The Price of Justice

by Marti Green

  “See, it wasn’t so hard.”

  Win winced. It had been hard. His heart had raced, and his hands had beads of sweat when they walked the streets to the theater. For the first half hour of the movie, he’d barely been able to concentrate, afraid every unseen movement around him was an inmate, ready to attack. Gradually, though, his muscles had begun to unclench, and he could focus on the movie, a love story set in Copenhagen. It had made him think about Sienna. He hadn’t answered her letter, and she hadn’t written again. Now, both of them were in Manhattan. Could he reach out to her? he wondered. No, it was still too soon.

  “. . . restaurant tomorrow?”

  Win realized Max had been speaking to him. He looked at him blankly. “What?”

  “I said, how about going to a restaurant tomorrow?”

  Win shook his head. “I’m not ready.”

  “Come on. You did great tonight.”

  For the hundredth time, he wondered if he should have stayed in Palm Beach. Carly’s killer was most likely there. Win had clung to the fantasy that somehow, if he stayed in Florida, he’d be able to apprehend him. Serve him up to the police and rejoice as he was sentenced to the hell that was rightly his, not Win’s. Dr. Stern had brought him back to reality. The true killer would most likely remain free.

  CHAPTER

  42

  At last, winter seemed to have left New York City. The streets were clear of snow, and the temperatures were north of sixty degrees. Dani loved this time of year, when the rain brought the first bloom of flowers on the shrubs, and summer beckoned. She arrived in the office with her cup of coffee from the deli on the corner and a cheese croissant to go with it. As she settled into her desk, there was a note on her chair from Bruce: See me when you get a chance.

  She leafed through the e-mails waiting on her computer and listened to the two voice mails that had come in during the previous evening. When she’d finished the last of her coffee, she walked over to Bruce’s office.

  “You needed me?”

  He waved her in, and she took a seat. “Anything new on the Carly Sobol murder?”

  They’d stopped referring to it as “the Win Melton case.” Although there remained the small possibility that Amelia Melton had strung them along, making up the story of another’s confession, Dani and Tommy believed Win was innocent. “We seem to have hit a dead end.”

  “Push harder. HIPP is still going to take a hit—a big one—if news of the bribe gets out and we can’t prove with certainty that Win is innocent. And my experience is that nothing stays hidden forever, especially when public figures are involved. Beyond a reasonable doubt may be good enough for a courtroom, but for the media, only no doubt whatsoever will fly.”

  “Tommy’s looked at everything he can think of. He still believes Greg Kincaid is the killer, but we can’t prove it.”

  “The board is filing its annual report in two weeks, and it’ll show the donation from Mrs. Melton. That’s when questions may be asked, and we’d better be ready to answer them. I want you and Tommy to make this HIPP’s number one priority.”

  Dani nodded, then left his office to find Tommy. He was in the coffee room, and she entered, poured herself a cup, and sat down at his table.

  “Bruce wants us to push everything else aside and keep looking for proof of Win’s innocence.”

  “I know he’s innocent. Greg Kincaid killed her. If only I’d had more time in his house. I’m sure he hid that damn flower somewhere. You think you could get a search warrant?”

  Dani shook her head. “Aside from the fact that we’re not the police or prosecutors, we don’t have probable cause. That picture isn’t enough.”

  “I could try getting back inside the house.”

  “Absolutely not.” Dani knew that Tommy occasionally skirted the law. It wasn’t something she countenanced and certainly not something she’d agree to beforehand. “What if it isn’t Kincaid?”

  “Who else could it be?”

  “I don’t know. But maybe we need to widen the circle of people we interview. You’ve spoken to most everyone at the dance. How about people who lived nearby? Maybe check the list of sexual offenders registered within a five-mile radius of the school.”

  “You want me to go back to Palm Beach?”

  “Maybe. Start researching it here, and if a lead comes up, go back to Florida. Bruce feels like we’re sitting on a time bomb, just waiting for an exposé to blow up HIPP’s operations.”

  “I’ll start right away.”

  Dani walked back to her office. She hated to lose, although it was something every trial attorney faced now and then. At first, it rattled her confidence, made her wonder if she wasn’t the rising star that her superiors thought of her as, but instead a fraud, soon to be uncovered. She’d spoken to other women along the way, successful women, who admitted having similar feelings from time to time, and so she had come to terms with losing long before working at HIPP. But a loss now didn’t just mean a personal failure. It could lead to the failure of HIPP.

  She sat down at her desk and tapped her fingers, trying to figure out what more she could do. As an attorney, her job was to marshal the facts into an argument that supported her clients’ claims of innocence and present those facts to a jury or a judge. She wasn’t an investigator—that was Tommy’s job, and he was the best one in the office. Still, she felt she needed to do something.

  She picked up the phone and dialed Win’s home. She hadn’t spoken to him since he’d returned to New York. When he came to the phone, he greeted her with a warm hello.

  “Sorry I haven’t called sooner. I wanted to let you get settled. How’s it going?” Dani said.

  “Making progress. I went with Max to a movie last week. At a movie theater.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. Have you gotten in touch with any other of your friends in the city?”

  “Oh, a few called after my retrial. I really want nothing to do with them anymore. If they didn’t stick by me when I was imprisoned, I don’t need them now.”

  Dani knew that high school and college were the times for entering into lasting friendships. Some went by the wayside as careers and family took hold, but the treasured ones lasted. It was so much harder to make friends later, when work and children consumed so much of one’s attention. Win had lost that time.

  “You’d once mentioned that you had a girlfriend at Princeton. What happened to her?”

  There was silence at the other end of the line. For a moment, Dani thought they’d been disconnected. “You still there?” she asked. She heard a deep sigh in return.

  “Sienna. Sienna Metzner. She was my girlfriend,” he finally answered. “She wrote me after I was acquitted. She’s living in Manhattan now.”

  Dani smiled to herself. First loves were never forgotten. They always remained tucked away in a special corner of one’s memory. “Have you spoken to her?”

  “I can’t. I didn’t even write her back.”

  Dani understood. She’d spent enough time with Win to realize that the somewhat arrogant young man who’d entered Princeton full of dreams and confidence had disappeared during his years in prison, where he faced death for a crime he hadn’t committed. She also understood that finding the real killer might begin the healing process for him, but the real test was reaching out to others again. Trusting them not to hurt him. Max could help him with that, but the real help would come from opening himself up to a relationship with a young woman. Like Sienna.“What are you afraid will happen if you call her?”

  “I wouldn’t know what to say. I’m no longer who she expects.”

  “Maybe that’s true. But maybe she didn’t fall in love with the swaggering, too-rich-for-his-britches Win Melton, but the Win she recognized, maybe even before you did, could make a difference. Maybe she can help introduce that Win back into the world.”

  Win chuckled softly. �
�You make it sound so easy, Dani. But everything frightens me now. The cars honking their horns, the people yelling in the street, the noise of the construction going on. I hate going outside. What am I going to do? Invite Sienna to come watch an old movie with me in my family room?”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  “Let it lie, Dani. It’s much too soon.”

  “Okay. If you say so, I’ll back off. What I really called to say is that we’re not backing off looking for Carly’s killer. We’ve had some setbacks, but it’s now our number one priority.”

  “Good. I want him found. And I want him thrown in the same dank dungeon of a prison I was in. Only this time, it should end with a needle in his arm.”

  Once again, Tommy called on a former colleague to help him with his search. After leaving the FBI, Ernie Wilbanks had taken a job as chief of security for Roma Pizza, a nationwide chain headquartered in West Palm Beach.

  “I’m hoping you have some contacts in the local police department,” Tommy said to Ernie.

  “Sure. Plenty. What do you need?”

  “There are three registered sex offenders within a mile of Palm Beach High School. I need to know what they did, where they were seven years ago, and whether the police have concerns that’d they’ve resumed their activities.”

  “Want to tell me why?”

  “Wish I could, but this has to fly under the radar. And if you can find out if any other sex offender lived nearby seven years ago, that’d help, too.”

  Tommy heard the scribbling of a pen through the phone. After a minute, Ernie said, “I’ll do my best. What’s your time frame?”

  “I need it yesterday.”

  Ernie laughed. “You never change, do you?”

  “Why mess with perfection?”

  “I feel so bad for him,” Dani told Doug during “honeymoon hour.” Win had fared so much better than the typical inmate that HIPP succeeded in freeing. He had a comfortable home, a loving family, no worries about food or shelter or money. She should feel happy for him. Yet, his sadness had infected her.

  “Be patient. You told me he was seeing a therapist. Let that run its course.”

  “You’re right, of course. But I keep thinking that if his old girlfriend were back in his life, he’d come around more quickly.”

  “Uh-oh. I get the clear sense that you’re thinking of meddling.”

  “Would it be so terrible if I called her?”

  Doug pushed Dani up from her position entwined in his arms, then looked at her sternly. “I know you once wanted to be a psychologist, but remember, you chose a different path. Let Win’s therapist handle his emotional needs. You stick to the legal ones.”

  Dani lay back down in his arms. She supposed he was right. Still, what would be the harm in just speaking to the woman?

  Before she left for work the next morning, Dani opened up a phone-directory website on her computer’s browser and typed in Sienna Metzner, Manhattan. Three names popped up. One was between the ages of forty-five and fifty, one was over sixty, and one was twenty-five to thirty. Bingo, she thought as she copied down the phone number. Doug had already left for work, Jonah for school. She knew from Win that Sienna was an intern at a Manhattan hospital. That meant crazy hours. Chances are she wouldn’t be home, Dani thought, but why not give it a try?

  A drowsy voice answered the phone on the third ring.

  “Hello?”

  “Is this the Sienna Metzner who went to Princeton University?” Dani asked.

  “Look, I’ve already donated this year. Don’t you people ever give up?” the voice answered with more than a hint of displeasure.

  “I’m not soliciting for contributions. My name is Dani Trumball. I’m calling about Win Melton.”

  “Win? Is he okay?” Suddenly, the voice was alert, and all annoyance was gone.

  “Yes, he’s fine. Sort of fine.” Dani hesitated. “Look, he doesn’t know that I’m calling you, and I probably shouldn’t be. It’s just . . . it’s just that I’ve grown to care about him. I know that you wrote him.”

  “I did. But he never answered.”

  “Win’s not the person he was back in Princeton. Prison is hard for everyone, but magnify that a hundred times for death-row inmates. I think he’s afraid that he’s changed so much, you wouldn’t want to know him anymore.”

  “But that’s not true,” Sienna said, an urgency to her voice. “I understand that he’s different. We both are. And it may be that what we had back at Princeton is lost forever. I hope not. I think, no matter how much life changes us, there are fundamental aspects of who we are that become part of our core. That never disappears. Maybe it becomes buried so deeply that it’s hard to find it again. But I believe it’s there.”

  “With time, I think Win will find himself. I guess I’m just calling you to ask you to hold on a bit longer. Don’t give up on him.”

  Dani heard Sienna take a deep breath. “Win and I only knew each other a few months, and that was seven years ago. But I think about him all the time. I always knew he was innocent. The person I fell in love with back then wasn’t capable of rape, much less murder.”

  “And of course, you were right.”

  “Now, if it had been his roommate, that would be another story.”

  Dani’s breath caught. “His roommate?”

  “Max Dolan. He was a complete sleaze. He manhandled one of my friends in the dorm, and I’d heard he’d done it to others. She filed a complaint, but he got away with it. He claimed she wanted it rough. You know—a he-said, she-said thing.”

  Dani could hardly breathe. Max Dolan, Win’s friend, the one who’d been with him at the high school the night Carly was murdered. Max Dolan, who’d left the gym after Carly had. Max Dolan—the only one who kept up his friendship after Win was convicted. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, the saying went. It hit Dani like a thunderbolt. Greg Kincaid hadn’t killed Carly Sobol. Max Dolan had.

  Dani quickly got off the phone and called Tommy. “Forget about the sex offenders. You won’t believe what I just learned.” Dani filled him in on her conversation with Sienna.

  “Just because he was there that night doesn’t mean he killed Carly.”

  “Of course not. But it all makes sense. Think about it. Mrs. Melton said the real killer came to her. If Kincaid had murdered Carly, would he even get access to her? Would he know to approach her and not Win’s parents? Max and Win had been friends for years. Mrs. Melton knew him well. And isn’t it more likely that Dolan—not Kincaid—wouldn’t want Win to die?”

  “Dammit. You’re right. Now we need to prove it.”

  CHAPTER

  43

  As soon as Dani arrived at work, Tommy followed her into her office. There was no time to stop for coffee and a Danish at the corner deli. They both felt an urgency now to finish what they’d started.

  “I thought about it on the way in,” Dani said. “I think we have to confront Amelia Melton. Make sure we’re on the right track.”

  “She won’t tell us anything. I’ve pushed her hard, and she hasn’t budged.”

  “Still, we have a name to throw at her now. We’ve got to try once more.”

  “Okay. But my bet is she won’t bite.”

  “Then we’ll have to find another way to prove it.”

  Tommy nodded, and they both strode over to Bruce’s office to fill him in on the newest development.

  “Mrs. Melton can see you now,” the butler announced to Dani and Tommy. Dani had called before heading out, said they had something critical to discuss with her. She’d suggested they come when Win was at his therapy appointment.

  Dani and Tommy walked into Amelia Melton’s study, and the butler closed the door behind them. Both took seats in the ladder-back chairs facing her desk.

  “Thanks for seeing us,” Dani said.

 
“You indicated it was important.”

  “I believe we’ve figured out who murdered Carly Sobol. I’m hoping you’ll confirm it.”

  “And whom do you think it is?”

  “Max Dolan.” Dani watched the grand dame’s face. It remained impassive, showing no reaction to the name. “Am I right?”

  “On what do you base that belief?”

  “Come on,” Dani said. “Isn’t it time to break your silence? He allowed Winston to take the fall. He allowed Winston to rot in prison for seven years. Do you think he deserves protection because he gave you information to stop the execution? He doesn’t.”

  Finally, Dani saw a crack in Mrs. Melton’s rigid face. The elder woman sighed deeply, and it seemed to Dani as though her features blurred together, like a melting snowman’s. After seconds, her mask returned. “If you have some evidence that ties a person to the murder, come to me with that. Otherwise, I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”

  Dani wasn’t surprised by Mrs. Melton’s silence. Dani had wondered if double jeopardy still attached if acquittal was based on a fraud. If so, Mrs. Melton was right to be concerned about revealing the name without definitive proof that he’d committed the murder. She made a mental note to research that issue.

  Once they were back on the street, Tommy said, “What’s with that old bat?” Dani could practically see steam coming out of his nostrils.

  “Calm down. She might have actually given us an answer. If it wasn’t Dolan, she could easily have denied it without revealing the real killer.”

  “I guess the fact that she didn’t deny it might mean something,” Tommy admitted.

  “That’s what I think. She promised if we come up with proof that ties him to the murder, she’ll talk.”

  “So what now?”

  “I want to track down the girls Dolan supposedly manhandled.”

  When they got back to the office, Dani called Sienna once more and asked for the name of her friend who’d had a bad experience with Dolan.

  “Her name is Karen Ballard, but I heard a rumor that the same thing happened to Liz Humphrey as well. I’m afraid I didn’t stay in touch with either of them, so I don’t know where they are now.”