You've got three choices: You quit, you sit and take it or you fight back. If you choose column A or column B, you might as well concede the election and go on vacation.'
Crease blew a stream of smoke toward the ceiling. Then she looked at Orchard.
'You know the first thing I'm gonna do when I'm elected to the United States Senate, Henry? I'm going to get the embargo of Cuba lifted so I can smoke these cigars in public.'
Orchard grinned broadly. 'That's my girl! Now, I've got some ideas about how we can use Judge Quinn's statement.'
'Hold on to them until tomorrow, Henry. I'm meeting with Mary Garrett tonight. I might have something that will bring us back, but I've got to talk to her before I tell you about it.'
'What's Garrett have to do with your campaign?'
'I can't tell you. But it will be worth the wait. If I decide to go public with what I know, I've got to make sure that I don't burn myself. So hold on until tomorrow. Then we'll see.'
[2]
The Multnomah County District Attorney's Office was deserted on Sunday afternoon, so Leroy Dennis and Lou Anthony were the only people who witnessed Cedric Riker's tirade.
'Can you tell me what the fuck is going on here?' Riker swore when the detectives finished their account of the Saturday shoot-out at the courthouse.
'It's confusing, Ced,' Leroy Dennis told the D. A.
'Confusing?' Riker raged. 'What do you find confusing? It looks like simple math to me. By my count that bitch has now killed two people. We usually send serial killers to death row. What are you two geniuses proposing? That I give her a marksmanship medal?'
'Just listen to Leroy, Ced,' Anthony told the D. A. in his most conciliatory tone.
'I'm all ears.'
'Before Saturday, it looked like Senator Crease paid Jablonski to kill her husband. Then the evidence started pointing to Lamar, Jr. Now there's a possibility that Senator Gage is involved.'
'Gage! What are you talking about? Are you accusing Benjamin Gage of murder?'
'We're not accusing anyone right now.'
'Well, that's a relief. Ben happens to be a close personal friend of mine and one of my staunchest supporters. Not to mention the fact that he is a United States senator.'
'I'm just saying that there is a lot of circumstantial evidence pointing at people other than Ellen Crease. We may have acted too hastily when we arrested her.'
'Lou, I went to the grand jury on Crease on your say-so. Are you telling me that we indicted an innocent woman?'
Anthony flushed. 'We might have.'
'Where does Senator Gage come in?' Riker asked.
'Karen Fargo was paid to come forward. The day after she came in to see me five thousand dollars was deposited in her bank account and she was offered a job at a business owned by one of Gage's supporters. This morning I took Fargo to a TV studio to view a videotape that showed Ryan Clark, Gage's administrative assistant. She identified him as the person who bribed her.'
'Shit!' Riker swore as he paced back and forth in front of the detectives.
'There's a lot of circumstantial evidence linking Brademas to Junior,' Leroy Dennis said, 'but Brademas could have sold out Crease to Gage. We think we have enough to bring in Gage for questioning.'
Riker spun around and glared at Dennis.
'You are not going to drag a United States senator down to the station house.'
'Where do you suggest that we question him?' Anthony asked calmly.
'Damn,' Riker muttered. He paced to the window and back. 'I'll call Gage. We'll talk to him someplace where the press won't see us.' Riker pointed a finger at Anthony. 'I don't want one word of this getting out. Meanwhile, you concentrate on Lamar Hoyt.'
Anthony did not say anything. He knew Riker owed Gage. Everyone knew that. But he didn't owe Gage a thing and he would follow the investigation where it led him.
[3]
Mary Garrett closed her office door behind Ellen Crease and studied the senator as she crossed the room. After what her client had been through, she expected some sign of wear, but Crease looked confident, poised and full of fight. Crease had asked for this emergency meeting, so Garrett waited for her client to explain what she wanted.
'Mary, I need your advice,'' Crease said without preliminaries.
'That's what you pay me for.'
Crease told her lawyer what had happened at the courthouse. When she finished, she hesitated and suddenly looked troubled.
'This is the difficult part, Mary, because it may mean betraying the trust of someone who came to me for help. But we're also dealing with political realities here and the current reality is that I don't stand a chance in hell of winning the primary if something dramatic doesn't happen quickly.'
'If the police pin your husband's murder on Jack Brademas and Junior, that will be pretty dramatic.'
'We don't know if that will happen. Gage is already using his stalking horses to suggest that I may still be guilty and that Brademas could have been my accomplice. If Junior doesn't confess, the killing will remain officially unsolved.'
'What about going public with the fact that Gage bribed Fargo to come forward?'
'I've thought about that. Gage can admit he paid Fargo, then claim credit for bringing a witness forward. Some people will think what he did was sleazy, but they're not going to vote for me if my name hasn't been cleared.'
Crease looked very uncomfortable. 'Before I tell you anything more, I need your promise that nothing I say will leave this room unless I consent to it.'
'Of course. That's all covered by attorney-client confidentiality.'
'Would attorney-client confidentiality cover information I gave you about the criminal actions of another person?'
'Yes. It covers anything you tell me with a few exceptions that don't apply here.'
'Would the privilege apply even if the person who committed the criminal acts was a judge and he committed them while acting in his capacity as a judge?'
Garrett frowned.
'What's this all about, Ellen?'
Garrett had never seen her client look so uncertain.
'I feel awful about this, but my political future and my reputation are at stake.'
Crease told Garrett what Richard Quinn had confided to her on the night that he was attacked in the garage. As Crease related the details of the blackmail plot, Garrett looked incredulous. When she explained Paul Baylor's alternative explanation of the blood spatter evidence, Garrett took careful notes. When Crease told Garrett that Quinn had confessed that he fixed the motion to suppress, the lawyer looked stunned.
'This is very bad. I've never heard of anything like it.'
'It happened. Brademas hired Jablonski to kill me and Lamar, then he used this call girl that Junior knew to coerce the judge into assuring my conviction.'
'And you think that Junior was Brademas's partner?'
'Junior is the most likely person to have been in this with Jack, but there is another possibility. Benjamin Gage could have learned about the Ritter woman while trying to find dirt to use against me in the campaign. That must be the way he found out about Fargo.'
'Do you have any proof of that?'
'No, but the blackmail plot required money and a high level of planning. Jack could have worked it out, but Junior never could have. Whatever else I think about Gage and Clark, there is no denying that they are extremely intelligent.'
'You still haven't told me what you want from me, Ellen?'
'Advice. If I hold a press conference and go public with the fact that I was the victim of a conspiracy, I might
