William Bernhardt - Perfect Justice

“I guess that’s it.” Ben could see tears once more beginning to form. “Cindy Jo had no idea the Truongs’ home would be torched before anyone woke up and found the child. But when she learned what happened—when she learned what happened to her little baby—” Her voice was cut off in a choke.

“She did her best to save her,” Ben said. “She was desperate to get inside that burning house.”

Belinda held her face in her hands. “The trauma of losing her baby in that hideous way must’ve been more than enough to push her over the edge.”

“So she killed herself.”

Belinda nodded bitterly. “Mike told me. My poor poor Cindy Jo. She asked me to help. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t help her at all.”

Ben put his arm around her.

“I don’t know what happened to me,” Belinda said, sobbing in great heaving bursts. “I’ve never done anything so … violent in my entire life. I just couldn’t stop thinking about what that monster did to Cindy Jo.”

Ben hugged her tighter. Sheriff Gustafson’s words echoed in his memory. When something horrible like that happens to your own sister, it just does something to you. Tears you apart. Makes you go a little crazy. Makes you want to kill the man responsible.

Ben held her in silence for a long time. Finally she brushed the streaks of tears from her face.

“Can you ever forgive me?” she asked, her eyes wide and pleading.

“I can forgive a woman who made a mistake because she loved her sister.” He looked down at the ground. “What I have a hard time forgiving is a woman who was willing to let another man die for her crime.”

“You mean Donald Vick? Ben—he’s ASP. He’s scum.”

“You’re wrong. He’s not a bad kid at all—just one who made some stupid mistakes when he was young. Like everyone does. His family pressured him into ASP. He never liked it. He never participated in any of their destructive activities.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“It’s true. He didn’t agree with the terrorist tactics ASP was using against Coi Than Tien—in fact, he tried to stop them. Remember Mary Sue mentioning that Vick had a Vietnamese visitor two days before the murder?”

Belinda nodded.

“That was Dan Pham. See, Vick was feeding Pham inside information about ASP’s plans. That’s how Pham stayed so well informed. Dunagan knew there was a leak, but he didn’t know who it was. After he heard Mary Sue’s testimony at trial, he realized it was Vick. That’s why he decided to throw Vick to the wolves when he testified, and that’s why ASP later branded him a traitor.”

“But, Ben, that man came into the bar and started beating Vuong for no reason at all. I saw it!”

“You’re wrong. I had a little heart-to-heart with my client. Now that the trial is over and the woman he was trying to protect is dead, he was willing to talk. You remember the testimony about a woman who came to visit Vick the night before the murder? That was your sister.”

“Cindy Jo?”

“Yes. Apparently she and Vick had met in town a few days before and he offered to help her. Turns out Vick is basically a softhearted guy, even if he is an ASP member. She came to his boardinghouse and told him about Vuong, what he had done, how she was about to have this baby and didn’t know what to do.”

Belinda’s eyes seemed to turn inside her. “That’s why he sought out Vuong at the Bluebell.”

“Right. She made him promise not to tell anyone, but he didn’t promise not to do anything about it. In his naivete, Vick tried to get Vuong to marry her, just so the baby wouldn’t be illegitimate. When he refused, Vick told Vuong he should at least give her some money. When Vuong refused that suggestion and laughed in his face, Vick blew up. That’s why he lashed into Vuong. That’s why he called Vuong perverted. He was referring to the beating and rape. And that’s why he got thrown out on his butt. He was looking after your sister.” Ben paused. “Just like you.”

The full horror of what he had said stabbed Belinda like a knife. She seemed frozen, transfixed.

“Even when he was on trial, Vick wouldn’t tell Cindy Jo’s secret, because he had promised not to, and because in his simple Southern way he thought an illegitimate pregnancy would ruin her reputation, if people found out. The fact is, the man you framed was the only man in this town who tried to help your sister.”

“Oh, my God,” Belinda said softly, over and over again. “I hated that man. I hated him.”

Ben clenched his eyelids shut. “More hate. And with the same result.”

Belinda looked up at him. “What are you going to do?”

Ben felt a clutching inside his chest. “You mean—about what I know? Belinda, I don’t think I have any choice.”

She took both of his hands and pressed her head against his chest. “Ben—if you talk, they’ll try me for murder!”

“And if I don’t, the jury that’s deliberating will probably sentence Vick to death. For a crime you committed.”

“Ben—” She threw her arms around him. “Please don’t do this to me!”

Ben felt a hollow aching in his heart more painful than any of the physical beatings he had endured. He didn’t answer her. He couldn’t.

A rapid, chopping noise slowly filtered into the barn.

“That’s Mike, isn’t it?” Belinda asked. She looked at him accusingly. “You’ve been waiting for him to return. That’s why you kept me here all this time. You’ve been waiting for him!”

“Belinda, I—”

She pushed herself away from him. “I can’t believe you would do this to me!”

“Belinda—”

“Is he going to arrest me? Is that it?”

“I was hoping you would turn yourself in. It’ll look better at trial.”

Her astonished expression slowly became one of horror and loathing. “After what we’ve shared. After all we’ve—You’re turning me in.” She whirled away from him.

Ben reached out and grabbed her hand.

She slapped him away “What do you want?” she said bitterly. “Did you think I was going to kiss you goodbye?” She glared at him, her eyes filled with contempt. “I thought you loved me.” She turned suddenly and raced out of the barn.

Ben heard the helicopter land, and then, a few moments later, he heard Mike emerge and talk briefly with Belinda. Then they both climbed into the copter.

Ben remained in the barn, standing motionless in the dark, as the helicopter bearing the two of them disappeared into the night.

“I do,” he whispered.

PART FOUR

THE REASONS OF THE HEART

69.

SWAIN WAS NOT HAPPY about trying a second defendant for the same murder. It proved he had made a mistake the first time; he had tried to execute an innocent man. Rather than making him more forgiving, however, this knowledge made him defensive, inflexible, and dogmatic. He insisted that this time around there would be no mistakes, and that he would seek nothing less than the maximum sentence.

He would seek the death penalty. For Belinda Hamilton.

Ben had refused to cooperate, had refused even to talk to the prosecution. So Swain subpoenaed him. He was going to be compelled to testify, whether he liked it or not.

After Ben returned to Silver Springs, he tried repeatedly to visit Belinda, who was out on bail and staying at Mary Sue’s under supervision.

She refused to see him.

Although the preliminary hearing went on for hours, Ben could only remember scattered incidents, fleeting images. A few high points. Far more low points.

He didn’t want to be here. No one did. Even Judge Tyler looked uncomfortable. He had tried to convince Swain to reduce the charge from first-degree murder to a lesser offense. Swain wasn’t listening. I’m the DA, he insisted, and the DA sets the charge. And so it went.