The Price of Justice

by Marti Green

  Dani picked up the phone and dialed his firm. She was furious. It was bad enough that Mrs. Melton had engaged in bribery and fraud, but for a respected law firm to condone it shocked her. When Donahue came on the phone, before Dani had a chance to speak, he said, “I’m so glad you called. I’ve been meaning to ring you up to congratulate you.”

  Seething, Dani gritted her teeth together and willed herself to remain calm. “Well, the verdict was a foregone conclusion once the confession was bought, wasn’t it?”

  There was silence on the other end of the phone.

  “Surprised that I know?”

  More silence.

  “Don’t worry, Jack. I’m not going to tattle to the ethics board.”

  She heard a throat being cleared. “I could pretend that I don’t know what you’re talking about, and to be truthful, I don’t know with any certainty. Amelia asked me to recommend a private investigator after the death warrant was signed. I questioned her about why she needed one—the reason would dictate whom I suggested—but she demurred. Said it was a personal matter. I didn’t push her on it.”

  “But you knew what she wanted?”

  “Not then. I took her request at face value. But when the confession surfaced, I wondered whether she’d asked him to research prisoners close to their execution dates for similar crimes. It just seemed so neat.”

  “And that’s why you kept a distance from the case.” She didn’t ask it as a question. She knew it was true. Plausible denial. Don’t ask questions to which you don’t want the answer.

  “Yes.”

  She felt betrayed. Betrayed by her client, by his grandmother, and by the lawyer on the other end of the line. “You lied to me. You told me you thought Win was innocent.”

  “No, Dani. I never said that. I told you his grandmother believed he was innocent. That’s still true. What she did, if indeed it’s true what you say, it was from a belief in her grandson.”

  “It’s wrong. It’s so wrong what she did.”

  “You work for an innocence project. You use every avenue possible to save inmates that you believe are wrongfully convicted, especially if they’re facing death. Amelia used the resources available to her. Is it really so very different?”

  “Of course it is. I work within the law. I don’t commit felonies in the process.”

  “And if he weren’t a stranger to you, if it was your son who’d been wrongfully convicted, if you were certain of his innocence, and he was facing death, would you still work only within the law?”

  Dani sat back in her chair, suddenly exhausted, all her energy drained from her body. Was Jackson right? Would she have done the same thing if it were Jonah? Tears came to her eyes as she realized her answer was, “Maybe.”

  “I’m not saying what she did was right,” Donahue continued. “I’m just saying she did it out of love.”

  When Dani hung up the phone, she realized Tommy was correct. She wouldn’t be able to put this behind her until she knew the truth, whatever the truth might be.

  CHAPTER

  30

  Dani pulled up to the address listed for the Meltons’ Palm Beach home and whistled. Huge didn’t begin to describe it. The three-story stucco building faced the ocean and shouted money from every window. Large Queen Anne palm trees flanked the front lawn. She and Tommy had flown in that morning without notifying Win in advance. She hadn’t wanted to give him time to concoct an explanation.

  They walked up to the arched doorway and rang the bell. Inside, Dani could hear chimes that played the beginning notes of a Beethoven sonata. When the door opened, she saw a woman dressed in a black-and-white starched maid’s uniform. Thank goodness she didn’t have a pointed white maid’s hat on her head, Dani thought. That would have been too much even for the Meltons.

  “Can I help you?”

  “Is Winston home?” Dani handed the woman her card.

  “Is he expecting you?”

  “No. But would you let him know we’re here? I think he’ll see us.” Dani hoped that were true. After all, she’d won his freedom for him, even though it was with a stacked deck. If not, Tommy would stake out the front of the house. Sooner or later, Win would have to leave.

  “Wait here.” The maid closed the door and left. Five minutes later, the door opened, and Win stood there, a big smile on his face.

  “Dani! Tommy! This is a surprise. A happy one.”

  Dani looked him over. His dark hair had grown longer, and his body had begun to fill out. Still, he didn’t look healthy. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his posture was sagging. Despite that, he was strikingly handsome. “We happened to be here on another case, and we thought we’d drop by to see how you’re doing.”

  “Come on in.”

  Dani and Tommy stepped inside the marble-floored foyer. Dani had to stop herself from whistling again.

  “Yeah, I know,” Win said. “It’s over the top.” His smile dimmed. “I spent seven years in a cell that’s smaller than my closet here. You’d think I’d be happy to be back in luxury. But it’s too ostentatious. I saw too much in prison, heard too many stories, to ever be comfortable again in something like this.”

  “Then what are you doing here?” Tommy asked.

  Win stared down at his hands. “Recuperating. I don’t go out very often, just when I absolutely must. Princeton accepted me back for next fall’s semester, but I don’t think I’d fit in there anymore. Too old, and too much has changed for me. My mother wants me to transfer to Columbia and live at home, in our Manhattan town house. I’m not sure I’m ready for that.” He sighed. “I can’t imagine living a normal life yet, hanging out with friends, dating. I’m too different now.”

  “You need time,” Dani said.

  Win nodded. “I suppose. I hope that’s all it is.”

  Dani didn’t know what to make of Win. No question, he seemed genuine. But he’d seemed genuine in prison, too. That was before she’d learned of the money Letitia Sanders and the two witnesses had received. Had Win been fooling her all along? There was only one thing of which she was certain. If Win had murdered Carly Sobol, then he should be in prison.

  “Want a tour of the house?”

  “Sure.” Dani didn’t mind putting off the inevitable confrontation with Win. And when would she ever get a chance to see the inside of a house worth upward of $50 million?

  First, Win brought them to the rear of the house. With the ocean across the road from their front yard, they had the Intracoastal in the back, with a kidney-shaped swimming pool and two clay tennis courts leading to a hundred-foot boat dock. Tied up to it was a yacht at least 140 feet long.

  “Pretty impressive,” Tommy said.

  “Actually, I think it’s awful. Conspicuous consumption. It’s appalling enough to spend this kind of money on a full-time residence, but it’s obscene for a home used only four months a year.”

  They went back inside the house, and Win led them through the eight bedrooms and ten bathrooms. In addition to the large curving staircase in the front foyer, an elevator carried people to the second and third floors. “It’s more than fifteen thousand square feet. And only four of us use it.” Win shook his head. “Imagine if that money went into improving education, or feeding the hungry. I learned a long time ago that money is power. It can be used selfishly—” He spread his arms open. “—for homes like this, or to accomplish good. When I inherit, I plan to use my money for the latter.”

  Did Win mean this? Dani wondered. Or was everything part of an act?

  They returned to the first floor, and Win brought three cold beers from the kitchen. “Let’s sit outside.”

  Once settled, Dani knew she couldn’t put it off any longer. “Win, I know what your grandmother did.”

  Win looked at her blankly.

  “Please, don’t play coy with me. I can’t do anything about it, not with you,
anyway. Double jeopardy has attached.”

  Win had a perplexed look on his face. “Dani, I genuinely have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Somebody paid Earl Sanders to confess to killing Carly Sobol. We believe it was your grandmother. If not her, then your father or mother.”

  The color drained from Win’s face, and his mouth dropped open. “Th-that can’t be.”

  Was it possible? Dani thought. Could it be that Win wasn’t in on the scheme? “Look, I just need to know. Did you kill her?”

  “No, God, no! I swear I didn’t. Everything I said on the stand was true.”

  Dani wanted to believe him. She really did. But she couldn’t get away from the half a million dollars in Letitia Sanders’s bank account. “Why would someone pay him to confess if you were innocent?”

  Win slumped over in his chair and buried his face in his shaking hands. When he finally looked up, he said, “If anyone, it would have to be Grandmama. My parents would never do that. Is she in trouble?”

  Dani nodded.

  “If Grandmama did what you say, it was only because she loves me. And because she believes I’m innocent. And because I was going to die for something I didn’t do.”

  Win seemed so distraught that Dani’s internal radar told her he was being truthful. She reached over and touched his hands. “It was still wrong.” As soon as she said that, she wondered if it were true. Maybe the State was wrong for rushing his execution. Maybe if more time had passed, different evidence would have come along to clear Win. Maybe she would do the same thing if her son were facing death and she believed he was innocent. Dani hated ambivalence. She wanted certainty in her life. If Win was telling the truth, it meant someone else, not Earl Sanders, had murdered Carly Sobol. And for HIPP, or more important, its benefactors, to be certain that Win was innocent, that it hadn’t been wrong for them to accept Amelia Melton’s money, she and Tommy had to find the real killer.

  Two hours later, Amelia Melton and Win’s mother, Lucy, returned from the charity luncheon they’d attended. Dani and Tommy had stayed with Win, waiting to speak to the elder Mrs. Melton.

  When Amelia entered the living room and saw Dani and Tommy, she looked confused, then quickly regained her composure. “Ms. Trumball. Mr. Noorland. To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?”

  “We need to talk,” Dani said.

  “Indeed, about what? Your services were concluded, satisfactorily, and payment sent. I don’t believe there’s anything outstanding.”

  Dani turned to Win. “We’d like to speak to your grandmother alone. Would you mind taking your mother somewhere else?”

  “I want to be here for this.”

  “Please, Win. You’ll have your chance to speak to her.”

  When the two left the room, Mrs. Melton said, “We might as well be comfortable. Please, sit down.” Dani looked around. None of the chairs in the expertly decorated living room looked particularly comfortable. They both took seats in embroidered Queen Anne chairs, and the grand dame took a seat opposite them.

  “What’s this all about?” she asked.

  “We know that you paid Earl Sanders to confess,” Tommy said.

  Mrs. Melton gave a sharp laugh. “Nonsense. I did no such thing.”

  Tommy reached into his briefcase and took out some papers. Holding them up in his hand, he said, “I have the proof.”

  The elder woman stared at Tommy coldly. “What are you two here for? Your payment to back off?”

  “We don’t want money,” Dani said.

  “Everyone wants money. Everyone has a price.”

  In her world, that was probably true, Dani thought sadly. “I have everything I could want. I don’t need your money.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  “For the truth.”

  Her tone was incredulous. “What truth? The jury’s? They said it was true that Winston murdered that girl. They said he should die for it! The governor signed his death warrant because he believed the jury’s truth. It was all a lie. Winston was innocent.” The daggers coming from Mrs. Melton’s eyes pierced Dani. She could feel the elder woman’s pain.

  With her voice soft, Dani said, “I understand you believed your grandson. Every parent and grandparent wants to believe their child couldn’t have done something so reprehensible. But what you did was wrong. It was a crime.”

  Dani couldn’t believe it, but she thought she saw tears in the woman’s eyes. When she next spoke, it seemed like the fire had gone out in her.

  “I know you don’t think much of me. Haughty and coldhearted, probably. They were going to kill Winston for a crime I knew he didn’t commit.”

  “Look, I like Win. I want to believe he’s innocent, too. But none of us can know with certainty what happened that night.”

  “You didn’t hear me. I didn’t say I believe he’s innocent. I know that he is.”

  Tommy looked at her skeptically. “How could you?”

  “I know. Just leave it at that.”

  Dani watched the woman’s rigid back and tight-lipped mouth, and her arms crossed over her chest. She’s not telling us something. Something important. Something she’s afraid to say. “Do you have a dollar?” Dani asked Mrs. Melton.

  “Whatever for?”

  “Please. Humor me. I’d like you to give me a dollar.”

  Mrs. Melton opened her purse and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. “This is the smallest I have.” She handed it over to Dani.

  “If you wish, I accept this as payment for your retention of me as your attorney. Anything you tell me is privileged. I can’t tell anyone else, other than the people in my office who work on your case, and they must keep it secret as well.”

  The elder woman nodded.

  “Now, tell me. Why are you so certain that Winston is innocent?”

  Amelia dropped her head and twisted the wedding band on her left hand. When she looked up, her eyes were clearly moist. “I know Win is innocent because I know who killed that poor girl.”

  CHAPTER

  31

  Dani was thunderstruck by Mrs. Melton’s admission. None of this made sense to her. If Mrs. Melton knew who the real killer was, why hadn’t she gone to the police with that information? Why bribe someone to take the fall?

  “Who?”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “Why the hell not?” Tommy shouted.

  Mrs. Melton’s back stiffened. “Please, language. We’re still civilized in this house.”

  If this were true, it changed everything, Dani realized. Sure, it was important to stay within the law. She’d been a lawyer long enough to believe chaos ensued when people acted independently, engaging in their own unlawful behavior to accomplish what they believed was a just end. But when the law failed—when someone you loved would die because of that failure—how could anyone sit back and do nothing when they had the means to change the outcome? Dani took a deep breath. “I’m trying to understand. Help me out.”

  “I can’t tell you how, but I learned the identity of the man responsible for Carly’s death. He refused to come forward and insisted he would deny it if I went to the authorities. If I didn’t, he’d provide details that would help me if I found someone else to confess.” She looked over at Tommy. “Since I didn’t have any proof, what choice did I have?”

  “But Win is free now,” Dani said. “Whoever this is, he shouldn’t get away with it. Why not go to the police now?”

  “And turn myself in at the same time? You said it—I committed a crime.”

  “The police don’t need to know about the bribe. You can say you recently learned this.”

  She shook her head sadly. “It’s not that simple. The man in question arranged it so that he would have proof of what I’d done. Insurance, so to speak. So that I wouldn’t do what you’re suggesting after Win was freed.
”

  Was she telling the truth? Dani wondered. What better way to deflect the spotlight from her grandson than to invent a fictional villain. Dani leaned back in her chair and thought about Tommy’s investigation. “How did you arrange it? Tommy checked it out—the only visitor to Sanders was his mother.”

  “Isn’t it obvious? I had someone visit his mother and present the offer. She relayed it to her son on her next visit.”

  “And Sanders? How did you choose him?”

  “It was really rather simple. Most prison websites list the names of every inmate on death row. I had my investigator research the crimes they’d committed, specifically searching for anyone who’d been convicted of rape and murder. If Sanders hadn’t agreed, I had several other names on my list.”

  Dani felt a sense of relief. For the first time, Mrs. Melton’s voice was soft, not haughty. She seemed like a grandmother who was genuinely grieved by what her grandson had endured, and by the Faustian bargain she’d made with the man responsible for his incarceration. Dani was 95 percent certain that Win was innocent. There was no reason for Mrs. Melton to lie to them now. Winston couldn’t be tried again, and Tommy couldn’t turn her in without also turning in the hacker. Maybe even himself for soliciting the hacker to perform an illegal activity. Her remaining doubts could only be satisfied by finding the real murderer. And the survival of HIPP might depend on them doing just that.

  “Thank goodness,” Dani said after she and Tommy had left the Melton household. “I know it sounds foolish, but I really haven’t slept well since you told me about the money.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean. I’ve had an acid stomach ever since then.”

  Dani laughed. “What a pair of goody-goodies we are. So self-righteous over the possibility we helped a guilty man.”

  “Sure, you can joke about it now that we’re comfortable he’s innocent. But we both come from the law-and-order side of the fence. It’s hard to put that behind us.”