Chris woke up a few minutes later to find Holly gone and his bed surrounded by a SWAT team, two Sausalito patrol officers, and Eddie.
“Not good, huh?” were Chris’s first words as he pulled on his cuffs.
“No, not good, buddy,” Eddie responded.
“Where’s Holly?
“Back out there, still looking for Mr. Right.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The news of Chris Harding’s arrest for the murder of Warren Bradley was an even bigger shock to Sausalito society than the killing of the gossiping gourmet.
The evening television news gave it ninety seconds. The San Francisco papers put it below the fold. And the county’s one daily, The Independent, had a headline that read:
Sausalito Police Officer Arrested in Slaying of Local Chef and Columnist
By Tuesday, the story was placed on the back burner awaiting a trial and a jury verdict. That same day, Rob’s office phone rang incessantly. For the citizens of Sausalito, the arrest of Chris Harding created more questions than answers.
Rob finished that week’s Sausalito edition with Karin’s help—as Holly spent Monday and Tuesday in bed with a box of tissues and what she insisted was the worst hangover of her life.
Dozens of phone messages and email questions went unanswered, including two from Alma, who left one voicemail pleading with Rob for answers.
Wednesday morning, as mail carriers across Sausalito dropped that week’s edition of The Standard, all their questions were answered.
As the Ladies of Liberty, the Siricas, arts commission members, and countless others in the tight-knit circle of Sausalito’s friends and frenemies opened their weekly paper, they found that Rob had fulfilled the charge Alma had given him: “Lift every rock to see what evil lurks beneath.”
Alma shuddered with horror as she read The Sausalito Standard's headline:
Homicide and Arrest Reveal the Secret Life of Warren Bradley
For Warren’s staunchest admirers, the story was a tsunami of bad news. It erased all they imagined they knew about the man and left only bitter facts in its wake.
There was William Benedict’s trial for the killing of Elaine Hayden; the charges of pedophilia; the heartbreaking story of Hayden’s son, James, that was followed by the equally tragic tale of young Chris Harding.
The sum of which redefined Warren Bradley's place in Sausalito's long history of heroes and villains.
By the time he came up for trial, Chris Harding had been transformed into a poster child for neglected and molested foster children. Those fortunate enough to win one of the few available seats at the Marin County Courthouse wept along with jurors as Chris’s legal team retold his story, starting with the day William Benedict entered his life, and concluding with the day he ended Warren Bradley’s life.
“But, why the hands, Mr. Harding? Why did you sever the hands of Mr. Bradley?” the prosecutor asked.
“I loved my brother James and my foster mother Elaine, even though I knew them for too little time. After they were gone from my life, I was handed off from one awful foster home situation to another. For years, I thought about Benedict’s hands. Those hands pushed Mrs. Hayden down a flight of stairs. Those hands molested me and my brother, James.”
“But Mr. Harding, at age seven, you testified that Mr. Benedict had not molested you.”
“I was just a small boy terrified by everything that had happened. I was separated from James and placed in a different children’s shelter. One of the boys there told me that if I said I had been molested, other kids and adults would make fun of me. But, just like James, Benedict molested me as well. I hated the memory of his filthy hands touching me even more than I hated him,” Chris insisted, as he broke down in sobs that echoed from every corner of the courtroom. Half of the jurors choked back tears.
After his testimony, the judge declared a recess in the proceedings for the balance of the day.
Just as the prosecution’s missteps in Flagstaff helped set William Benedict free, the outcome for Chris Harding was equally fortunate.
By the time the trial neared its conclusion, the jury, angered by what they had heard from a long line of experts, was in all but open rebellion against the prosecution. The district attorney struck a deal with the defense: Chris Harding would plead not guilty by reason of temporary insanity and be placed in a state prison for a period of one year. At the end of that year, a court-appointed psychiatrist would determine if he should be allowed to re-enter society.
Chapter Thirty
Rob’s coverage of the murder, arrest, and trial of Chris Harding earned him a feature story in The New Yorker magazine. The piece was entitled, “The Secret Life of the Gossiping Gourmet.”
Chris agreed to be interviewed for the article, which gave Rob an exclusive story of great interest to his hometown’s readers. Rob hoped the remaining questions he had about this strange story would finally be answered.
Harding was being held in the psychiatric unit of a state prison located just north of the City of Santa Rosa, in Sonoma County. Rob walked in and met him in a private room that the jail had provided for their use. Chris looked relaxed and at peace with himself.
One guard sat quietly in a far corner of the room. No one seemed particularly concerned that there would be any sudden acts of violence. Nevertheless, Rob, who was only accustomed to interviewing people who had made hurtful comments about their fellow citizens, was still uneasy. Fortunately, Chris Harding’s relaxed smile and comfortable manner made Rob quickly forget how dangerous he’d once considered him to be.
“How did you know that Warren Bradley wouldn’t recognize you when you met him as an adult for the first time?” Rob began.
“I wondered about that. But when I sat next to him for an hour at the monthly department luncheon, I knew that wouldn’t be a problem. I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised. The last time I was in his presence, I was seven. When I expressed interest in learning how to
