Apex Predator (36 page)

Nobody in the office knew how many cases had actually used the defense successfully, which is why everyone was knee deep in reference materials and Lexus/Nexus citations and anything that could be found online. Still, nobody had any doubt that if anyone could pull it off it would be Max Zeidler. The man had become a legend winning cases like this, and if he was taking a case in which he was thinking about using the defense, he probably already had his opening argument for the trial ready.

In fact, Zeidler was in his office reading up on the last two cases in New York to have successfully used a temporary insanity defense. The last one had been in 1982 and it had involved a man who had a stroke and had temporary psychosis as a result of it. He killed his wife with a butcher knife because he believed her to be a masked intruder coming into his home to kill him. He had called the police, had walked them to the body, and had very lucidly explained how he had taken the knife and defended himself from the monster that had invaded his home. It was not until an hour later, when he began to understand what he had done, that the man had absolutely fallen apart and had to be restrained and put on suicide watch.

That case had everything going for it, a psychological or physiological trauma that had affected the defendant’s cognitive abilities profoundly and a man that had been married to his wife for 38 years, had never even gotten a traffic ticket and had never shown even a hint of violence toward anyone, let alone his wife. It had everything going for it and it took the jury just under two hours to come back with a not-guilty verdict, and it took that long because they needed to take a break to eat something. Zeidler believed that he had just such a case in this one. If he was right about what was about to walk into his office, it had everything he would need for just such a defense.

Drew was in his office trying to get a handle on some cases he had brought with him and a few others he had gotten since coming on board with Zeidler.

Zeidler walked in and sat across the desk from him with that cat-that-ate-the-canary smile on his face, “Are you ready to put everything aside and get into the case that will make your career?”

Drew put down the file he was holding and smiled, “I can’t wait to hear this. If this is going to be the case that will make my career, I am assuming you’re going to be in on it too.”

Zeidler chuckled, “You bet your ass I am. Are you kidding? A case like this comes along once in a lifetime, well, in my case a few times, but still, it’s going to put your name in the headlines.”

Drew leaned back in his chair, “Alright, already, I give, what is it?”

Zeidler got up from his chair and walked over to the window, “Global Intelligence Consultants is one of our largest corporate clients. We bill them well over ten million a year, handle everything from patent law to international jurisdictional issues, congressional hearings, and every once in a while we also handle some high-level criminal stuff for them. Nothing spectacular, forged passports, illegal entry into various countries, that kind of thing.

“It’s usually federal cases and most of the time there are people involved at very high levels of government, so the cases usually don’t see the light of day.

“Anyway, their CEO, Art Goodman, known by everyone and God as the General, just called me. He told me that he was sending someone my way who had something to do with the shooting at the courthouse. At first I thought that maybe it had been one of his operatives that had killed Riche, that maybe someone had given an order and it had gotten done. It’s happened before, but not this time.”

Drew also stood up and walked around his desk, “Wait a minute, are you telling me that people get killed by operatives from this company under the orders of some unknown government entity?”

Max turned around, “Oh, come on, Drew, are you serious? Do you really think it’s that unlikely that when a known drug lord or a particularly unsavory Middle Eastern moneyman becomes too much of a problem, the General gets a call and the problem disappears? Think about it, people disappear without a trace every day in this country.

“Anyway, that’s not what this is. I remembered that GIC had come up with the whole Riche thing when it first broke, and then I remembered why. One of the victims was the daughter of a senior executive at GIC, a Steven Loomis.”

Drew, now standing next to Zeidler also looking out the window, said, “I remember the name. He’s the ex-SEAL the police looked at after the shooting at the courthouse. He was the only family member of one of the victims that had the background to do something like that.”

Zeidler nodded, “That’s right, but they eliminated him as a suspect pretty quickly. CNN reported that he’d been in a meeting at the time of the shooting when they were reporting about who could have shot Riche. The General didn’t say whether it would be him coming in, but he said that we are to provide the person coming with every available resource, whatever the cost. That’s someone with a personal stake in this talking. He’s never called me directly and he’s never said anything like that before.

“My bet is that Loomis is coming in to figure out a way to turn himself in. I have every one of my interns and clerks looking up every possible angle on a temporary insanity defense. If it is Loomis, we’re looking at an almost ideal setup for making the argument that he was temporarily insane.

“I don’t have to tell you how difficult it is to win a case with that defense, but this is an ideal set of circumstances – a monster as the victim, an all-American ex-military hero for a defendant, the whole world outraged about what Riche did, I mean, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

Drew shook his head slightly. It was amusing and also a bit disturbing to listen to Zeidler refer to a horrible murder case and a devastating loss as an ideal set of circumstances, but Drew had to admit that he was right. It was the best setup for a temporary insanity defense that he could think of.

Still, it was human beings that they were talking about, a man’s daughter and now his life, and Drew hadn’t been in the game long enough to develop the thick, cynical skin that Zeidler had.

Drew stood up and followed Zeidler into the hallway where he gave instructions to two of the associates doing research, “I want you guys to find out who the best expert is for temporary insanity cases. Call Dr. Newberry and ask him, he’ll know.”

Drew followed Max into his office and as both men were about to sit, his phone rang.

Zeidler put it on speaker. “Mr. Zeidler, there is a gentleman here to see you.”

Zeidler couldn’t imagine who it could be right now, “Does he have an appointment? Could Louis receive him?”

The receptionist came back on, “He says he doesn’t have an appointment, but that you would be expecting him. He says someone named ‘The General’ sent him to talk to you.”

Zeidler almost jumped out of his chair to pick up the phone. He hadn’t expected Loomis so soon.

“Bring him back to my office right away! And Missy, I do not want anyone, and I mean anyone, bothering us, no calls, no buzz-ins, nothing, is that understood?”

Missy responded in her most even tone, “It is, sir.”

Missy brought the man to the door and then turned and left. The man knocked lightly on the door where Zeidler met him, hand outstretched, “Welcome, welcome, please come in, Mr. …?”

Steven shook the man’s hand and went into the office, “Loomis, Steven Loomis. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Zeidler. Your reputation precedes you. The General has nothing but the utmost confidence in you and your firm.”

Max smiled as he led Steven to the other chair in front of his desk, “Well, we’ve handled some pretty serious cases for him and for your firm. The respect is mutual, by the way, the old man has more juice than any 10 players in this city, and he knows exactly how and when to use it.”

Max spread his hands to encompass the scene before them, “Case in point.”

Loomis was looking around the office when he turned to Drew, who was standing next to the other chair by Zeidler’s desk, “And this is…?”

Zeidler was caught off guard for a moment, “I am so sorry! This is Drew Willis, he just joined our firm and will be co-counsel in our matter.”

The two men shook hands. Drew felt the sheer power in the guy’s arm through the handshake. He looked at the well-built and impeccably dressed man and at the cold and focused eyes. Drew guessed the guy to be about 6’1” and about 195 pounds. For his part, Loomis took a liking to the kid almost immediately. Although clearly younger than both other men in the room, he carried himself with a lot of confidence, not cocky or obnoxious, just a quiet inner peace and strength. Drew projected that confidence through bright and curious eyes and through the ability to make the people around him feel at ease without sounding like a used car salesman.

Once the three men were seated, Max spoke up first, “Can I get you anything before we start, water, Scotch?”

Loomis folded his hands on his lap and replied, “No thank you, I would just like to get going with this if you don’t mind.”

Max nodded, “Not at all. Please let us know, how can we help you?”

Steven looked down at his folded hands and paused for two seconds, he took a deep breath in and proceeded to explain his situation, “By now I think you have probably heard about the shooting at the courthouse and about the case that the shooting was associated with, the case involving Donald Riche.”

Max and Drew both nodded, but kept quiet.

“Well, one of his victims was my daughter Tracy.” Steven paused at this point. He closed his eyes and Drew could tell he was still hurting.

He opened his eyes and continued, “He took her from Central Park when she was with her mother and her brother and sister.”

Loomis stopped again and looked at Max, “I think I will take you up on that water now.”

Max stood up and went to a small refrigerator in the corner of the room where he retrieved a bottle of water.

He handed it to Loomis, “Take your time, I know it must be incredibly difficult. If you need to stop at any time, let us know.”

Steven took two long pulls from the bottle and put the cap back on it. “I’m good. It’s just that this is the first time I have actually articulated any of this and I’m a bit surprised, I didn’t expect it to affect me like this.”

Drew gently put his hand on his shoulder. It was a simple gesture, unrehearsed and done completely without thought, “Hey, Mr. Loomis, I can’t imagine having gone through what you’ve been through, so don’t feel bad for being human, just take your time.”

Normally Steven would have been put off by the contact, but he could see that it was nothing more than what the kid thought would be a humane gesture toward someone who was obviously hurting.

He turned to look at Drew and gave him a small nod, “Thank you, I’m okay.”

He took two more long pulls from his water bottle and went on, “Anyway, I found out that she hadn’t been the only one, and early on I knew she probably wasn’t coming back. After a week, I was sure of it.

“As you know, I am in the intelligence and security business and have some resources, which I utilized to find out what was going on with the investigation. I could see that the police and other law enforcement organizations were doing everything they could but still were having no luck. Eventually, as you know, Riche was found out and arrested.”

Drew chimed in, “They found his warehouse, right? Where he did everything.”

Steven nodded, “Yes, that’s right. I found out about it through my own sources and I decided to go see what they found. I got there before the whole world got the story, so I was able to get close. I was able to see my daughter. Well, her remains anyway…”

Steven ran a hand through his hair and with every fiber of his being fought the urge to break down crying in front of these men. Max was taking copious notes and Drew just looked at Steven, not able to comprehend the kind of horror this man must have faced that night.

Even so, he had some questions, “Steven, is it okay if I call you Steven?” Loomis nodded.

“Maybe you got there before everybody arrived, but there had to be some security around the scene, even a couple of uniformed officers from the first-responder black and whites.”

That comment confirmed Steven’s first impression of Drew, the kid was sharp.

He saw the loose end in the story and pounced on it, “Very good, Mr. Willis, I’m impressed, but I will tell you that a worried, irate father looking for closure can work wonders, especially when he’s dealing with young patrolmen.”

Drew listened to him and nodded, but wasn’t convinced. He knew Loomis wasn’t lying about anything he was telling them, but he also wasn’t being entirely forthcoming, and given what Drew thought Loomis was about to share with them, he wondered who he was trying to protect, because it obviously wasn’t himself.

Steven went on, “In any case, when I saw what I saw, I made a decision. The shooting at the courthouse was that decision. It was me, I shot Donald Riche.”

Both Drew and Max were completely transfixed by the story. They both knew what was coming, but it was still a shock to hear this man just come out and with a completely straight face admit that he had shot another man in the head. Like most all other criminal defense attorneys with any significant experience, both Max and Drew had represented people accused of murder. In most of those cases, for Drew in every case, their clients had vehemently denied having committed the crime, even when faced with mountains of evidence proving that they had in fact done it. In almost every case, the defendants had been lifelong criminals or people who were too greedy or who had just flat out lost their minds. Now both lawyers were looking at representing a man who was none of those things, a man who was clearly educated and who was very rational and deliberate about what he had done. A man who did not look conflicted in the least.

Max Zeidler was the first one to break the silence, “Well, Mr. Loomis, we’ll be happy to represent you. I assured the General we would take care of you and we are already preparing to do just that.”

Steven was somewhat taken aback, he hadn’t really finished telling them his story. It actually seemed as though Zeidler didn’t really care what the rest of the story was, as though he knew what he needed to know.