Killer Ambition - [66]
It was a good thing I got in a few deep breaths as I ran for the elevator, because the intense mix of perfume, body odor, and food in the densely packed crowd made me hold my breath again. I was lightheaded by the time I got back to my desk. As I dug through the work that’d piled up in my absence, my thoughts kept straying to the laptop, the bloodstain, the hair…everything I had to wait for. It was driving me nuts.
“How goes it?”
I looked up to see my boss, Eric, standing in my doorway. His wavy brown hair was unusually wild today, and in his rolled-up shirtsleeves and scuffed loafers, he presented the very picture of an “aw shucks” country boy lawyer. Which is why defense attorneys never saw him coming. And by the time they realized that he was the smoothest shark in the tank, it was too late.
“Yeah. We’ve got a lot of evidence cooking, but no results yet, so…”
“You’re waiting, and loving it.” Eric smiled. “Tell me what you’ve got.”
I gave him the latest developments, ending with my decision to bring in Daniel Rose as a Special Master.
He nodded approvingly. “It’s good to be cautious on this one.” Not usually my strong suit, but a lot of unusual was about to come my way.
A week later, news of Brian’s murder was finally announced, and it reinvigorated the press coverage, though we’d managed to keep a tight rein on the details. With no suspect in custody, media interest was a simmering cauldron-semi-contained, but ready to boil over at a moment’s notice. And if we did arrest Ian Powers, the case would go nuclear.
Eric stopped by my office, looking as anxious as I felt. “I’ll keep giving Vanderhorn the updates for now,” he told me, “but you’ll have to give me a major heads-up if it looks like Powers is getting arrested.”
My expression must’ve shown what I thought of having to put Vanderhorn in the loop. “There’s nothing he can do,” Eric said. “He can’t stop Bailey from making the arrest. But he does have to be prepared. The press will want a statement and-”
“The press will want it? Vanderhorn will trip over his own tie to get the press to take his statement.”
Eric gave a wry smile. “And you should be there when he does.”
Because he’d need someone around who actually knew something about the case when his good buddies in the fourth estate asked questions.
“What do you want to do with Jack Averly?” he asked.
“Unless we find proof that he’s the killer, I’d let him plead out for testimony.”
“Plead to what?”
“I can’t say right now. I don’t want to go there until I have something more on either him or Ian.”
Eric stared out the window, momentarily silent. When he looked back at me, his expression was concerned. “Going after a big wheel like Powers is a dangerous thing, Rachel. If this goes to trial, Ian’s defense will go after you with everything they’ve got. In every media outlet available. They’ll make up stories to undermine your credibility and your integrity. And it’ll all creep into the courtroom because they’ll have the press at their beck and call. Forget about fact-checking or corroborating sources; it’ll go straight out from the lying horse’s mouth.”
He spoke with a quiet intensity that told me this was no general warning. “Been there?”
Eric nodded. “Huge fraud case. The defendant owned several banks and he cost the customers millions.”
“Do I know about this one?” It sounded familiar, but not recent.
“It was years ago. Just before I got transferred over here to head up Special Trials. It was the day before jury selection, and I was supposed to meet some friends at a bar near my old office in Norwalk. While I was waiting, this tipsy girl starts flirting with me. The next thing I know, she’s sitting on my lap, unbuttoning my shirt-it was crazy. I pushed her off and eventually she gave up and left, but the next day, there was a story in one of the tabloids about the prosecutor having an affair with a teenager. The story got picked up by the local press and it almost cost me the case-and my job.”
“But it didn’t. And it obviously didn’t hurt your career any.”
“I was lucky, not smart. The bartender knew something was fishy and he was able to identify the person who took the picture as one of the defendant’s buddies. The whole thing blew up in their faces, and the press was happy to carry that part of the story too. But a fraud case is nowhere near as sexy as this one, Rachel. It’s a bad combination of heavy hitters, money, celebrity, and a glamorous world. The press will be crawling all over this the moment you file, and every eye in the country will be glued.”
I nodded.
“If your killer turns out to be Jack Averly, just a loser dope dealer, it’ll stay manageable. But if it turns out to be Ian Powers…you’ve got yourself one gigantic cluster fuck.”
I let the information sink in. Eric’s story was chilling, but I appreciated his telling me. Forewarned is forearmed as they say, though I had no idea what I could do about it if Ian’s people decided to set me up. “Thanks, Eric.”
“Keep me in the loop. I’ll do what I can to manage Vanderhorn.”
“Will do.”
First in a new series from bestselling author and famed O. J. Simpson trial prosecutor Marcia Clark, a "terrific writer and storyteller" (James Patterson).Samantha Brinkman, an ambitious, hard-charging Los Angeles criminal defense attorney, is struggling to make a name for herself and to drag her fledgling practice into the big leagues. Sam lands a high-profile double-murder case in which one of the victims is a beloved TV star – and the defendant is a decorated veteran LAPD detective. It promises to be exactly the kind of media sensation that would establish her as a heavy hitter in the world of criminal law.Though Sam has doubts about his innocence, she and her two associates (her closest childhood friend and a brilliant ex-con) take the case.
In Marcia Clark's most electrifying thriller yet, Los Angeles District Attorney Rachel Knight investigates a horrifying high school massacre.A Columbine-style shooting at a high school in the San Fernando Valley has left a community shaken to its core. Two students are identified as the killers. Both are dead, believed to have committed a mutual suicide.In the aftermath of the shooting, LA Special Trials prosecutor Rachel Knight teams up with her best girlfriend, LAPD detective Bailey Keller. As Rachel and Bailey interview students at the high school, they realize that the facts don't add up.
TROUBLE IN PARADISE is an all-new short story featuring Rachel Knight, star of thrillers GUILT BY ASSOCIATION and GUILT BY DEGREES.Rachel Knight and her friends Toni and Bailey are taking a break from their busy, crime-focussed lives with a trip to tropical island paradise Aruba. But trouble is never far away from these three, and on their first day their investigative skills are called on when a reality TV child star goes missing…
Without a Doubt is not just a book about a trial. It's a book about a woman. Marcia Clark takes us inside her head and her heart. Her voice is raw, incisive, disarming, unmistakable. Her story is both sweeping and deeply personal. It is the story of a woman who, when caught up in an event that galvanized an entire country, rose to that occasion with singular integrity, drive, honesty and grace.In a case that tore America apart, and that continues to haunt us as few events of history have, Marcia Clark emerged as the only true heroine, because she stood for justice, fought the good fight, and fought it well.
Someone has been watching D.A. Rachel Knight-someone who's Rachel's equal in brains, but with more malicious intentions. It began when a near-impossible case fell into Rachel's lap, the suspectless homicide of a homeless man. In the face of courthouse backbiting and a gauzy web of clues, Rachel is determined to deliver justice. She's got back-up: tough-as-nails Detective Bailey Keller. As Rachel and Bailey stir things up, they're shocked to uncover a connection with the vicious murder of an LAPD cop a year earlier.
Будущее Джимми Кьюсака, талантливого молодого финансиста и основателя преуспевающего хедж-фонда «Кьюсак Кэпитал», рисовалось безоблачным. Однако грянул финансовый кризис 2008 года, и его дело потерпело крах. Дошло до того, что Джимми нечем стало выплачивать ипотеку за свою нью-йоркскую квартиру. Чтобы вылезти из долговой ямы и обеспечить более-менее приличную жизнь своей семье, Кьюсак пошел на работу в хедж-фонд «ЛиУэлл Кэпитал». Поговаривали, что благодаря финансовому гению его управляющего клиенты фонда «никогда не теряют свои деньги».
Очнувшись на полу в луже крови, Роузи Руссо из Бронкса никак не могла вспомнить — как она оказалась на полу номера мотеля в Нью-Джерси в обнимку с мертвецом?
Действие романа происходит в нулевых или конце девяностых годов. В книге рассказывается о расследовании убийства известного московского ювелира и его жены. В связи с вступлением наследника в права наследства активизируются люди, считающие себя обделенными. Совершено еще два убийства. В центре всех событий каким-то образом оказывается соседка покойных – молодой врач Наталья Голицына. Расследование всех убийств – дело чести майора Пронина, который считает Наталью не причастной к преступлению. Параллельно в романе прослеживается несколько линий – быт отделения реанимации, ювелирное дело, воспоминания о прошедших годах и, конечно, любовь.
Егор Кремнев — специальный агент российской разведки. Во время секретного боевого задания в Аргентине, которое обещало быть простым и безопасным, он потерял всех своих товарищей.Но в его руках оказался секретарь беглого олигарха Соркина — Михаил Шеринг. У Шеринга есть секретные бумаги, за которыми охотится не только российская разведка, но и могущественный преступный синдикат Запада. Теперь Кремневу предстоит сложная задача — доставить Шеринга в Россию. Он намерен сделать это в одиночку, не прибегая к помощи коллег.
Опорск вырос на берегу полноводной реки, по синему руслу которой во время оно ходили купеческие ладьи с восточным товаром к западным и северным торжищам и возвращались опять на Восток. Историки утверждали, что название городу дала древняя порубежная застава, небольшая крепость, именованная Опорой. В злую годину она первой встречала вражьи рати со стороны степи. Во дни же затишья принимала застава за дубовые стены торговых гостей с их товарами, дабы могли спокойно передохнуть они на своих долгих и опасных путях.
Из экспозиции крымского художественного музея выкрадены шесть полотен немецкого художника Кингсховера-Гютлайна. Но самый продвинутый сыщик не догадается, кто заказчик и с какой целью совершено похищение. Грабители прошли мимо золотого фонда музея — бесценной иконы «Рождество Христово» работы учеников Рублёва и других, не менее ценных картин и взяли полотна малоизвестного автора, попавшие в музей после войны. Читателя ждёт захватывающий сюжет с тщательно выписанными нюансами людских отношений и судеб героев трёх поколений.