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.'
Chapter Ten
As soon as Rita Cohen opened the door wide enough, Kathy squeezed through and raced into the kitchen.
'You didn't buy that bubble-gum-flavored cereal again, did you, Mom?'
Betsy asked.
'She's a little kid, Betsy. Who could stand that healthy stuff you feed her all the time? let her live.'
'That's what I'm trying to do. If it was up to you, she'd be on an all-cholesterol diet.'
'When I was growing up, we didn't know from cholesterol. We ate what made us happy, not the same stuff you feed horses. And look at me.
Seventy-four and still going strong.'
Betsy hugged her mother and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Rita was only five feet four, so Betsy had to bend down to do it. Betsy's dad never topped five feet nine. No one could figure where Betsy got her height.
'How come there's no school?' Rita asked.
'It's another teacher planning day. I forgot to read the flyer they sent home, so I didn't know until yesterday evening, when Kathy mentioned it.'
'You have time for a cup of coffee?' Rita asked.
Betsy looked at her watch. It was only seven-twenty.
They would not let her into the jail to see Darius until eight.
'Sure,' she said, dropping the backpack with Kathy's things on a chair and following her mother into the living room. The television was already on, tuned to a morning talk show.
'Don't let her watch too much TV,' Betsy said, sitting down on the couch. 'I packed some books and games for her.'
'A little television isn't going to kill her any more than that cereal.'
Betsy laughed. 'One day with you undoes all the good habits I've instilled in a year. You're an absolute menace.
'Nonsense,' Rita answered gruffly, pouring two cups of coffee from the pot she had prepared in expectation of Betsy's visit. 'So, what are you doing this morning that's so important you had to abandon that lovely angel to such an ogre?'
'You've heard of Martin Darius?'
'Certainly.'
'I'm representing him.'
'What did he do?'
'The da. thinks Darius raped and killed the three women they found at his construction site. He also thinks Darius tortured and killed six women in Hunter's Point, New York, ten years ago.'
'Oh, my God! Is he guilty?'
'I don't know. Darius swears he's innocent.'
'And you believe him?'
Betsy shook her head. 'It's too early to say.'
'He's a rich man, Betsy. The police wouldn't arrest someone that important without proof.'
'if I took the State's word for everything, Andrea Hammermill and Grace Peterson would be in prison today.'
Rita looked concerned. 'Should you be representing a man who rapes and tortures women after all the work you've done for women's rights?'
'We don't know that he tortured anyone, Mom, and that feminist label is something the press stuck on me. I want to work for women's rights, but I'm not just a woman's lawyer. This case will help me be seen as more than one-dimensional. It could make my career. And, more important, Darius may be innocent. The da. won't tell me why he thinks Darius is guilty. That makes me very suspicious. If he had the goods on Darius he'd be confident enough to tell me what he's got.'
'I just don't want to see you get hurt.'
'I won't get hurt, Mom, because I'll do a good job. I learned something when I won Grace's case. I have a talent. I'm a very good trial attorney. I have a knack for talking to jurors. I'm damned good at cross- examination.
If I win this case, people across the country are going to know how good I am, and that's why I want this case so badly. But I'm going to need your help.'
'What do you mean?'
'The case is going to go on for at least a year. The trial could last for months. With the State asking for the death penalty, I'm going to have to fight every step of the way, and the case is extremely complicated. It's going to take — all my time. We're talking about events that occurred ten years ago. I've got to find out everything there is to know about Hunter's Point, Darius's background.
That means I'll be working long hours and weekends and I'm going to need help with Kathy. Someone has to pick her up from day care, if I'm tied up in court, make her dinner 'What about Rick?'
'I can't ask him. You know why.'
'No, I don't know why. He's Kathy's father. He's also your husband. He should be your biggest fan.'
'Well, he's not. He's never accepted the fact that I'm a real lawyer with a successful practice.'
'What did he think you'd be doing when you hung out your shingle?'
'I think he thought it was going to be a cute bobby like stamp collecting, something to keep me occupied when I wasn't cooking dinner or cleaning.'
'Well, he is the man of the house. Men like to feel they're in charge.
And here you are, getting all the headlines and talking on the television.'
'Look, Mom, I don't want to discuss Rick. Do you mind? I just get angry.'
'All right, I won't discuss him and, of course, I'll help.'
'I don't know how I'd make it without you, Mom.'
Rita blushed and waved a hand at Betsy. 'That's what mothers are for.'
'Granny,' Kathy yelled from the kitchen, 'I can't find the chocolate syrup.'
'Why would she want chocolate syrup at seven thirty in the morning?'
Betsy asked menacingly.
'None of your business,' Rita answered imperiously.
'I'm coming, sweetheart. It's too high up. You can't reach it.'
