Mombourquette appeared subdued. Excellent. Maybe he'd need stress leave. Elaine, on the other hand, had never looked better. Her eyes shone with the light of battle, her chin glowed.
“This is an outrage. I need to speak to my client alone.” I prepared to fight.
Mombourquette's ratty face brightened. “Take your time,” he said, scooting out of the interrogation room.
“Don't get your tail caught in the door,” I said.
As soon as it slammed shut, I turned to my alleged client. “You're enjoying this.”
“Well, it is an opportunity. Think of the profile for WAVE. You know, Camilla, at first I thought we had a disaster but on sober second thought, I realize this will give us some major media coverage.”
“Forget that, Elaine.”
“So it's a positve story. Which reminds me, why are you here? I thought you'd be out fielding interviews.”
“I'm your lawyer.”
“No, you're not.”
“I am now.”
“I thought you gave up your practice.”
“I'm a licensed Member of the Bar. Ready to go at a moment's notice.”
“Do you think I'll need a lawyer?”
“Yeah, right. Maybe a psychiatrist would be better.”
“No seriously, I mean, you can't buy this kind of publicity.” She gripped my arm. “It's great.”
“Trust me, it's a lot of things, but great isn't one of them.”
“C'mon, what can go wrong?”
“To begin with, you could get charged with murder in the first degree, go to trial, get convicted and because of the bizarre, premeditated aspects of the case, you could get the full weight of the law—twenty-five years. Of course, reformers are trying to get that extended so…who knows.”
“Camilla. You know perfectly well that won't happen. And you have to admit this presents such a wonderful opportunity to highlight the plight of battered women and to show the world people like Benning do exist and they can be stopped.”
“Please do not say that or you may be highlighting this very plight from a correctional facility. Might be another wonderful opportunity for you. You'll find many situations need fixing in the slammer. What a terrific outlet for your energy. Congratulations.”
“Don't be silly, Camilla. After all, it's not like I'm guilty.”
“It's so cute the way you think only the guilty go to jail.”
“Oh, come on.”
“No, you come on. Why do you think the system needs two sides, prosecution and defence?”
“Okay, sure, but lets face it. Most murderers get caught and they're fairly convicted.”
“Four little words for you: Marshall, Morin, Milgaard, Sophonow.”
This did not have the desired effect on Elaine. “You're right. I should get involved. There's only so many hours in the day but, I guess I should give the Elizabeth Fry Society a call. Maybe John Howard too. And what's the group that works with the falsely convicted? I feel a bit ashamed of myself that I've never done a thing for those people. Isn't there another organization that works to reopen hopeless cases? What's it called? Yes, I lose perspective sometimes.”
“Like right now, for instance. Look, forget your crusade. Just tell me what they asked and what you answered. And then don't say one word to anyone under any circumstances. Not to the police and especially not to the media.”
“Are you kidding? This is my chance. Nothing will shut me up.”
* * *
“Don't be like that, Conn. We're family. And besides, non-disclosure of pertinent information to the defence can get your carefully constructed case tossed out of court.” I didn't like the stubborn way McCracken's jaw jutted out. “You hear me? I said tossed out of court”
He shrugged.
“Hey, your call. No hard feelings,” I said. “Wonder if it's too late today to get a court order.”
McCracken turned his head and stared at the empty wall.
I said, “That is an exceptional wall. I wonder if we should get a camera and get a couple of shots of it, send them to the media.”
“Funny. You want to know what happened?”
“I want to know what she said.”
“No problem.” He reached into his rumpled suit pocket and yanked out a small white notebook.
“That's more like it.”
“Let's see, where are we? Oh, yeah,” He flipped the pages. Lucky he hadn't called my bluff about the judge, because I prefer to reserve court orders until my back is to the wall. “Okay, Camilla, here's what your client said.”
I held my breath.
“All right. To the first question, name and address, she refused to answer. Then she gave us the following responses:
“I don't believe I can answer that question.
“No, officer, I don't remember.
“Seems to have slipped my mind.
“I have no idea.
“Hard to say.
“Are you sure? I don't recall.
“It could be, but I'm not certain.
“I prefer not to comment.
“My mind is blank there.
“I must have been asleep.
“My apologies, officer, but what can I say?
“Gosh, I wish I could help but.…”
McCracken smirked when he snapped the notebook closed. “Lucky you, your client has no recollection of leaving the property on Echo Drive last night during the key hours when Benning would have been dumped in Confederation Square.”
I pursed my lips.
“She'll be a big hit with a judge. Can't wait to see that.”
That Elaine. There's no one in the world quite like her. “You have to admit she is polite.”
“She's the only person I can think of who's more irritating than you, Camilla.”
“Oh, come on, she's not trying to irritate you. She wants to protect WAVE.”
“Don't
