"How about a beer after work?" asked Dawes.
Marilyn smiled and blushed a little, closing the door behind her.
Abelera, an arm on each rest, sat up straight and considered Brerkus. Then he looked at Merci.
"I've been working law enforcement for almost thirty years," he said. "And I've never seen the DA eager to file and the detectives not. It's always the other way around. So, here I am, not yet a year on the job, and you're making department history."
"It's our way of welcoming you," said Brenkus. "I feel very welcomed, then," said Abelera. His face was sharp angles and his smile looked easy and genuine. "Merci, Paul, I want to start with the prosecutors because I know they're ready to file. After that, I'll hear from you, okay? Clay, Ryan-tell me why we should arrest and charge my deputy."
The district attorney looked at his assistant and nodded.
"Because he murdered his wife and tried to murder himself," said Dawes, looking at Abelera. "Why did he do that? Because he's a manipulator, and like most manipulators, when things didn't go his way he turned into a coward. A violent coward. First, the deputy and Gwen were under financial duress-they'd spent almost nine hundred grand in the last six months, and they were living on one income-a deputy's. Which is about fifty grand a year if he works overtime. And the deputy worked a lot of overtime in the last two years. He knew the whole financial burden was on him. New home, new cars, trips all over the place. This is easy enough to establish.
"Second, I'll prove that Archie Wildcraft was a jealous and manipulative husband. He had a temper. Gwen was beautiful and knew how to use it-her friends will attest to that part of her character. Archie was angry a lot. Gwen couldn't figure out why he was so angry all the time. It must have been kind of scary. But I can figure it. Any of us can. It's because he was going broke and he's losing his wife. Losing his wife. His prize. His trophy. They get in a fight and he throws a rock through a window. They yell at each other. The neighbors hear them. That night he's planned a big party for her, but she doesn't appreciate it. She flirts shamelessly. She drinks a little too much. At home he demands sex, she won't do it. He forces her. She gives in against her will because she can't fight him physically. He's six-three and weighs two hundred and five pounds. Besides, this has happened before. So she gives in to him, but that's not enough for this guy because nothing's ever been enough for this guy because he's a manipulator and a coward. He drinks, he broods, he wants sex again and she locks herself in the bathroom with a cell phone because she thinks he might be losing it and she's afraid. She's right but not right enough. The guy comes through the door with a lot more than sex in mind. He's got his nine, he pulls. She falls and he jams it against her head and pulls again. It's a mess in there. It smells like blood and gunpowder and his beautiful wife's dying on the floor. So he leaves her there, goes outside and kills himself too. That's what he wanted all along, was just to get out of this, end it, but he couldn't leave his wife alive for his friends to take care of, could he? Not when she's the cause most of this. Trouble is, the bullet takes a lucky turn inside his head and he doesn't die. He wakes up and realizes, hey, I'm alive and I've got another chance at things. He figures out that he can say anything he wants about that night and there's nobody to contradict him. So remembers certain things. But then again, he also forgets other thinks. Guess what-he can even make things up. This is what he's doing ladies and gentlemen of the jury: he's manipulating you just like he manipulated his wife."
Dawes turned to Merci. "But guess what? None of that really matters too much because this case will be decided on physical evidence. Here are some things that the deputy cannot deny, because they a proven facts. We have no evidence that there was another person on the property that night, let alone inside the deputy's house. We know the deputy was home that night. We know that the deputy owned the gun that killed her. We know the gun was in his possession that night. We know it was in his hand that night. We know he fired it that night. We know his fingerprints are not only on the gun that killed her but on the brass that contained the bullets that killed her. That means he loaded it as well as fired it. And again, who owned that nine millimeter? Whose gun was it? The deputy's. That, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is why you have to reach a verdict of guilty. That, Sheriff Abelera and District Attorney Brenkus, is why you need to file. That Sergeants Rayborn and Zamorra, is why you have to do your job and arrest him."
"Good," said Abelera. "The defense?"
"He can't prove all that," said Merci, ignoring the assistant DA. "He can't prove they were going broke, because they weren't. They' spent a lot of money in the last year because they'd made two million in a legitimate investment. It left the Wildcrafts about a million two after taxes. There are still almost two hundred grand in investment and accounts. Dawes can't prove that Archie was homicidally jealous-we're not getting that picture from friends and family at all. We're also not getting that she was an outrageous flirt, or that he was angry or that he was losing her. It wasn't Archie and Gwen arguing that day at all, and neither one of them threw anything through a window. The whole rape scene is bullshit. There's not a shred of evidence that it wasn't consensual sex. Next thing he's coming through the bathroom door with a gun, ready to shoot her? Why? There's no motivation to do that, if you realize they weren't going broke and they were happy and in love with each other. We've got three separate witnesses to two men in a black Cadillac STS leaving the scene. We've got footprints-big, size sixteens-in exactly the place a shooter would hide if he was waiting to take out Archie. We've got Archie Wildcraft's prints on his own gun, but no proof that he was even conscious when his fingers touched that gun. Of course his prints are on the brass-he loaded his own gun, for cryin' out loud. We need more time, sir. We think we found the black Caddy. Huge footprints all around it, just like under the tree at the Wildcrafts'. We've got some indication that it could have been a contract hit by La Erne. Dr. Stebbins said the bullet in Wildcraft's head could be anything from a twenty-two to a thirty-eight, which means a second weapon is possible. Which, if true, would sink Dawes's theory all the way to the bottom of the ocean. And Archie is remembering more about that night and events that led up to it. We need to polygraph him-which he's agreed to-and we might want to consider hypnosis, when he's had a few more days to equalize emotionally. We need time to investigate further. We're not ready. It's a loser in court and I won't put my name on it. Pure and simple."
Dawes didn't wait before he commented, "Besides the potty mouth, you'd make a decent defense counsel."
"Decent enough to beat you."
"I can't wait."
"You'll have to wait," said Merci. "Because I'll make an arrest when I've got the facts. Not just to give an assistant DA a headline maker."
"Merci," said Abelera.
"Another headline maker," said Dawes.
"Cool it, Ryan," said Brenkus.
"Do you want the truth, Rayborn, or just hugs and kisses from your department?" asked Dawes.
"Shut up, Ryan," said Brenkus. "This won't take us anywhere we need to go. Vince-let me speak now. There's some truth in what Dawes said, some truth in what Rayborn said. But be aware that we're getting a lot of calls about this. I know you are, too. The public is angry about it and they want action. Fine, we can put them off until we're ready-a pissed-off public never made a case. But I'm getting pressure from the news media, too, and we don't want that. They're speculating already that your department is being slow to investigate because you're covering for the deputy. If that gets into the air-ii people start to believe that-you set up an adversarial mood in this county, and I'm not convinced we're ready for that. Your predecessor brought some genuine distrust onto your department and it hasn't just vanished. That was bad cops covering for bad cops. People are eager to give you a chance, Vince, but they're going to be just as quick to hang you if they smell more secrecy and dishonesty coming from this office. Even if they just think they smell it."