"All rise," said the bailiff. "This honorable court is now in session."
Rosencrance took her seat, told everyone else to do the same, and spoke the words Quinn had been waiting for. "Bring in the defendant," she said.
Quinn watched Catherine O'Rourke enter through the side door, her posture perfect, her head held high. She was too thin after a few months of jailhouse food, but she still looked great-elegant, triumphant, her face practically radiating grace. She was, Quinn thought, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
He couldn't help but feel a surge of triumph as she came and sat next to him. She obviously knew about the events of last night; he could see it in her eyes. Freedom looked good on Catherine O'Rourke.
Quinn put his left arm around the back of her chair and tried to ignore the pain in his ribs. "You heard?"
"Jamarcus told me early this morning," Catherine whispered. Her eyes teared up, and she placed her hand on Quinn's knee. "I don't know what to say, how to thank you. When I had that vision last night-you in the electric chair-it felt like I was dying myself."
Quinn wasn't good at touchy-feely, especially in the middle of a trial. "All in a day's work," he quipped as Rosencrance ordered the bailiff to bring in the jury. If Quinn let himself get emotional right now, there was no telling where it might lead. He would regret it later; he was sure of that. "Though sometimes I charge extra for shooting serial killers."
The jury filed in, staring at Quinn and Catherine. Especially Quinn. "By the way, you look great today," Quinn told Catherine, changing the subject. "Very media friendly."
This brought a quick blush, followed by a most unexpected request. "Can we do dinner tonight, Quinn? There's no other way I'd rather celebrate my first day of freedom than by having dinner with you."
He hesitated. Was she asking him out? It would have been the perfect ending to his greatest triumph as a trial lawyer. Attorney Quinn Newberg, slayer of the Avenger of Blood, rides off into the sunset with his beautiful client. He had dreamed for weeks about what it might feel like to spend time with Catherine when they weren't separated by bulletproof glass and the need to focus on the case. He wanted to get to know the real Catherine. He wanted to hear her dreams and appreciate her wit and know what it felt like to hold her.
"I can't," Quinn said.
She looked hurt, and knowing he had caused that pain ripped at his heart.
"There are some things you don't know about me," he told her. "Reasons it could never work."
"Why don't you let me be the judge of that?" she asked.
With the jury in the box, the courtroom fell into a hushed silence. Boyd Gates was on his feet. Rosencrance asked him if he had a motion to make.
"I do, Your Honor." Gates buttoned his suit coat and squared his shoulders, always the soldier.
Quinn took a deep breath, felt a sharp bite of pain in his ribs, and leaned close to Catherine's ear. These would be the hardest words he could ever remember uttering. "It's best for both of us this way, Catherine. Another time, another place, things might have been different."
"Judge, we would ask you to dismiss with prejudice the charges against the defendant," Gates said. As part of the deal negotiated during the early morning hours, Gates had also agreed to nol pros the additional felony assault charge he had filed against Catherine for attacking Holly. Quinn had agreed that Gates could save face by dropping that charge quietly at a later date, as opposed to now in open court.
Gates turned toward Catherine and Quinn, causing Quinn to turn his attention to the prosecutor.
"I'm sorry that you had to endure this ordeal," Gates said softly to Catherine. Without waiting for a response, he turned to face the court again. "As Your Honor knows, we have arrested Marc Boland and will be charging him with three counts of kidnapping, four counts of conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of felony murder, and two counts of attempted murder."
Gasps filled the courtroom, and the jury looked like they had collectively seen a ghost. Excited murmuring threatened to break into full-scale chaos while Rosencrance banged her gavel, attemping to restore order.
"Mr. Newberg," she said, "I take it you have no objection to the commonwealth's motion to dismiss?"
Quinn stood and glanced at Catherine O'Rourke before he spoke. Another time, another place, it might definitely have been different.
"I think we can live with that, Your Honor."
106
Twenty-four hours.
After extensive discussions the previous night, Boyd Gates had faxed Quinn's written confession for the murder of Richard Hofstetter Jr. to Carla Duncan in Las Vegas. The fax had gone through a few minutes before 3 a.m. Eastern time. A few minutes later, at exactly midnight Pacific time, Carla Duncan had called and given Quinn twenty-four hours to turn himself in for questioning.
Carla had conceded the possibility that the confession could be entirely bogus, designed solely to entrap Marc Boland. Without more, she was not going to have Quinn arrested and extradited to Nevada. She probably considered him a minimal flight risk given the fact that Annie was in jail awaiting trial and relying on his legal services.
But Carla did insist that Quinn come in for questioning.
Twenty-four hours, not a minute longer. Quinn felt like Kiefer Sutherland in 24, except that this was real. And Quinn didn't have to save the entire world-just Annie and Sierra.
He landed at McCarren International Airport a few minutes after 2 p.m. on Tuesday, mindful that nearly fourteen hours had already passed. He met a trusted consultant at the airport, who rode with Quinn to the Signature Towers. The man was an electronics and audio geek, an expert who billed at five hundred an hour. Quinn would have paid him double.
"I can have what you need in a few hours," the man said.
Quinn called Richard Hofstetter Sr. and demanded an appointment at 6 p.m.
"Why should I agree to meet with you?" Hofstetter asked.
"Because you want the Oasis sale to go through," Quinn said.
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Hofstetter. "But maybe you'll inform me."
"See you at six," said Quinn.
He hung up with Hofstetter and made a phone call to Annie.
"It'll never work," she said after Quinn explained his plan.
"You got a better idea?" Quinn asked.
The Rogue's security guards escorted Quinn into Hofstetter's enormous office. Quinn was still wearing the suit coat and slacks from his courtroom appearance that morning in Virginia Beach, his white shirt open at the collar.
"I heard about the case," Hofstetter said. "Congratulations."
"Thanks."
"How's the eye?" Hofstetter asked, nodding toward Quinn's swollen cheek.
"Better than the ribs," Quinn said.
One of the security guards pulled out a metal wand to check Quinn for weapons and recording devices.
"Hold your hands straight out to your side," he said.
"I can't," Quinn said, giving the man a fake grimace. "Torn rotator cuff, remember?"
"You really ought to get that fixed," said Hofstetter.
They wanded Quinn and picked up a signal from his suit coat pocket. Quinn pulled out a digital recorder and held it in front of him.
"My, my," said Hofstetter. "I thought that was illegal in the state of Nevada. A man could lose his law license, you know."
Quinn smirked. "Secretly recording a conversation is illegal. Playing back a prior one is not."
Hofstetter placed his elbows on the desk and studied Quinn over the top of his fists. The man's square face was tan, contrasting with whiter skin in the shape of sunglasses around his eyes. His hairline was unnaturally even, the precise result of a multitude of hair plugs. The eyes held a death wish for Quinn-a mutual loathing, Quinn realized. "This better be good," Hofstetter said.