First to Die

Chapter 97

THE NEXT DAY, Jenks asked to meet again. Jill and I went to see him on the tenth floor. We wondered what was up. This time, there was no cat and mouse, no bullshit at all. Leff was there, but he rose, humbly, as soon as we came in. Jenks looked far less threatening in his gray prison garb. The worried look on his face was a clear message. "My client wants to make a statement," Leff announced as soon as we sat down. I was thinking, This is it. He wants to make a deal. He's seen how ridiculous it is to play this game. But he came out with something unexpected. "I'm being framed!" Jenks announced angrily. It took about a half second for Jill's glance to bump into mine. "I have to hear this again," she said. "What's going on?" She looked at Jenks, then at Leff. "We've got your client tied to all three crime scenes; we've got him in Cleveland at the time of the last murder; we've got him lying about a prior relationship with Kathy Kogut, one of the last victims; we've got his book detailing an astonishingly similar criminal pattern; we've got his facial hairs matched to one found in another victim's vagina. And you're claiming he's being framed?" "What I'm claiming," Jenks said, ashen faced, "is that I'm being set up." "Listen, Mr. Jenks," Jill said, still looking at Leff, "I've been doing this eight years. I've built cases on hundreds of criminals, put over fifty murderers behind bars myself. I've never seen such a preponderance of evidence implicating a suspect. Our case is so airtight it can't breathe." "I realize that." Jenks sighed. "And that I've given you every reason to find my plea implausible. I've lied about being in Cleveland, my relationship with Kathy. On the others, I can't even account for my whereabouts. But I also know setups. I've mapped out more of them than anybody. I'm a master at this. And I assure you, someone is setting me up." I shook my head with disbelief. "Who, Mr. Jenks?" Jenks sucked in a long breath. He actually looked scared. "I don't know." "Someone hates you enough to set all this up?" Jill couldn't hold back a snicker. "The little I know of you, I might buy that." She turned to Leff. "You looking forward to presenting this case?" "Just hear him out, Ms. Bernhardt," the lawyer pleaded. "Look," Jenks said, "I know what you think of me. I'm guilty of many things. Selfishness, cruelty, adultery. I have a temper; sometimes I can't hold it in. And with women… you can probably line up a dozen of them who would help put me away for these murders. But clear as that is, I did not kill these people. Any of them. Someone is trying to set me up. That's the truth. Someone has done a brilliant job."