Gone, but not forgotten

Chapter Nine

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Tannenbaum," Alan Page said when Betsy was seated across his desk in front of him. "Randy Highsmith was very impressed with the way you handled the Hammermill case. He had nothing but nice things to say about you. That's really high praise, because Randy hates to lose."

"I think Randy might not have brought the charges if he knew how brutal Andrea's husband was."

"That's being charitable. Let's face it. Randy thought he'd run over you. You taught him a good lesson. Losing "Hammermill" will make Randy a better prosecutor. But you're not here to talk about old business, are you? You're here to talk about Martin Darius."

"Detective Barrow must have called you at home at the phone number he wouldn't give me."

"Ross Barrow's a good cop who knows how to follow orders."

"Do you want to tell me why you've arrested my client?"

"I think he murdered the four people we found buried at his construction site."

"That's obvious, Mr. Page "Why don't you call me Al?"

"I'd be glad to. And you may call me Betsy. Now that we're on a first-name basis, how about telling me why you searched Martin's house and arrested him?"

Page smiled. "Fraid I can't do that."

"Won't, you mean."

"Betsy, you know you're not entitled to discovery of our police reports until I've filed an indictment."

"You're going to have to tell the judge what you've got at the bail hearing."

"True. But that's not scheduled yet and there's no indictment, so I'm going to stick to the letter of the discovery statutes."

Betsy leaned back in her chair- and smiled sweetly.

"You must not have much confidence in your case, Al."

Page laughed to cover his surprise that Betsy had seen through him so easily.

"I've got plenty of confidence in our case," he lied.

"But I also have a healthy respect for your abilities. I won't make Randy's mistake of underestimating you. I must confess, though, that with your commitment to feminism I was surprised when Ross told me you were defending Darius."

"What does feminism have to do with my representation of Martin Darius?"

"Hasn't he told you what he's done?"

"Martin Darius has no idea why you're holding him and neither do I."

Page looked at her for a moment, then made a decision.

"I guess it's not fair leaving you completely in the dark, so I'll tell you that we plan to indict your client for the kidnapping, torture and murder of three women and one man."

Page took a color photo of Wendy Reiser's body out of a manila envelope and handed it to Betsy. She blanched." The picture had been taken right after the body had been dug up. The naked woman was sprawled in the mud.

Betsy could see the incisions on her stomach and the cuts and burn marks on her legs. She could also see Wendy Reiser's face clearly. Even in death, she seemed to be suffering.

"That's what Martin Darius does to women, Betsy, and this may not be the first time He's done it. We have pretty solid information that ten years ago a man named Peter Lake murdered six women in Hunter's Point, New York, in much the same way these victims were murdered. We also have conclusive proof that Peter Lake and Martin Darius are the same person.

You might want to ask your client about that.

"One other thing. There's another missing woman.

This is a one-time offer: If she's alive and Darius tells us where she is, we might be able to deal."

The jail elevator opened onto a narrow concrete hallway painted in yellow and brown pastels. Across from the elevator were three solid doors. Betsy used the key the guard had given her when she checked in at the visitor's desk. The middle door opened into a tiny room. In front of her was a wall divided in half by a narrow ledge. Below the ledge was concrete; above, a window of bulletproof glass.

Betsy placed her legal pad on the ledge, sat down on an uncomfortable metal folding chair and picked up the receiver on the phone that was attached to the wall to her left.

On the other side of the glass, Martin Darius lifted his receiver. He was dressed in an orange jumpsuit, but he still looked as imposing as he had in her office. His hair and beard were combed and he sat erect and at ease.

Darius leaned forward until he was almost touching the glass. His eyes looked a little wild, but that was the only sign of discontent.

"When is the bail hearing scheduled?" Darius asked.

"It isn't."

"I told you I wanted out of here. You should have scheduled the hearing first thing this morning."

"This isn't going to work. I'm an attorney, not a gofer. If you want someone to order around I'll refer you to a maid service."

Darius stared at Betsy for a moment, then flashed an icy smile of concession.

"Sorry. Twelve hours in this place doesn't help your disposition."

"I met with Alan Page, the district attorney, this morning. He had some interesting things to tell me. He also showed me the crime scene photographs. The three women were tortured, Martin. I've seen a lot of cruelty, but nothing like this. The killer didn't just end their lives, he slaughtered them. Tore them open Betsy stopped, as the memory of what she'd seen took her breath away. Darius watched her. She waited for him to say something. When he didn't, she asked:

"Does any of this sound familiar?"

"I didn't kill those women."

"I didn't ask you if you killed them. I asked if anything about the crimes sounded familiar."

Darius studied Betsy. She didn't like the way he made her feel like a lab specimen.

"Why are you interrogating me?" Darius asked. "You work for me, not the da."

"Mr. Darius, I decide whom I work for and right now I'm not so sure I want to work for you."

"Page said something, didn't he. He played with your head."

"Who is Peter Lake?"

Betsy expected a reaction, but not the one she got.

The look of icy calm deserted Darius. His lip trembled.

He looked, suddenly, like a man on the verge of tears.

"So Page knows about Hunter's Point."

"You haven't been honest with me, Mr. Darius."

"is that what this is all about?" Darius asked, pointing at the bulletproof glass. "Is that why you didn't ask for a contact visit? Are you afraid to be locked in with me? Afraid I'll Darius stopped. He put his head in his hands.

"I don't think I'm the right person to represent you," Betsy told him.

"Why?" Darius asked, his voice filled with pain.

"Because Page claims I raped and murdered those women? Did you refuse to represent Andrea Hammermill when the district attorney said she murdered her husband?"

"Andrea Hammermill was the victim of a husband who beat her constantly during her marriage."

"But she killed him, Betsy. I did not murder those women. I swear it. I did not kill anyone in Hunter's Point. I was Peter Lake, but, do you know who Peter Lake was? Did Page tell you that? Does he even know?

"Peter Lake was married to the most wonderful woman in the world. He was the father of a perfect child.

A little girl who never hurt anyone. And his wife and daughter were murdered by a madman named Henry Waters for an insane reason Peter could never fathom.

"Peter was a lawyer. He made money hand over fist.

He lived in a magnificent house and drove a fancy car, but all that money and everything he owned couldn't make him forget the wife and daughter who'd been taken from him. So he ran away. He assumed a new identity and started a new life, because his old life was impossible to bear."

Darius stopped talking. There were tears in his eyes Betsy did not know what to think. Moments ago, she was convinced Darius was a monster. Now, seeing his pain, she wasn't so sure.

"I'll make you a deal, Betsy," Darius said, his voice barely above a whisper. "If you reach the point where you don't believe I'm innocent, you can walk away from my case with my blessing, and you can keep your retainer."

Betsy did not know what to say. Those pictures. She couldn't stop wondering how the women felt in those first, long moments of terror, knowing that the best that could ever happen to them in the rest of their lives was a death that would bring an end to their pain.

"It's all right," Darius said, "I know how you feel.

You only saw the pictures. I saw the dead bodies of my wife and my child. And I still see them, Betsy."

Betsy felt ill. She took a deep breath. She could not stay in the narrow room any longer. She needed air. And she needed to find out a lot more about Peter Lake and what happened in Hunter's Point.

"Are you okay?" Darius asked.

"No, I'm not. I'm very confused."

"I know you are. Page laid a heavy trip on you. They said I'd be arraigned tomorrow. You get a good night's sleep and tell me what you've decided to do, then."

Betsy nodded.

"Two things, though," Darius said, looking directly at Betsy.

"What's that?"

"if you decide to keep me as a client, you've got to fight like hell for me."

"And the other thing?"

"From now on, I want every visit to be a contact visit. No more glass cage. I don't want my lawyer treating me like a zoo animal."