“Think of the collective experience and knowledge we have assembled in this room,” Ananberg said. “All the different ways we’ve spent time with the law, learning its curves and contours, flaws and strengths.”
“What if you disagree on a verdict?”
Rayner said, “Then we’ll throw out the case and move on. Only a unanimous verdict will stand in the Commission. Unanimity is required for any policy shift as well. That way, if any of us grows uncomfortable with anything, we have veto power.”
“Is this the entire Commission?”
“You will be the seventh and final member,” Dumone said. “If you elect to join.”
“And how is this little enterprise funded?”
Rayner’s mustache shifted with his grin. “The books have been good to me.”
“You’ll draw a humble paycheck,” Dumone said. “And, of course, all expenses will be covered.”
“Now we’d like to clarify one point,” Ananberg said. “We do not advocate cruel and unusual punishment. The executions are to be swift and painless.”
“I don’t go in for torture,” Tim said.
Ananberg’s lipsticked mouth pulled to one side in a smirk, the first break in her icy facade. Everyone seemed comfortable with letting silence fill the study for a few moments.
Tim asked, “What’s the status of your personal cases?”
“Franklin’s wife’s killer disappeared after being acquitted,” Rayner said. “The last reports of him were from Argentina. The man who killed the Stork’s mother is currently incarcerated for a later offense. Robert and Mitchell’s sister’s murderer was later shot and killed in an unrelated incident, and Jenna’s mother’s killer was beaten to death in a gang killing over a decade ago. That’s the status of our-how did you put it?-personal cases.”
“And the man who killed your son?”
Bitterness passed through Rayner’s eyes, then vanished. “He’s still out there, my son’s killer. Walking the streets. Somewhere in New York-Buffalo when last I heard.”
“I bet you just can’t wait to vote him guilty.”
“I wouldn’t touch my own case, actually.” Rayner looked offended at Tim’s expression of disbelief. “This is not a vengeance service.” His face firmed with a stalwart pride common to maudlin World War II movies. “I could never be objective. However…”
“What?”
“We’re going to call upon you to be. I’ve selected Kindell’s case for the Commission. It’ll be the seventh and final one we examine in our first phase.”
Tim felt himself flush at the thought of another crack at Kindell. He hoped his longing wasn’t too clear on his face. He gestured at the others. “How about theirs?”
Rayner shook his head. “Yours is the only personal case we’re going to examine.”
“Why’d I get so lucky?”
“It’s the only case that precisely fits our profile. An L.A. crime, a lot of media heat, the trial botched due to a procedural violation.”
“L.A. is key from an operational perspective,” Dumone said. “We’re only comfortable dealing with cases in this area. Our strongest contacts are here.”
“We’ve spent a lot of time here, me and Mitch,” Robert said, “smelling the street, figuring out how to operate-operate invisibly. You know the drill. Well-placed contacts. Phone lines. Car rentals. Back routes around town.”
“You must have well-placed contacts in Detroit,” Tim said.
“We’re known there. In Hell-A nobody’s anybody until they’re somebody.”
“Once we start traveling, dealing with other court systems and police bureaus, it really opens us up,” Dumone said. “Not to mention the trail it leaves. Airline tickets, hotels.” His eyes twinkled. “We dislike trails.”
“Something tells me there’s another angle,” Tim said. “Like Ginny’s case being a carrot you can dangle in front of me. That’s why it’s the ‘seventh and final’ one.”
Rayner seemed pleased-Tim was talking his language. “Yes, of course. No need to pretend. We do need an insurance policy of sorts, to make sure you’re not doing this just for revenge. We want to ensure that you stick around, that you’re committed to our cause. We’re not here merely to serve your agenda-there’s a greater social good at stake.”
“What if I don’t think the other executions are justified?”
“Then vote against all six of them, and we move to Kindell.”
“How do you know I won’t do precisely that?”
Dumone’s head was tilted back at such an angle to suggest authority and mild amusement. “We know you’ll be fair.”
“And if you’re not equally fair, just, and competent when we’re deliberating the Kindell case,” Ananberg said, “we’ll ask you to recuse yourself or I’ll personally vote against execution. You won’t muscle a guilty past us.”
Dumone settled back in his chair. “It serves you, too. To delay Kindell’s case until last.”
“How do you figure?”
Rayner said, “If we ruled to execute Kindell first, you’d be the most obvious suspect.”
“But if we rule to kill him after two or three other high-profile executions, the suspicion will be shifted off you,” Dumone said.
Tim reflected for a moment, silently. Rayner watched him with shiny eyes, seeming to enjoy this all a bit too much.
“We know about your accomplice theory,” Rayner said. “And rest assured-I can obtain information that you can’t get access to-from all sides of the case. The public defender’s notes from his interview with Kindell, media investigator reports, maybe even police logs. We’ll get to the bottom of your daughter’s murder. You’ll get her the fair trial she never received.”
Tim studied Rayner for a moment, his stomach knotting with anxiety and excitement. Despite his aversion to Rayner, he couldn’t deny that some connection existed-to another father who had lost a child. To someone who actually took Tim’s accomplice theory seriously because he understood what it meant to be plagued.
Tim finally crossed to one of the armchairs and sat. On the low table before him was an American Psychological Association journal titled Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. On the light brown cover, Rayner was listed as the principal author of two articles.
Keeping his eyes on the journal, Tim said quietly, “I just need to know who killed my daughter. Why she was killed.” Hearing himself express this deep-rooted imperative so starkly-as a plea directed out at the unfair universe-gave it a sudden reality and pitifulness. His eyes moistened. Quickly following came a stab of self-disdain for revealing emotion here, in front of these hardened strangers. The childhood lesson his father had drummed into his head: Never give up the personal-it will return as a weapon wielded against you.
He waited until his face felt less heavy before raising it. He was surprised to see how uneasy his grief made Robert and Mitchell. They’d grown fidgety, uncomfortable, suddenly real-their own remembered pain cutting through the barriers, washing the aggression right out of them.
“We understand,” Dumone said.
Robert said, “You get to serve your personal cause-pursuing your daughter’s killer or killers-and the bigger legal issues…”
“-illuminated-” Mitchell said.
“-by the hell you went through. The rest of us don’t get that.”
“Why did you choose L.A.?” Tim asked.
“Because this city has no notion of accountability, of responsibility,” Rayner said. “As you’re aware, L.A.’s court rulings, especially for media-intensive cases, seem to go to the highest bidder. Justice isn’t administered by the courts here, it’s administered by box-office grosses and a well-oiled press.”
“O.J. Simpson just bought a one-point-five-million-dollar house in Florida,” Mitchell said. “Kevin Mitnick hacked in to the Pentagon, now he’s got a talk radio show out of Hollywood. LAPD’s got a scandal a week. Cop killers and drug dealers land record deals. Hookers marry studio moguls. It’s got no memory, Los Angeles.
There’s no logic here. No rhyme. No reason. No justice.”
“The cops here,” Robert said, with surprising vehemence, “they don’t give a shit. There’s so many murders, so much indifference. This town just chews people up.”
“It’s seductive, and, like most things seductive, it burns you with indifference. Kills you with apathy.”
“That’s why this city.” Robert crossed his thick arms again. “L.A. deserves it.”
“We want the executions to serve as crime deterrents,” Rayner added, “so they’ll have to be high-profile.”
“So that’s what this is?” Tim glanced around the room. “A grand experiment. Sociology in action. You’re gonna bring justice to the big city?”
“Nothing quite so grandiose,” Ananberg said. “The death penalty has never been a proven deterrent.”
“But it’s never been deployed in this fashion.” Mitchell was standing now, gesturing concisely with flattened hands. “Courts are clean and safe, and-due to the appeals process-their rulings lack a sense of threatening immediacy. Courts don’t scare criminals. The thought of someone coming unexpectedly in the night will. I know there are certainly methodological complications with our plan, but there’s no denying that murderers and rapists will be aware there’s another level of the law they may have to answer to-it’s not just the court game. They might hop through a loophole, but we’ll be out there, waiting.”
Mitchell demonstrated the commonsense logic and unaffected eloquence of a self-taught thinker; Tim realized he’d underestimated the man’s intelligence at first glance, probably due to his intimidating physical presence.
Robert was nodding emphatically, in aggressive agreement with his brother. “The streets of Singapore look pretty graffiti-free to me.”
Rayner’s chuckle drew a sharp look from Ananberg.
“Correlation is not causation.” Ananberg wove her hands over a knee. “My point is simply that we shouldn’t expect some sort of drastic social impact. We’re acting as the mortar between the cracks in the law. No more, no less. Let’s be frank about what we’re doing. We’re not saving the world. In a few specific cases, we’re serving justice.”
Robert set down his glass with a thunk. “All me and Mitch are saying is, we’re here to kick a little ass and dispense a little justice. And if it trickles back to the motherfuckers that there’s a new sheriff in town…well, hell, that won’t break our hearts either.”
“It beats whining and building memorials,” Mitchell added.
The playfulness gone from his eyes, Dumone turned to Tim. “The twins and the Stork will be your operational team. They’re there merely to provide you support. Use them as you see fit, or not at all.”
Now, finally, Tim understood the hostility he’d elicited in the twins from the first moment, their blatant jockeying with Tim before the others. “Why would I be in charge?”
“We lack the operating skills that someone with your unusual combination of training and field experience brings to the table. We lack a subtlety of execution needed for this first phase of, uh, executions.”
Rayner said, “We need a primary operator who’s extraordinarily levelheaded on the front line.” One of his hands circled, then settled in his pocket. “These executions need to be carefully orchestrated so the occasion of a shoot-out with law enforcement never arises. Ever.”
Dumone freshened his glass at the small bar behind the desk. “As I’m sure you’re aware, there are a truckload of ways things can go south. And if they do, we need a man who’ll keep his head, who won’t gun his way out of trouble. The Stork is not a tactical operator.”
The Stork’s smile was flat and generically curved, like a slice of watermelon. “No, sir.”
“And Rob and Mitch are good aggressive cops, like I was when the sap was still rising.” Dumone’s smile held some sadness; something was hidden beneath it, perhaps the blood-spotted handkerchief. He tipped his head toward Tim deferentially. “But we haven’t been trained to kill, and we’re not Spec Ops-cool under fire.”
“It’s been a long, frustrating haul closing in on a viable and receptive candidate,” Rayner said wearily.
Tim took a moment with this, and they let him. Rayner’s eyebrows were raised, anticipating Tim’s next question. “How do you protect against someone breaking all these elaborate rules you’ve set up? There’s no controlling authority.”
Rayner held up a hand in a calming gesture, though no one was particularly agitated. “That is one of our primary concerns. Which is why we have a no-tolerance policy.”
“Our contract is exclusively oral, of course,” Ananberg said, “as we don’t want to set anything incriminating down in writing. And this contract includes a kill clause.”
“A kill clause?”
“Legally speaking, a kill clause sets forth prenegotiated conditions detailing what will occur should a contract be terminated. Ours goes into effect the instant any member of the Commission breaks any of our protocols.”
“And what are those prenegotiated conditions?”
“The kill clause dictates that the Commission be immediately dissolved. All remaining documentation-which we go to every effort to keep to a minimum-will be destroyed. With the exception of tying up loose ends, there will be no future Commission activity of any kind.” Rayner’s face hardened. “Zero tolerance.”
“We’re well aware that the Commission places us on a slippery slope,” Ananberg said. “So we’re anxious to ensure that there will be no sliding.”
“And if someone withdraws?”
“Go with God,” Rayner said. “We presume that what passes here remains here, as it is equally incriminating to whoever elects to leave.” He grinned a smirky grin. “Mutual assured destruction makes for a nifty little insurance policy.”
Tim did not return the grin but studied the practiced lines around Rayner’s mouth. William Rayner, vehement proponent of the insurance policy.
Ananberg said, “The Commission would go on brief hiatus until we found an appropriate replacement.”
Tim leaned back in the armchair so he could feel his Sig pressing into the small of his back. He gauged his angle to the door-not good. “And if I decide against joining?”
“We would hope that, as someone who’s lost a daughter, you would appreciate our perspective and leave us to our work,” Rayner said. “If you were to contact the authorities, be advised there is no incriminating evidence on site. We will deny ever having had this conversation. And to say our collective words are greatly respected in the legal community is something of an understatement.”
All eyes were suddenly on Tim. The ticking of the grandfather clock punctuated the silence. Ananberg went to the desk, turned a key, then removed a dark cherry box from one of the drawers. Tilting it, she opened the hinged lid, revealing a gleaming Smith amp; Wesson. 357-service make-nestled in the felt interior. She closed the box and set it on the desktop.
Rayner lowered his voice so it seemed he was addressing only Tim. “When people endure such a…bureaucratic betrayal as the one the courts handed you, as the one the U.S. Marshals Service handed you, they contend with it in different ways, most of them bad. Some get angry, some get depressed, some find God.” One of his eyebrows drew up, almost disappearing beneath the line of his hair. “What will you do, Mr. Rackley?”
Tim decided he’d had his fill of questions, so he kept his eyes on Dumone. “How do they feel about taking a backseat? Operationally?”
Dumone’s and Robert’s fidgeting broadcast that this was well-covered ground.
The Stork shrugged and adjusted his glasses. “I got no problem,” he said, though no one had asked him.
“They’ll deal with it,” Dumone said.
“That’s not what I asked.”
“They understand the necessity of bringing in a high-demand operator, and they’re reconciling themselves to the change.” Dumone’s voice gathered edge, and Tim could hear the tough Boston cop in it.
Tim looked at Mitch
ell, then Robert. “Is that true?”
Mitchell looked away, studying the wall. Robert had a slight upper lip, so when he smiled, his mouth was a sheen of teeth and hair. His voice came slick and sharp, like a scalpel. “You’re the boss.”
Tim turned back to Dumone. “Call me when they’re reconciled.”
Dumone’s shoes shushed across the rug as he approached. He stood over Tim, gazing down at him. His face, a blend of wear and texture, held in it a dark-tinted element of calm that Tim thought might be wisdom. “We’d like an answer now.”
“We need an answer now,” Robert said. “Either this proposal strikes a chord with you or it doesn’t. There’s no thinking about it.”
“This isn’t a gym membership,” Tim said.
“Our offer terminates the minute you walk out that door,” Rayner said.
“I don’t negotiate like this.”
Now Mitchell-“Those are our terms.”
“All right, then.” Tim stood and walked out.
Rayner caught him outside near the gate. “Mr. Rackley. Mr. Rackley!”
Tim turned, keys in his hand.
Rayner’s face was red with the cold, and his breath was visible. His shirt had come untucked. He looked less smug out here, away from his first-among-equals reign in the library. “I apologize for that. I can be a little…firm sometimes. We’re just eager to begin our work.” He moved to rest his hand on the trunk of Tim’s car but stopped, his fingertips hovering an inch off the metal. He seemed to have a tough time manufacturing his next words. “You are our top choice. Our sole choice. We took a great deal of care in selecting you. If you don’t sign on, we have to start the search over-a long process. Take more time if you need it.”
“I intend to.”
Tim pulled out into the street. When he glanced into his rearview mirror, Rayner was still standing in front of the house, watching him drive off.
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