Capitol Murder

by William Bernhardt

  “What are your feelings now about your relationship with Ms. Cooper?”

  “I deeply regret it. And I want to publicly apologize, not only to the people in this room but to all my constituents, for my conduct. What I did was wrong, inexcusable. I made a terrible mistake. And I am sorry.”

  Padolino rose to his feet. “Move to strike the witness’s apology, if that’s what it was. Irrelevant.”

  “Sustained,” Herndon replied.

  “Would you have acted differently if you had known about her addiction?”

  “Of course. I would never have engaged in a relationship with someone who might not be in her right mind. I would’ve tried to get her some help.” He heard some audible scoffing from the prosecution table. “You know, these people have tried to portray me as some sort of predator, someone who wanted to hurt Veronica. Nothing could be further from the truth. I was trying to help her. Several of the other applicants for her job were more qualified, but I knew that Veronica had a troubled past, a bad childhood, an absentee father. Dirt poor, raised in one of the worst neighborhoods imaginable. I was trying to help her, to give her a chance to better herself. I didn’t plan the intimate relationship. It developed over time. We worked a lot together, spent many long hours together… and it just happened.” He paused. “She was obviously not a virgin when the affair began, and it in no way affected our work. And I might add, what we did was entirely consensual. In fact, she was the initial instigator. Even in that video, awful as it is, I think you can see that she was ready and willing to have sex.”

  That’s enough of that, Christina thought. Move on.

  “I don’t want to sound self-righteous,” Glancy continued, still maintaining his cool, measured tone, “but this really is a case of no good turn going unpunished. If I had forsaken Veronica for one of those spoiled rich kids that usually get these positions, none of this would ever have happened.”

  Christina tried the Ben trick-watching the jury out the corner of her eye. Were they buying any of this? Too soon to tell.

  “The detective who previously testified indicated that in the months preceding Veronica Cooper’s death, you had romantic liaisons with other women as well.”

  “And in most of those cases, he’s wrong.” Glancy raised his chin, adding a bit of strength to his demeanor. “That’s so typical of a detective. Anytime they see a man and a woman enter a room together alone, they assume there’s going to be hanky-panky. I find his assumptions sexist and offensive, particularly in this day and age. I notice he didn’t claim to have seen anything through a window, even though he appears to be a career Peeping Tom. What he saw, for the most part, was business meetings. I am a workaholic-anyone who knows me can tell you that-and I often work late into the night. Sometimes that work involves meeting people, and sometimes those people are women. Is that a surprise when there are so many female professionals in DC these days? Sometimes those meetings are in hotels, especially when the guests are out-of-towners, but we’re talking about places like the Watergate, not Motel 6. I mean, honestly-if I wanted to have an affair with someone, would I go to a hotel? In this town? Of course not. Everyone here knows me on sight. I never did that with Veronica and I would never do it with anyone else.”

  “I noticed you said most of the detective’s accusations were untrue,” Christina said, anticipating Padolino’s cross. “Was there an exception?”

  “One, yes.” He lowered his head and seemed supremely ashamed. “A one-night stand. With another Senate employee. I am not going to give her name for obvious reasons. But I have told my wife about it. We’ve discussed it and come to terms with it. I’ve agreed to get some help. As soon as this trial is over-if I’m able-I plan to obtain counseling for sex addiction. Or maybe it’s power addiction, I don’t know. Whatever it is, I understand that I have a problem, and with my wife’s help I’m going to overcome it.” He raised his hands. “And that’s the way it should be. This is a family matter. It’s private, or should be, even when it involves public figures. It’s really nobody else’s business.”

  Christina paused, letting the jury soak that in. She knew he wouldn’t change any minds in the press gallery, but it was just possible he might speak to one of the jurors-especially any who might’ve had an affair themselves, or who’d had a secret revealed they’d just as soon had stayed private.

  “I appreciate what you’re saying, Senator. But I’m afraid there is one other matter I have to ask you about. One other woman. One of the prosecution witnesses, Steve Melanfield, the lobbyist who admitted he was a political opponent of yours, claims to have seen you engaged in a sexual act with a woman named Delia Collins.”

  “Absolutely untrue,” Glancy said defiantly. “I met with Ms. Collins on many occasions. My heart bled for her. She had a terminal illness, but she just couldn’t accept her fate. She was chasing after all these quack miracle cures-you can’t believe how many leeches there are taking advantage of people who have been diagnosed with terminal illnesses. She wanted her insurance company to pay for these treatments. I understood where she was coming from, but if an insurance company gave in to that once, they’d soon have a landslide of similar claims. Everyone’s premiums would go up. The companies might well go bankrupt.”

  “To be specific,” Christina said, drawing him out of politics and back to the case, “Mr. Melanfield testified that he saw you in your office receiving sexual favors from Ms. Collins.”

  “He’s wrong,” Glancy replied. “And as I recall, he admitted he never saw my face. I don’t know what he saw or indeed if he saw anything at all. But I know this-it wasn’t me.” He stopped, lowering his eyes. “I would never have taken advantage of that dear, strong woman. I was devastated a few months later when I read that she had succumbed to her illness.”

  Well, they had pretty well covered sex, Christina thought. Now could they possibly talk about the murder?

  “Senator Glancy, your wife has testified that when she learned of the existence of the videotape, she gathered funds for the purpose of paying off Ms. Cooper. And she also says she told you about her plan. Is this true?”

  “It is. But I disagreed with her actions. I didn’t want to pay the woman a cent.”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t think it’s appropriate to pay blackmail, especially when you’re an elected official. Or married to one. It only encourages more of the same. And it seems clear now that Veronica intended to blow the money on drugs. With all due respect to my dear wife, paying Veronica off was a mistake.”

  “Did you attempt to prevent your wife from making the payoff?”

  Glancy smiled a little. “Christina, I don’t have the power to prevent my wife from doing anything. I’m not sure there’s anyone on earth who does. But I took actions of my own.”

  “And what would that be?”

  “I called Veronica. Made an appointment to meet her at the Senate the next day. The day she was killed.”

  Now that got a reaction from the jury. Christina wasn’t sure if they believed him, but at least they were listening.

  “Did she agree to meet with you?”

  “She did. That’s why I made the notation in the Gutenberg-my day planner. That’s why she was at the Senate that day, even though she didn’t come in for work. And that’s why I left the Health Committee meeting.”

  “Then you admit that you met her that day.”

  “I admit that I tried. But I didn’t set up any rendezvous in my hideaway. That would be stupid. I arranged to meet her in the Senate Dining Room. A public place, but one where reporters are not allowed and the staff can be counted on to be discreet. I left by the backstairs door, true, but I turned right, not left, and made my way to the dining room, not to the basement. I don’t know who Shandy saw or heard when she was doing her Mata Hari routine, but it wasn’t me. I was in the dining room wondering why Veronica hadn’t shown up.”

  “She never arrived?”

  “Never. After a while, I returned to the committee meet
ing, but when it broke for lunch I went back to the dining room, just in case she came late. Stayed there for a long time-you remember. That was when I first met you. I finally returned to my office, and that was when I learned to my horror that Veronica was dead.”

  Christina closed her notebook. That about covered it. Just one more very important question to ask. “Senator Glancy, did you kill Veronica Cooper?”

  “Absolutely not. I would never do that. Never. Not to her or anyone else.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Christina said. That had gone well, she thought. But of course, the hard part was yet to come.

  She looked across the courtroom to the prosecution table. “Pass the witness.”

  “Wha-wha-where am I?”

  Slowly the opaque haze lifted from his head, his eyes. Everything throbbed, every part of him. The light hurt his eyes, so he closed them. He had no idea where he was or what had happened. All he knew for sure was that he was alive. And very surprised to be.

  “Take it easy. You’re still weak. You need rest.”

  Loving forced his eyes open again. Deep Throat? They were still in that musty basement room. But he wasn’t hanging from the ceiling anymore. He was lying on the hard concrete floor. And he was alive!

  “You really did start to go into seizure. Too much electricity will do that.”

  “The-the Sire-”

  “He left when I told him you were dead. Fortunately, he didn’t have the training or experience to detect your heartbeat, especially when it was so faint. As soon as he was gone, I shot you up with epinephrine to stimulate your heart. Treated the knife wound, too. But you need to take it easy. You’ve been through a lot, and too much activity after a dose of epinephrine could throw you into seizure all over again.”

  Loving had no problem following the command to stay put. He felt much too puny to move. “Why did you do all this for me?”

  “Look, I’m sorry I got you involved in the first place. It’s just-I didn’t know what else to do. You may have noticed-he’s crazy.”

  “And the rest of your little club?”

  “Don’t be a smart-ass. I may be intrigued by the vampire mythology. I even think the bloodsucking ritual is a turn-on, but I draw the line at murder. And what he’s got going on in the narthex-that’s inhuman. This whole operation-” He shook his head fiercely. “I never wanted to go after those girls-I never wanted any part of it. The Sire lost control and now everyone in the Inner Circle is paying the price.”

  “But-”

  “Shh. Just try to rest. The others have already left. As soon as the Sire leaves, I’ll smuggle you out of here. Get you back to your people at the law firm. A big tough guy like you should heal up in no time.”

  “And you?”

  “I think-I think I’m going to leave town. Start somewhere else. It’s obvious to me now-no one can take down the Sire. Not me, not you. He really is immortal. Indestructible. The best I can hope for is to go somewhere far away, somewhere safe, someplace he can never hurt me, and then-”

  He froze in midsentence. His entire body stiffened. At first, Loving thought he was going to scream, but when the sound actually came out, it was quieter, more like a strange, hollow rattle.

  A death rattle.

  His body tumbled forward, and there was nothing Loving could do to avoid it. It fell sideways across his abdomen, knocking the air out of his chest, leaving him gasping for breath.

  A scalpel was sticking out of the back of his neck.

  In the distance, Loving saw a pair of piercing eyes hovering above him.

  “So glad to see you’re still alive, Mr. Loving.” The Sire began to laugh, loud and horribly, hysterically, his dark, deep laughter echoing through the tiny subterranean room. “Now I’ll have the pleasure of killing you myself. After I’ve learned what I want to know. After I’ve sucked you dry.”

  “Well now, that was a sweet little story you told,” Padolino said, as he strode across the courtroom toward Senator Glancy. “Touching, especially the part about your close relationship with your wife. I felt my eyes getting itchy.”

  Glancy remained phlegmatic. “Was that a question? If it was, I didn’t understand it.”

  “So now you admit that you were planning to meet Veronica Cooper on the day she died, at about the same time she died, and that you entered the rear stairway that led to your hideaway at just that time. But we’re supposed to believe you didn’t kill her?”

  “That’s right. I didn’t.”

  “Must’ve been someone else. Someone who intercepted her on her way to the cafeteria.”

  “I really have no idea. I can’t imagine who would want to kill her.”

  “Then we agree on that point, Senator. No one had any reason to kill her. Except you.”

  Christina started to rise, but Glancy was already answering. “I disagree with that statement. I had no motive at all. As my wife said, she had the situation under control. Sure, I wanted to meet with her, to see if we couldn’t come up with some better solution than blackmail payments. I could see she had problems, possibly mental problems, and I knew that video was going to make it impossible for her to work again in DC. I wanted to see if I could help her make a fresh start, find her another job, maybe something in Oklahoma. I have a lot of friends back home. It wouldn’t be hard.”

  “How altruistic of you.”

  “And even if that didn’t work-Marie had given her the money she wanted. Either way, I had no motive to kill her.”

  “Assuming we believe everything you’ve told us. Which I for one don’t.”

  Christina gave Ben the eye. Padolino was making a lot of nonquestion smart remarks. She could object, but she had a hunch that Padolino’s sudden resort to arrogance and sarcasm would turn the jury off, which could only work to Todd’s favor. Give the man enough rope…

  “Even if I were going to kill her,” Glancy continued, “which I would never, ever do, I certainly wouldn’t do it at the U.S. Senate. That’s just stupid. And leave the corpse in my own hideaway? That’s beyond stupid. That’s idiotic.”

  “So you want us to believe you would never, ever do that, right?”

  “Right.” Glancy allowed himself a small smile. “Hell, if I really were stupid enough to kill someone at the U.S. Senate, I wouldn’t leave the corpse in my hideaway.” He paused. “I’d take it to some Republican’s hideaway.”

  Grim as the subject was, that actually got a few chuckles. More important, Christina thought, he’d made his point.

  “This all assumes that the murder was carefully planned in advance. But I think it’s more likely that you got angry when your attempt to charm her out of her blackmail money failed, lost control, killed her, didn’t know what to do with the body, and left her there till you had time to come up with something better.”

  “Wrong. All of it. And just for the record, Mr. Padolino, I never lose control.”

  Wrong thing to say. “Yes, we’ve heard all about how you like to stay in control. How you like to dominate. Especially when you’re with your many, many women.”

  Aw, swell, Christina thought, priming herself to object. Here we go.

  “There were two,” Glancy said emphatically. “I told you that. No one has proven anything different.”

  “And what about the handcuffs? Ropes? Is that part of how you like to stay in control?”

  Christina rose to object, but Glancy literally waved her down. “Let me say once and for all that I am sick and tired of your use of this courtroom to engage in slanderous statements that don’t relate to the murder in any way, shape, or form.” He was becoming a little heated, but Christina thought-hoped-that he was okay. “I have admitted that I made mistakes, that I had affairs with two women. What possible business of yours is it how we like to go about it? I know it has been fashionable in the press to pry into politicians’ sex lives under the veil of a ‘character issue.’ Are we now going to start doing that in the courtroom? If you made these statements anywhere else, I could sue you for slande
r, and I for one do not see why courtroom immunity should extend to a prosecutor making gratuitous sexual innuendos that don’t relate to the case at bar.”

  “Lovely little speech,” Padolino said, clapping. “Very dramatic. Move to strike.”

  To everyone’s surprise, Judge Herndon hesitated. “No,” he said finally, “I think I’m going to let that stand. It was irrelevant, but then so was your question. I think I’d like to see that remain in the record. Maybe, with luck, one of the reporters in the room will print it. Or perhaps even give it some thought.”

  Padolino was furious. Christina could see him scanning his outline, looking for another dramatic topic. “Exactly how many times have you lied to the public now, Senator?”

  “I’m not aware of any.”

  “You lied about your affair.”

  “At no time did I lie about any affair. I was silent on the matter. There’s a big difference.”

  “I believe that’s what, in my church, we call a sin of omission.”

  “Call it what you like. It wasn’t a lie. I didn’t lie before and I’m not lying now.” He turned to face the jury. “You have my word on that. I will not lie to you.”

  “You expect us to trust you?” Padolino said indignantly. “Your own wife, the woman who knows you best in all the world, doesn’t trust you.”

  “I beg to differ.”

  “She hired a private detective to follow your floozies around, Senator. Trusting wives don’t do that.”

  For the first time, Glancy was silent for several moments. “When the issue arose between us, I admitted what I had done immediately. I did not lie to her about it.”