The Cost of Commitment - KJ2

by Lynn Ames

  “Do you know who he was?”

  “I heard the other inmates call him Kumar. I do not know if that was his first or last name, or perhaps a nickname.” Kate took another sip of water before resuming her story. “When the others had dispersed, Kumar came and talked to me. He told me that kidnapping and murdering me was not their choice, but that it, as he said, afforded them an opportunity and they had to take it.”

  “What happened then?”

  Kate screwed up her face in concentration. “I’m not really sure. I lapsed in and out of consciousness for a period of time.”

  “You had a severe concussion, in addition to your broken bones.”

  “Yes, I was hit in the head a number of times, hard. My vision blurred occasionally and my head throbbed.”

  “But you are sure of the conversations you have related?”

  “Positive.” She nodded. “The next thing I remember is waking to hear the inmates fighting amongst themselves. I pretended to be asleep or unconscious when one of them came by to check on me.”

  “How much time had passed?”

  “It’s hard to say—the concept of time in there was measured simply by the moments I managed to stay alive.” She could hear Jay gasp from the spectator’s section. She tried to send her a reassuring look.

  “Understandable. What’s the next thing you remember?”

  “There was a commotion, and three men appeared in my cell. They handcuffed me with my hands in front of me.”

  “Your wrist was broken?”

  “Yes. The pressure of the handcuffs was excruciating.”

  “I’m sorry, go on.”

  “They shoved me out of the cell. I asked where we were going. I was told that we were going to talk to the media. I looked for a means of escape but couldn’t find one. Along the way, one of the inmates argued to keep the other three hostages.”

  “The three correction officers?”

  “Yes, they were also taken to the media.”

  “Did you talk to them?”

  The Cost of Commitment

  “No, I did not have the opportunity. In fact, that was the first time I was even aware that there were any other hostages.”

  “Okay, go on.”

  “When the one inmate argued for keeping the three correction officers, Kumar answered that it would jeopardize their position to do so—they were not part of the deal.”

  “So he indicated that the other three hostages weren’t supposed to be kidnapped and killed?”

  “Right.”

  “Is that why they let them go?”

  “Objection, Your Honor!” Breathwaite’s attorney was on his feet.

  “Calls for speculation.”

  “Sustained. Do not answer that question, Ms. Kyle.”

  “Kate,” the prosecutor began again, “what happened next?”

  “Kumar, two of the other inmates, and I entered Times Square, while the others stayed behind with the three corrections officers. I was allowed to answer one or two questions from the reporter, then I was taken back to my—back to the cell they were keeping me in.” Kate experienced once again the feeling of helplessness that had enveloped her when the cell door had slammed shut with her inside again. She fought against the tears that threatened.

  “It’s okay, Kate. Take a minute. It was a traumatic time.”

  “They began arguing amongst themselves again about whether they should kill me right away or turn me over to the authorities and beg forgiveness. I guess killing me must have won out,” she shrugged,

  “because someone—Kumar, I think—gave the order to ready the TV

  room.”

  “Why the TV room?”

  “That is where they planned to execute me.” Her heart ached at the terror etched on Jay’s face. She looked away.

  “Did they try to execute you?”

  “They injected me with a drug that I guess was supposed to knock me out so that I wouldn’t struggle. I fought with them, trying to keep them from putting the needle in me.” She was back in the cell, fighting for her life, twisting, turning, scrapping. She used every bit of remaining strength she had left trying to fight them off. She was sure that this was the end. But it couldn’t be. She wouldn’t leave Jay this way—she couldn’t. “Jay, I’m so sorry,” she whispered brokenly, just before she lost consciousness.

  “What? Kate? Did you say something? Are you all right?” The prosecutor approached the witness stand. “Your Honor, may we have a moment?”

  “Of course.”

  Lynn Ames

  “No,” Kate said, returning to the present. “I’m fine. Let me finish.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. After the drugs took effect, the next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital, with friends and family by my side.” She smiled lovingly at Jay, who still looked pale and shaken.

  “Very well, Kate. Thank you. No further questions, Your Honor.”

  “Mr. Nepperson, Mr. Green?”

  Breathwaite’s attorney stood. “Ms. Kyle, first, let me say how very sorry I am for your ordeal.”

  The only thing you’re sorry for, Kate thought, is that your client got caught.

  “Ms. Kyle, did you ever, at any time, hear any of your captors refer to my client by name?”

  “No.”

  “Excuse me, what was that? No?” Nepperson nodded, as if this were a revelation. “In that case, you really have no way of knowing whether or not it was Mr. Breathwaite to whom they were referring, now do you?”

  Kate didn’t answer.

  “I’m sorry, I’m afraid I didn’t hear your answer.”

  “No.”

  “So they could have been talking about anybody?”

  “They were talking about your client.”

  “But you don’t know that for a fact, now, do you? Let me ask you again: did they ever refer to this mysterious man on the outside by name?”

  “No.”

  “Thank you. No further questions, Your Honor.”

  “Mr. Green, any questions for the witness?”

  Redfield’s attorney looked up. “No, Your Honor.”

  The judge turned to Kate. “You may step down now. Court is adjourned until tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.” He gaveled the session to a close.

  Kate was standing in the antechamber when Jay came running in. She hugged her tightly, both of them dissolving into tears.

  “I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so, so sorry for what you went through.”

  “It’s okay, Jay. It’s over now. I’m sorry you had to relive it with me.”

  “No, I needed to know.”

  “Well, now you do.”

  “It helps explain some of your nightmares to me.”

  “Oh.”

  “It’s a good thing, Kate,” Jay said, trying to reassure her. “I feel better knowing.”

  “Okay.”

  “Are you all right? You want to go home?”

  The Cost of Commitment

  Kate sighed. “Let’s let the media clear out, then get out of here. I’d like to stay in town for the rest of the trial, though, especially now that I can sit in and listen.”

  “Okay, love. Let’s see the rest of this through together.”

  The prosecution rested the next day after calling Peter and Max Kingston to the stand to introduce the explosive audiotape of Breathwaite and Redfield’s conversations in the makeshift command center.

  The prosecutor smiled triumphantly when Breathwaite’s voice boomed throughout the courtroom.

  “Don’t you go getting holier-than-thou on me, Willy boy. You’re in this up to your neck. The plan was to get you installed as commissioner, just like you always wanted, then you were supposed to get rid of Kyle.

  You weren’t able to accomplish that on deadline, and that forced me to take action. If you had just done what you were supposed to do, this whole thing wouldn’t have happened.”

  “You orchestrated the entire riot?”

  “Merely a distraction for the main
event. The boys will call it off when the goal has been accomplished.”

  The tape of the second conversation was even more damning, as Breathwaite fumed, “You want those three officers out of harm’s way or not?”

  “Of course.”

  “The object here is to kill Kyle, and extract them safely. I’m just giving you a way to get that done.”

  Sitting in the audience and listening to the tapes, Kate was thunderstruck. The venom in Breathwaite’s voice sliced through her like razor blades. It was unfathomable that the man had coldly, cruelly calculated to kill her . For what? she thought. Because I was standing between him and a job. It doesn’t make any sense.

  One of the pieces to the puzzle fell into place when Breathwaite reminded Redfield in the tape of the first conversation that what he had wanted out of the deal was to be made DOCS commissioner. Another piece clicked when Breathwaite said that it was Redfield’s job, once in place, to get rid of Kate. She supposed he hadn’t been able to do that because she had the governor’s support. So Breathwaite had apparently taken matters into his own hands.

  Kate was convinced that there were still pieces missing.

  Beyond that, she worried that there would be insufficient evidence to convict Redfield—until the prosecutor played the sections where he took an active part in the plot, his voice caught on tape helping to advance the plan.

  Lynn Ames

  “Okay.” Redfield’s voice could clearly be heard. “I’ll get the Inmate Liaison Committee in here to make it look legitimate. We’ll have them present the offer to the eight inmates. Do you have a way of contacting them directly?”

  “Don’t go through the ILC. I have an ex-inmate I’m working with.

  I’ll have him give them the instructions. I’ve got him stashed nearby. If he goes in there, they’ll know the order is coming from me.”

  “If I don’t use the ILC, it might raise more questions.”

  “If you do go through them, there’s no guarantee the eight will know where the order is coming from. Not only that, but it means involving more inmates in the plan. I don’t think that’s wise, do you?”

  “I haven’t liked the plan from the beginning. This was your insane idea.”

  “Insane or not, you’re stuck with it now, Willy. It would behoove you to make the best of it.”

  In Kate’s mind, though, the final nail in Redfield’s coffin came when he admitted that he had deliberately ordered the CERT teams not to rescue her, despite Randy Garston’s wanting to send them in.

  Breathwaite said, “Your boy Randy’s not happy with your decisions.”

  “Neither am I, David. Where’s your contact man?”

  “He’s ready.”

  “How are we supposed to send him in with the message?”

  “I have an officer who will deliver him.”

  “We’re going to put another officer in jeopardy?”

  “No, he’s been acting as a go-between for weeks.”

  “Very clever.”

  “Thank you, Willy. Not only that, but he’ll escort the journalists as well. That way we can be sure there won’t be any stupid heroics.”

  “Just take care of it. I won’t be able to hold the CERT teams off forever.”

  Knowing with certainty that Redfield could have saved her but didn’t, instead going along with Breathwaite’s twisted plan, made Kate furious.

  She had never liked William Redfield, but she had never picked him as an accessory to kidnapping and murder. She was glad the evidence was clearly there to convict him. May he rot in hell, she thought, as the prosecutor sat down for the last time.

  Breathwaite’s defense lasted exactly three minutes. As he had already browbeaten the inmates and ex-con on cross-examination as to their credibility, Breathwaite’s attorney didn’t bother going through that again.

  His portrayal of them as pond scum with an axe to grind against anyone in a position of authority in his mind sufficiently eliminated them as The Cost of Commitment

  reliable witnesses. Instead, in a surprise move, he recalled Peter to the stand.

  “Mr. Enright, is it not true that, when you obtained the warrant for a wiretap, you were furious at Mr. Breathwaite for what you perceived to be poor treatment of Ms. Kyle, a personal friend of yours?”

  “Objection, Your Honor!” Levon Davis was on his feet before Nepperson had even finished his question. “The question of whether or not the wiretap was obtained legally and its admissibility was argued and settled during the preliminary hearings when he made a motion to suppress. This line of questioning should be disallowed.”

  The judge nodded. “Agreed. Mr. Nepperson, unless you have something unrelated to the wiretap issue to ask of this witness, I suggest you move on.” He glared at the attorney. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I would ask you to disregard the previous exchange.”

  “Your Honor, I was simply—”

  “That’s enough, Mr. Nepperson.” The judge pointed a finger in warning at the attorney. “I won’t hear another word about the wiretap or anything related to it.”

  “I rest my case, Your Honor,” Nepperson said smugly, having accomplished his goal of making the jury think about the circumstances of the wiretap.

  “Scumbag,” Jay said heatedly under her breath.

  “Easy, girl,” Kate patted her knee. “He’s just doing his job, disgusting as that may be.”

  In truth, Nepperson had spent the better part of the night before, as he had on one previous occasion, trying to convince his client to plead guilty to a lesser charge. Breathwaite, however, had vehemently refused.

  Nepperson sighed as he turned the floor over to Josiah Green. Well, he thought, I took my best shot.

  Redfield’s attorney called his client to the stand and asked him,

  “Were you aware in any way of Mr. Breathwaite’s plan?”

  “Objection, Your Honor!” This time it was Nepperson who was on his feet. “My client has not been found guilty of having involvement with any plan.”

  “Sustained. Counselor, you’re going to have to rephrase that question.”

  “Of course, Your Honor. Bill, did you know anything about the alleged plot to kidnap and kill Ms. Kyle?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Did you condone such a plot?”

  “No, sir.”

  “In fact, did you not act to save the lives you thought you could?”

  Lynn Ames

  “Yes, sir, I did. That is why I authorized the exchange for the three correction officers.”

  “Why did you not try to save Ms. Kyle, Bill?”

  “In my professional judgment, more lives would have been endangered by a rescue mission than would have been saved.”

  “So you didn’t send the teams in, not because you were trying to have her killed, but because you were trying not to jeopardize the lives of the rescue team?”

  “That is correct.”

  “Naturally,” Kate mumbled under her breath.

  “What a noble guy,” Jay answered behind her hand.

  “Thank you, Bill. That’s all.”

  The judge looked at all parties. “Any further witnesses?”

  There was a chorus of “no, Your Honors.”

  “Very well. Closing arguments begin tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m.

  sharp. Adjourned.”

  “What do you think, love?”

  “I don’t know what to think, Jay. I didn’t get to see the whole trial the way you did. I should probably be the one asking you. What do you think?”

  “I think I’d like to personally fry their butts.”

  Kate laughed. “Unfortunately, honey, they’re not eligible for the death penalty, even if there were one in New York at this stage, which there isn’t.”

  “In that case, I’ll settle for having them be some great, big badass’s concubine for the next eighty or ninety years.”

  Kate kissed her on the temple. “That’s what I love about you, honey.

  Not an ounce of vin
dictiveness in you.”

  “Oh,” Jay said sheepishly. “Were you looking for my objective reporter’s assessment of the case against them?”

  “Nah, I kind of like what I got instead. We’ll leave that objective stuff to the jury tomorrow.”

  “Sweetheart?”

  “Yes?” Kate drew the word out.

  “You do realize the inauguration is the day after tomorrow, right?”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “That means that you’ll have to be in D.C. before noon that day.”

  “Correction, Scoop—it means we’ll have to be in D.C. before noon. If you think I’m going to experience this once-in-a-lifetime thrill without you by my side, you’re crazy. Besides, I’m counting on dancing the night away with you at a minimum of eight inaugural balls.”

  The Cost of Commitment

  “Eight? Why stop there?”

  “You’re right. Let’s shoot for ten.”

  “That’s better. You scared me for a minute there, Stretch—I thought you might be slowing down.”

  “You wish.” Kate bumped Jay with her hip.

  “No, actually, that’s about the last thing I’d wish for.” Jay smiled mischievously.

  Kate and Jay shielded themselves as best they could from the elements—snow, wind, bitter cold, and the paparazzi—as they made their way into the courthouse the next morning.

  “I’ll tell you this much: I sure won’t miss this weather.”

  “You got that right. Washington is supposed to be a more moderate climate, right?”

  “Yes, you delicate flower, it is.”

  Jay gave her lover a mock glare. “Didn’t you just finish complaining about the weather?”

  “Yep.”

  “Then how is it that I’m the one who’s a delicate flower?”

  “The description just suits you better than it suits me.”

  Jay seemed to consider for a moment. “Yeah, I suppose it does, at that.”

  “I knew you’d see it my way.”

  “That is not a capitulation. I want to be clear about that.”

  “Oh, no, you didn’t give in at all.” Kate nodded agreeably.

  “I don’t like the way you said that.”