I stayed up until two, maybe three in the morning. I lay with my eyes closed, trying futilely to recapture lost images of my life on the outside. Allie. Jennie. Concerts I’d had. Finally, exhaustion overcame frustration. I fell asleep.
I didn’t dream. It was as though I had fallen away into nothingness. The long, long fall from grace continues. A bottomless pit.
I awakened to a shock.
A gray parade of police officials was standing outside the cell, led by Warden Serra herself.
I glanced at my clock.
It was quarter past