William Bernhardt - Capitol Murder

“During the time that you observed Ms. Cooper, how often would you say that she engaged in sexual relations?” Ben asked.

Capshaw screwed up his face. “Jeez, I don’t know. Some nights she did it three, four times, with that many different guys. Some nights in that upstairs orgy apartment she went from one person to the next, one right after the other. Never even went out for a smoke.” He shook his head. “I’ve never seen a girl with energy like that. ’Course a lot of that was being fueled by the drug.”

“So it would be fair to say that Ms. Cooper engaged in sexual activity on a regular basis with a wide variety of sexual partners.”

“Definitely. Hell, I was telling my friend last night-the big surprise isn’t that the senator got caught having sex with that chick. The surprise is that he didn’t catch something worse.”

Thank you so much, Ben thought, moving quickly to his next question.

“And you’re certain she was a member of this… Circle Thirteen? The vampire club. And the Inner Circle.”

“You betcha. I saw her there, back at that so-called church where they hold all their ceremonies. I watched the whole thing with night-vision binoculars through this rose window. She was wearing robes and chanting and the whole sick nine yards. They even slaughtered a chicken and splattered its blood all over the floor. Disgusting.”

“And Ms. Cooper participated in these black magic exercises?”

Capshaw chuckled. “Well, she wasn’t Wendy the Good Witch, that’s for damn sure.”

Ben searched for the right words. “And did you ever see Ms. Cooper physically engaged with one of these… vampires?”

“Engaged? I watched one bite her in the neck.”

Ben stared at him. “You mean… for real?”

“Hell yes. Some of those guys actually have their teeth filed to a sharp point so they can do that sick stuff. You remember the Bartmann guy saying how he turned her on? And he didn’t even have all his teeth. Now imagine her with one of these dudes with the big sharpened canines. I’m tellin’ ya, she was creamin’. Er, you know-very excited. In a sexual sort of way.”

“I think we get the picture, sir.” Ben returned to the enlargements from the coroner’s report he had used before. “Earlier we heard Dr. Bukowsky admit under cross-examination that there was a wound to Ms. Cooper’s jugular vein too small to have been made by a knife.” He held up the enlargement and pointed. “You’ve seen these men, sir, and you’ve seen how they interacted with Ms. Cooper. I know you’re not a coroner, but do you think it’s possible this puncture wound was made by… a fang?”

“Objection!” Padolino cried. “The witness has no medical expertise. This whole line of questioning is becoming ridiculous. Counsel is turning the trial into a Hammer horror show.”

“I’ll allow it,” Herndon said firmly. “Overruled.”

“It’s more than possible,” Capshaw said, not missing a beat. “It would’ve been easy. Some of those guys had fangs so long and sharp they could rip your whole head off.”

“Based upon your observations, sir, would you say these people with whom Ms. Cooper consorted could be described as dangerous?”

“I’d say that anyone who has their teeth sharpened so they can bite someone in the neck is by definition dangerous,” he replied. “And you mix in the drugs and the booze and the loose sex-well, I’ve heard of living on the edge, but this chick was practically dangling over the precipice. God forbid she ever did anything to make one of those guys mad. Any of them could’ve gotten to her. Anything could’ve happened to her. Anything at all.”

“Well, that was all very thrilling,” Padolino said, as he strolled to the podium to cross-examine. “Almost like watching the late late show, complete with ghouls and goblins and vampires. But Veronica Cooper wasn’t killed by a vampire or his fangs, was she? She was killed by a big thick knife. I don’t believe you’re refuting the coroner’s testimony on that point, are you, Dr. Capshaw?”

Capshaw gave him a wry look. “No, I’m not disputing that the girl was killed by a knife.” Padolino started to move on, but Capshaw cut him off. “The question is, who was holding the knife. And from what I saw of the girl’s lifestyle, the possible suspects range somewhere in the four-digit numbers.”

“Move to strike,” Padolino said angrily. “Mr. Capshaw, did you in fact see anyone kill Ms. Cooper?”

“No, obviously not. Mrs. Glancy ended my employment a few days before Cooper was killed.”

“Did you ever see any of these-” He made a show of suppressing his smirk. “- vampires hurt Ms. Cooper?”

“Not as such. Not in a way she didn’t like, anyhow.”

“Did you ever see any of these people threaten Ms. Cooper?”

“No.”

“Do you even know of any reason any of them would have to kill her? Sounds like they were all one big happy coven.”

“Well, it’s possible that-”

“Excuse me, sir, but I don’t want to hear about possibilities. I asked if you know-note the word- know of any reason these people would have to kill Veronica Cooper.”

“No.”

“And to your knowledge, did any of these vampires have access to the hallways of the U.S. Senate?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Then I submit, sir, that your thousands of mythical unnamed suspects are a smokescreen. There’s only one person who had a motive to kill Ms. Cooper, much less had access to her or the place where her body was found.”

“Is it time for closing arguments?” Ben said, rising to his feet. “’Cause I had some more witnesses I wanted to call first.”

Judge Herndon suppressed a smile. “Mr. Padolino, you’re up here to ask questions, not to make speeches.”

“My apologies, your honor. I just don’t want to see the jury misled by all this nonsensical-” The judge gave him a sharp look. “Right, right. Questions.” He returned his attention to the witness. “Sir, you’ve talked a great deal about Ms. Cooper’s other alleged sexual partners. But you’ve said next to nothing about the one we’re all certain of, whom we saw in living color. Did you ever observe Ms. Cooper with the defendant?”

“Yes,” he said succinctly.

“How often?”

“About once a week. Occasionally twice.”

“Really. You’ve described Ms. Cooper as having such tremendous sexual appetites. I’m surprised it wasn’t more often.”

“Well, the senator is a busy man. Interns have more time on their hands.”

“Marie Glancy told us you witnessed Ms. Cooper setting up the camera to make the videotape. So you must know for a fact that sexual relations did in fact occur.”

He blew out his cheeks. “Right.”

“And how exactly was it you saw her set up the camera?”

Capshaw tugged at his tie. “Her apartment was on the ground floor. There was a bedroom window. She pulled the shades, but they were made of that thin, gauzy stuff and… well, if you get close enough to it, you can see through it pretty good.”

“So you invaded her privacy?”

“That’s more or less my job description, sir.”

“And you trespassed. Do you know I could have your license yanked for that?”

“I believe you’ve already tried, right?” Capshaw gave the prosecutor a sharp look. “But I’m sure that attempt to discredit me and destroy my livelihood had nothing to do with wanting to squelch my testimony in this case. You were just doing your duty as a public servant.”

Ben and Christina exchanged a probing look. Ben hadn’t known about this. He was beginning to understand why Capshaw was being such a strong witness for them-and was doing his best not to give Padolino an inch.