Phillip Margolin - Lost Lake

“Go ahead, Mrs. Vergano.”

“Thank you, Your Honor. Mr. Rice, did you serve in the United States Army?”

“Yes.”

“Was that during the Vietnam War?”

“And after.”

“When did your service end?”

“Officially, I don’t think it ever did, but I left on my own accord in 1985.”

“What were the circumstances that caused you to leave the service?”

“General Morris Wingate sent me and the other members of an illegal unit that he was running out of the AIDC to North Vietnam. We were supposed to be rescuing American MIAs, but the whole thing was a setup. The North Vietnamese knew we were coming. There was an ambush. Everyone in the Unit was killed except me. I was captured, but I escaped. After a year, I made it back to the states and went underground. I figured no one would look for me, because the General would assume that I was dead.”

“You testified that you were set up. By whom?”

“By General Wingate. He wanted to eliminate everyone who was in the Unit, and he nearly succeeded.”

Ami asked Rice to tell the judge how he was recruited into the Unit and to recount some of his missions. The noise from the gallery ceased as Rice hypnotized the spectators with testimony about ambushing mule trains in the Shan Hills, cutting the throats of village chiefs in Southeast Asia in the middle of the night, and assassinating spies in Europe and America. Ami heard the scratch of pencils on steno pads behind her in the press section, which was packed with reporters from every major newspaper in the country and several members of the foreign press.

“Mr. Rice, you testified that you were recruited into General Wingate’s Unit after your first combat mission.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Were you wounded during that first mission?”

“I was grazed by a bullet. It wasn’t anything serious.”

“Were you hospitalized as a result of your wound?”

“Well, I was sent to a hospital to have the wound checked, but they kept me less than a day.”

“Were you hospitalized for combat-related stress?”

“No, Ma’am.”

“Did you receive a more serious wound during the mission to rescue the MIAs?”

“Yes. A shell exploded near me and I was hit by shrapnel.”

“Let’s move to another subject. From what high school did you graduate?”

“St. Martin’s Prep in California.”

“Was Miss Kohler a student at the school?”

“We were in the same class.”

“Who is Vanessa Kohler’s father?”

“General Morris Wingate.”

“Did you meet General Wingate while you were dating his daughter?”

“Yes, on many occasions.”

“Did Miss Kohler break up with you while you were in high school?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I was drafted. She wanted me to resist the draft. I’d been accepted to college and could have gotten a deferment. She was upset when I didn’t try to get one and chose to serve.”

“Did Miss Kohler believe that her father was responsible for your draft notice?”

“Yes. She thought he had engineered my draft to interfere with our relationship.”

“After high school, when was the next time you saw Miss Kohler?”

“In 1985.”

“Where did you meet?”

“In Washington, D.C. I was teaching at the army language school at Fort Meyer, and she was attending law school and working for Congressman Eric Glass of California.”

“At some point after you met Miss Kohler in Washington, did you tell her about your involvement with her father and your missions?”

“Yes.”

“Did you find out sometime later what she did as a result of your confession?”

“Yes. She stole the files of the ten members of the Unit from her father’s safe and gave them to Congressman Glass, who had a summer home on Lost Lake, California.”

“Were you given any instructions by Morris Wingate concerning the congressman and the files?”

“General Wingate told me that Congressman Glass was a traitor who was going to sell the files to a foreign government. He instructed me to go to Lost Lake, retrieve the files, and torture the congressman to death.”

There was a loud reaction in various parts of the spectator section, and Judge Velasco gaveled for silence. Ami continued her questions as soon as silence returned to the courtroom.

“Was murder by torture unusual even in your line of work?”

Rice’s composure cracked for the first time. He licked his lips and looked ill.

“Was torturing someone to death unusual?” Ami repeated.

“Yes,” Rice answered, his voice barely audible.

“Did you follow the General’s orders?”

“Yes.”

“Did anyone see you kill Eric Glass?”

Rice looked over at Vanessa. “Miss Kohler was in the house. I didn’t know that she would be there until I saw her. The General hadn’t told me that his daughter had given the files to the congressman.”

“What did you do after you saw Miss Kohler?”

“I panicked. I ran. When I got myself together, I took the files to the General and asked him to explain why Vanessa was at Lost Lake. He told me that Glass had seduced her into stealing the files. He said that she’d told the police that I killed the congressman. Then he told me that he would hide me in North Vietnam by sending me on a mission to save a group of American MIAs who were being held captive. He promised me that he would have a plan in place when I returned to ensure that I would not be arrested. He was going to arrange plastic surgery and a new identity.”

“But that never happened?”

“No,” Rice answered bitterly. “The mission was a trap. I could prove that the Unit existed and so could the rest of the men. He needed us dead to protect himself. All those brave soldiers who would have given their lives for their country…”

Rice stopped. He was trying to maintain his composure, but he was on the verge of tears. He asked for a glass of water. Judge Velasco no longer looked skeptical. There were whispers in the gallery. Ami chanced a glance behind her. The spectators looked subdued and serious.

“How did you survive?” Ami asked, her voice so low that the court reporter had to strain to hear her.

“I escaped.”

“Would you please tell the judge how that happened?”

Carl gathered himself and told Judge Velasco how he was captured and tortured, and how he escaped, survived in the jungle, and made his way back to America. While he was speaking, Carl’s eyes never left the rail of the witness box. When he finished, he was totally spent.

“Why did Miss Kohler break you out of the hospital?” Ami asked when Rice was ready to continue.

“She believed that the General would try to kill me as soon as he learned that I was alive.”

“So she rescued you to save your life?”

“Yes.”

“Were her fears for your safety justified?”

“I believe they were.”

“After you left the hospital, did you murder Dr. George French, a psychiatrist I was using in your case, and his wife?”

“No.”

“Who killed them?”

“General Wingate had his men murder Dr. George French.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because his men tried to murder you also, Mrs. Vergano.”

“And you rescued me?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you think General Wingate murdered Dr. French and tried to kill me?”

“You were the two people who had access to me at the hospital. He was afraid I’d told you about the Unit and his involvement in it so you could use the information as a bargaining chip in plea negotiation.”

“Why did you break into the General’s mansion in California?”

“His men had kidnapped Vanessa. I saw them. I was afraid for her life.”