I’m a lawyer, Sherry, I want to tell her. My objective in a criminal case is to create reasonable doubt. When all of the evidence points to my client, the best way to accomplish that is to find someone—anyone—to point to in order to create that doubt.
“You knew it wasn’t Luke Maddox,” she says again.
I’m a lawyer, Sherry, I want to tell her. My objective is not to solve crimes or track down killers. I’m a lawyer, Sherry. I’m not a cop.
Once I turned down the mistrial, once I decided to go for a verdict, I decided I would do anything it took to win an acquittal, even if it meant burning someone else in order save my client. I decided I would do anything it took to save Erin Simms.
And I did.
“Are we done?” I say.
Sherry nods and backs away as though I’m someone to fear. Maybe I am.
“Send me a copy of the book when it’s published?” I call over my shoulder as I stride toward the courtroom.
“Sure,” she says.
ALSO BY DOUGLAS CORLEONE
One Man’s Paradise
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
NIGHT ON FIRE. Copyright © 2011 by Douglas Corleone. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.minotaurbooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Corleone, Douglas.
Night on fire / Douglas Corleone.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-312-55227-5 (hardback)
1. Lawyers—Fiction. 2. Arson—Fiction. 3. Defense (Criminal procedure)—Fiction. 4. Hawaii—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3603.O763N54 2011
813'.6—dc22 2011001290
First Edition: May 2011
eISBN 978-1-4299-6209-4
First Minotaur Books eBook Edition: April 2011
Night on Fire Page 27