Apex Predator
Page 29
Drew chimed in, “They found his warehouse, right? Where he did everything.”
Steven nodded, “Yes, that’s right. I found out about it through my own sources and I decided to go see what they found. I got there before the whole world got the story, so I was able to get close. I was able to see my daughter. Well, her remains anyway…”
Steven ran a hand through his hair and with every fiber of his being fought the urge to break down crying in front of these men. Max was taking copious notes and Drew just looked at Steven, not able to comprehend the kind of horror this man must have faced that night.
Even so, he had some questions, “Steven, is it okay if I call you Steven?” Loomis nodded.
“Maybe you got there before everybody arrived, but there had to be some security around the scene, even a couple of uniformed officers from the first-responder black and whites.”
That comment confirmed Steven’s first impression of Drew, the kid was sharp.
He saw the loose end in the story and pounced on it, “Very good, Mr. Willis, I’m impressed, but I will tell you that a worried, irate father looking for closure can work wonders, especially when he’s dealing with young patrolmen.”
Drew listened to him and nodded, but wasn’t convinced. He knew Loomis wasn’t lying about anything he was telling them, but he also wasn’t being entirely forthcoming, and given what Drew thought Loomis was about to share with them, he wondered who he was trying to protect, because it obviously wasn’t himself.
Steven went on, “In any case, when I saw what I saw, I made a decision. The shooting at the courthouse was that decision. It was me, I shot Donald Riche.”
Both Drew and Max were completely transfixed by the story. They both knew what was coming, but it was still a shock to hear this man just come out and with a completely straight face admit that he had shot another man in the head. Like most all other criminal defense attorneys with any significant experience, both Max and Drew had represented people accused of murder. In most of those cases, for Drew in every case, their clients had vehemently denied having committed the crime, even when faced with mountains of evidence proving that they had in fact done it. In almost every case, the defendants had been lifelong criminals or people who were too greedy or who had just flat out lost their minds. Now both lawyers were looking at representing a man who was none of those things, a man who was clearly educated and who was very rational and deliberate about what he had done. A man who did not look conflicted in the least.
Max Zeidler was the first one to break the silence, “Well, Mr. Loomis, we’ll be happy to represent you. I assured the General we would take care of you and we are already preparing to do just that.”
Steven was somewhat taken aback, he hadn’t really finished telling them his story. It actually seemed as though Zeidler didn’t really care what the rest of the story was, as though he knew what he needed to know.
Drew Willis was in fact waiting for just that, the rest of the story, but he didn’t know how exactly how to go about interrupting Max, who seemed to be all done with the discussion and itching to get going with the defense.
“Alright, so the first thing to do will be to figure out a timeline and to find out what the DA has. We’ll put our best investigators on this. Drew, our people are already working on a temporary insanity defense and we’ll need to have that pretty well sewn up…”
At this point, Steven composed himself and was compelled to say something, “Wait, wait, wait a minute. Mr. Zeidler it is my intention to turn myself in to the police when I finish speaking with you. It was my impression that you and your firm would assist me in doing so.”
Zeidler was completely dumbfounded and truly at a loss for words.
Drew took the opportunity to interject, “Mr. Loomis, Steven, have you really thought about what you are doing? I mean, once you talk to the police and the DA, there is really nothing for us to contest, nothing for us to use at trial. The whole point of retaining an attorney is to defend you, someone who will advocate for you.”
Steven looked at both men and calmly explained, “Mr. Willis, it is absolutely my intent to defend myself. I have no intention of turning myself in and pleading guilty on the spot. That would be completely useless.”
Hearing this, Max relaxed a bit, “Okay, no problem, we can help you talk to the police and to turn yourself in, but we have to do it in such a way that it will still give us something to argue, something to defend you with.”
Steven looked at him and nodded, “Agreed. I was only planning to make a statement taking responsibility for the shooting. I was not planning on explaining myself or on trying the case at the police station. I have you gentlemen to do that for me.”
Max was actually smiling now and Drew could see that he was already anticipating a sensational trial with a dream defendant and perfect circumstances. Drew had to admit, if this wasn’t the ideal set of circumstances to present a defense of temporary insanity, then there were no circumstances to do so.
Max responded, “That’s good, I think it will work to our advantage because it will take the guesswork out of figuring out what they have or how they intend to proceed. Do you already know what it is you’d like to say?”
Loomis responded very calmly and very deliberately, “Absolutely, I intend to speak with the detectives that handled my daughter’s case. I believe they already suspect my involvement in the case. In any case, I am planning to say exactly what I said to you guys, that I am responsible for the shooting incident at the courthouse. I am also going to tell them that I doctored the tape that they reviewed of the meeting I was supposed to be at when the shooting occurred. ”
Drew listened intently and tried to read the man’s true intentions, tried to figure out if this was some kind of sick game, but there was absolutely nothing about Steven or what he was saying that didn’t ring right. The man planned to just go in and tell the police what he had done.
If he was going to represent him, however, he had to explain to him what he would be facing. “Steven, you do realize that the police won’t just let you come in and say ‘I did it’ and have that be it, right? I mean, you know they will try to get as much information as they can so they can tighten up their case. They will want to know the why and the how and if there was someone else involved and…”
At this point, Steven gave him a small grin and held up his hand, “Mr. Willis, Drew, may I call you Drew?” Willis nodded.
“Drew, I spent 20 years in the Navy, this first 10 years doing military investigation and the last 10 as an officer with the Navy SEALs. I am now a senior executive with a global security and intelligence firm. I can assure you that I am more than aware of every interrogation technique the police will try to utilize, and I can also assure you that I have no desire to engage with them.
“I want to make my statement and then rely on you gentlemen for the rest. Whatever I have to say about my motive or how I came to make the decision I will reserve for my discussions with you. For now all I want to do is to get this off my chest and let the people who are trying to figure out who did it get a rest.”
Max stood up now and started walking a short oval pattern inside his office as he spoke, “I think that will work. We will be there and once you have said what you want to say, we will step in and terminate the conversation. You do know you will be placed under arrest, correct?”
Steven just nodded. Max went on, “There will be a bail hearing set in the next couple of days. I’m not sure on this one, but I would imagine they will ask for no bail and the judge might just grant it. If they do set bail, I am pretty confident it will be set at about $1 million, at least.”
Steven responded, “Well, that’s just like no bail for me. I don’t have a million dollars lying around to post bail, and I do not want to use my family’s money or put up my assets to obtain a bond. I did this, I don’t want to risk my family’s financial stability in any way.”
Max looked at him with that cat-t
hat-ate-the-canary smile, “Well, I have good news for you on that end, Mr. Loomis. The General has deposited well over that amount into an escrow account to be used exactly for that, and he is willing to deposit additional monies into it should it be needed.”
It was Steven’s turn to be speechless for a couple of beats. Once he stopped and thought about it, he had to admit he wasn’t surprised.
That was just like the General, still he just couldn’t let the man pay for his decisions. “I appreciate that, Mr. Zeidler, but I can’t accept that. My company and Mr. Goodman, the General, in particular, have already been way too kind to me and I don’t want to take advantage of that.”
Max was nodding and saying nothing. When Steven finished, he spoke again, “He said you would say exactly that and he said, and these are his exact words, ‘Don’t pay any attention. Sometimes he doesn’t get that there are times for all of us when we need someone to cover our ass.’ So you see, it is his intention to put up the bail no matter what. You know Art, you know he always gets what he wants, so just go with it. Besides, he’ll get every cent back, unless you are planning on running, that is.”
Steven answered, “Yeah, the old man does seem to get his way more often than not. And no, I am not planning on running. That’s the last thing I would do.” Max sat back down behind his desk, “Good, then it’s settled. We will go with you to the police station, you can make your statement, we will call the meeting to an end, they will arrest you, and we will start working on getting you out on bail as soon as possible. Is that acceptable?”
Steven gave him a small smile and answered, “That sounds like a plan, gentlemen.”
Max got up again, pushed a button on the phone to give instructions, “Missy, please tell Marcus and Laura they are working for Drew as of right now.”
Missy came over the speakerphone, “Very good, Mr. Zeidler.”
Max went on, “And Missy, can you make sure we have a car outside in 10 minutes? Thank you.”
Steven took advantage of the time to make what would probably be the hardest call he would have to make in this whole process. He didn’t want to make the call on a cell phone that wasn’t encrypted and he’d left his work phone at the office. “Gentlemen, is there a phone that I can use to make a call? A secure phone if you have one.”
Max smiled, “Yes, there is one, Mr. Loomis. As you can imagine, we handle a lot of very touchy situations.”
Steven nodded, “Of course, you have the General as your client after all.”
Zeidler motioned for Steven to follow him, “Come this way.”
They walked down a hallway to a big conference room, “Here you are, Mr. Loomis, you’ll have all the privacy you need.”
Steven went in to the conference room and before closing the door, turned to address Zeidler, “Thank you, and listen, we’re about to go to battle together, so please, it’s Steven.”
Zeidler smiled, “Fair enough, Steven, and it’s Max from now on.”
He should have made this call first, but with everything moving so fast, he just hadn’t found the right moment to do so. Loomis finally closed the door and started to call his wife.
Beth had been almost constantly busy since Steven had left. She found that keeping herself and the kids occupied went a long way to soothing her nerves. She was still having nightmares, but they were much less frequent now and she continued to see an excellent therapist. All in all, things were going as well as she could hope. Her one worry right now was Steven. She knew he was struggling with Tracy’s death and everything that had come along with it. She knew that he was getting ready to do something extremely difficult and she wished, as she had many, many times over their marriage, that she could make things easier on him. She had learned over the time they had been married that the best thing she could do for him, to make things easier on him, was to be strong, to let him know that she and the kids would be fine. She had hoped she had let him know precisely that on their last conversation, but there was just no way to know whether he had taken what she had said to heart.
She was lost in her thoughts about Steven and all the rest of it as she worked her pruning shears over her mother’s immense bed of beautiful roses of almost every hue, something she’d enjoyed doing every time she visited her parents, when her mother called out for her. Steven was on the phone.
She rushed in, took her pruning gloves off and took the phone from her mother, “Thanks, Mom. Hey you, I’ve been thinking about you.”
Steven smiled on his end, “Glad to know I wasn’t the only one. How are you, how are the kids?
Beth sat down at the dining room table, “We’ve been busy, but you know Bethany, you’ve only been gone a day and she already wants her daddy.”
Steven hung his head, he missed his family and he knew what he was about to undertake would keep him away from them for some time, if not forever. “I miss you guys too. Listen, Beth, I am calling you because I am about to turn myself in for what happened at the courthouse and I didn’t want you hearing about it on the television.”
He paused, waiting for her reply. She was quiet for a moment, but then she replied in a surprisingly even tone, “Well, I knew the time would come when you would take responsibility one way or another. I know what kind of man you are, you know that, and I knew even before our conversation that you would do exactly what you are about to do.”
Steven was relieved, but only for a moment, because he still had to tell her the most important and difficult part of what he was planning. There was simply no way to get around it or to make it any easier, so he proceeded to explain everything, what he had found in his research, his conversations with Leonard and Scoma, his objective and how he planned on accomplishing it. Now Beth took some time to process everything he was saying. She had known that he hadn’t killed Riche out of anger or a desire for revenge. She knew him too well and had been with him during some of the most difficult missions he’d been a part of in the Navy for her to think that. She’d wondered a few times what had driven her husband to do what he did, and now she knew. It was still shocking to hear it, however, and to hear everything else he had told her.
When she had thought about him turning himself in, she had also wondered what would happen afterwards, how would he defend his actions? What could he possibly present as a defense, and now she knew that too. She’d thought about all of these things and pondered a hundred possibilities, but in everything she had pondered, she had never once imagined this would be what he would present as a defense, and it was that part that now concerned her the most.
“Steven, are you sure you want to do that? I mean, I understand what you’re telling me, what you want to accomplish, but don’t you think that making that argument is going to make people think that you’ve lost it, that you’re absolutely crazy? And what about your lawyers, do they know what you’re planning on doing, how you’re planning on defending yourself?”
They were valid questions and he knew it. He had the answers to some, but not everything she was asking. “I know how it sounds, babe, trust me, but think about it. If I wasn’t planning on presenting this argument, what other possible defense would I have? Once I turn myself in, there would be no doubt as to who did it and how and, honestly, most people would also assume the why.
“Everybody would assume that I killed him out of revenge, out of anger and rage. Hell, I think they’re still going to think that regardless of what I argue. I’ve already talked to the lawyers, but I haven’t told them everything yet and they’re assuming that I’m going to be presenting some sort of temporary insanity defense.”
Beth, now more engaged and clear in what they were discussing, made his next point for him, “Well, that makes all the sense in the world. Like you said, what else would you argue as a defense? Have you thought about the fact that maybe they’re not willing to move forward with the defense you are planning on presenting? It’s going to be their reputations and their firm’s reputation on the line.”
“The other lawyer on the team is a young guy, but he’s pretty sharp and has the same kind of maverick air about him that Max does. Once this breaks, it’s going to be huge, bigger than either one of us could imagine. You’ve seen the coverage on Riche and the shooting, it’s been ridiculous, and this is only going to make it even more of a media event, but that’s precisely what I need, the reason I am doing this.
“Once I present my theory, there is no turning back, it will be out there, the science, Leonard and the others’ work, the world will not have a choice but to take notice of this.
“You and I know the damage that one of these creatures can inflict on a family, any family, and even though everybody gets scared and talks about being alert and aware when something like this happens, they have no idea of what the threat really is, of the danger that exists out there, every day.”
Beth had listened intently to everything he was saying. It all made sense, but she was still worried for him, terrified if she were to be honest. “Everyone knows that there are people out there that are monsters, Steven. Riche is not the first to do something like this by any stretch, you know that.
“Do you think this will make a difference in how aware people are, in how they take precautions and educate their children on the dangers they face every day? We did that, we educated our girls and explained about bad people and how dangerous they are, and what good did that do?”