William Bernhardt - Dark Justice

“Think, Maureen,” Ben said quietly. “You were trapped in that shack, trapped with your enemy, flames all around us. It was hopeless. The only reason we survived is that the two warring factions worked together . Slade knew about the radio. You knew how to work it. Slade knew about the generator. You knew how to use it. Slade knew about the well and you both helped pull each other through the fire. If you hadn’t worked together, we’d all be dead now.”

Ben took a deep breath. “People-it’s the same thing here. You’ve got to stop fighting and learn to work together. Before you destroy each other. And everything and everyone caught in the middle.”

Adams was the first to speak, after a long, heavy silence. His voice was much quieter than before. “Won’t make any difference about the Magic Valley forest. It’s all scheduled and prepped. I can’t stop it.”

“I can’t countenance the destruction of any old-growth trees,” Maureen said.

“Talk to each other,” Ben urged. “See if you can’t work out a solution.”

“Why did you haul me out here, anyway?” Adams asked. “What makes you think I’d be remotely interested in making peace with these tree huggers?”

“Because you’re the leak,” Ben said flatly.

“What?” Adams’s face twisted up. “What do you mean?”

“You’re the inside man who’s been feeding information to Green Rage about logging activities. You’ve been doing it for months.”

A wide range of expressions fluttered across Adams’s face, till finally it settled into a simple look of resignation. “How did you know?”

“I didn’t-for sure. But I was told repeatedly that Slade and the loggers were looking for a leak, and I knew it had to be someone relatively high in the local logging hierarchy. I saw you whispering with Al in the courtroom the day the trial began, and I couldn’t imagine what you would have to talk about. Unless …”

“I didn’t do anything that would set back the logging,” Adams said firmly. “Or put any of our boys out of work. I just didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”

Maureen’s lips parted. “You did more than that. If you’re Al’s informant-you fed us information that enabled us to blockade the road and stop the illegal harvesting of old-growth trees in the Crescent mountain basin.”

“You see,” Ben said, gently pushing them together. “You two have more in common than you know.”

Maureen raised her eyes to meet Adams’s. Their eyes locked, and for a long moment, neither looked away.

“Well,” Adams said at long last, “I guess I’m willing to try. Can’t hurt to try, I s’pose.” He tentatively held out his hand.

Maureen hesitated only a moment before taking it. “No,” she said quietly. “It can’t hurt to try.”

Ben closed his eyes. Maybe there was some hope for this planet after all.

Ben had been having such a splendid day he almost hated to do anything more. Better to split a bottle of champagne with Loving and savor the moment. His last three meetings were get-togethers he’d been looking forward to for a good long while. The next meeting was one he’d give a great deal to be able to skip altogether. But there was no avoiding it.

He found her in a park not far from the hotel where they’d both been staying. She was sitting on one end of a seesaw, her chin in her hands, her feet in the dirt.

She did not look up as he approached. “Mind if I join you?” He straddled the opposite end of the seesaw, bouncing Christina a foot or two into the air. “How are you?”

She shrugged, just barely.

“Nice weather, don’t you think? It was a little smoky in town after the fire, but that seems to have passed.”

He leaned back on the seesaw, propelling her even higher into the air, thinking that might compel a response. It didn’t.

“Al’s been caught,” Ben said. “He’ll stand trial for arson, maybe attempted murder. I was thinking I might represent him. I mean, we know he did it, but given the circumstances-” He started again. “They’ve also got Slade’s hoods, including the one who ran down Doc, but Slade himself disappeared shortly after he was airlifted out of the forest. Half the state and federal law enforcement community is looking for him, but so far, no luck. I hope they’ll catch him-but I have my doubts. He’s a pretty slippery creep, used to taking care of himself.”

He sighed. Her silence was cutting, rending the air between them like the swath of a scythe.

“I’m just so relieved,” Ben said, continuing his babbling soliloquy. “I was so worried-so afraid that maybe, just maybe Zak was the murderer. Maybe he’d been a killer all along and it was my fault he was released the first time so he could kill again. I can’t tell you what a weight this lifts off my shoulders.”

Christina still didn’t look up, didn’t answer.

“Christina, I’m so sorry about what happened. I couldn’t think of any other way to compel Sheriff Allen to talk. I knew he liked you. And I knew he had a conscience. I just had to figure out a way to tap into it, to give him the excuse I thought he wanted, deep inside, to confess.”

He drummed his fingers on the iron handle. God, he wished she would talk. Yell or scream or shout or something.

“I thought about telling you beforehand, but if I did, that would make you an accomplice to the trick. It didn’t have anything to do with trusting you. I just didn’t think I could put you in the position of having to manipulate a man about whom you cared.”

“I know that,” Christina whispered. “I knew it then. I was just-stunned, I guess. The thought of going to jail again-”

“I know,” Ben said. “I promise I’ll never do anything like that again.”

Christina shook her head. “Preventing Zak from being convicted of a murder he didn’t commit is a lot more important than my temporary discomfort.”

“Yes, but it was more than just playing on your terror of jail. It was taking advantage of your personal relationship. Using you to expose the man you’d-you’d become close to.”

Christina let out a soft, empty laugh. “Ben, you are so utterly … clueless.” She smiled, but it was not a happy smile. “I liked Doug fine, but I was never serious. I was just-” She bit down on her lower lip. “Never mind. Just never mind. Let’s leave.”

“No,” Ben said, “I want to say something. A few days ago, Maureen told me I was being selfish-about you. I didn’t understand what she was saying, but I think now maybe I do. I expect so much of you. I expect you to drop everything and come running every time I get the impulse to take some case. I become immersed in the case, so you have to, too. I don’t have a social life, so you can’t either. Who knows-if I hadn’t gotten in the way, you might’ve remarried, had some children. A life of your own.”

“Ben-”

“Let me finish. I’ve sucked up your whole life for years now. And it isn’t fair to you. I don’t want to hold you back, Christina. You’ve got to live your own life, and I don’t want to get in the way.”

“Ben, will you just shut up for a minute and listen?” She kicked back with her legs and lowered herself to the ground. “I don’t know what that woman has been telling you, but let me give you the straight scoop. I’m in charge of my own life. I had to learn at an early age to take care of myself, and I’ve been doing it ever since. Not to disillusion you, but you haven’t forced me to do anything. I’m the one who’s been making all the choices, all along. I decided to become a legal assistant, then later to go to law school, because it’s what I wanted to do. I decided I didn’t want to be another corporate law firm zombie, so I hitched my wagon to you, because I thought the work you were doing was more important than helping corporations screw one another back at the law firm. But make no mistake about it, Ben-you didn’t make me do anything. It was my decision the whole way.”