Murder by the Book

"Then try this. I was a man of extraordinary talent and not without ambition. My talent had been developed and my faculties trained to one end: to enter a courtroom with a briefcase, confront a judge and jury, and so manipulate their thoughts and emotions that I got the verdict I wanted. I hadn't lost a case for four years when one day I found myself faced by certain defeat; there was no question about it. Under that pressure I did something foolish: I bribed a juror, the first and only time. I got a hung jury, and a few weeks later got a settlement out of court, and I thought I was safely out of it, when suddenly it hit me. Someone informed the court, they got the juror in and worked on him and broke him, and there I was. Insufficient evidence saved me from a felony conviction, the jury was divided six to six, but I was disbarred."

"Who informed the court?"

"I didn't know at the time. Now I have reason to believe it was the juror's wife."

"Were any of your associates privy to your act?"

"No. They wouldn't have stood for it. They were shocked -the shock of righteous men-meaning by 'righteous men' those who have not been caught. They were also loyal, they helped me fight it, but it was hopeless. So here I am, a man with an extraordinary talent that can't be used. I can use it only in one place and I am not allowed to go there. Moreover, I am stigmatized. People who could use my talents outside of courtrooms don't want them. And I'm broke. I'm in no position to postulate that I should go on living; there seems no point in it; but through perversity I'm going to. My only source of income is this firm, payments on account of business that was unfinished when I left, and they give me errands to do. So it is to my interest for the firm to prosper. I offer that as

my reason for coming here with them. If you don't like it either, I have still another alternative. Would you like to hear it?"

"If it isn't too fanciful."

"It's not fanciful at all. I am embittered against my former associates because they let me down. I think it quite possible that one of them killed Dykes and the two women, though I have no idea why, and that you're going to hang on until you get it, and I want to see it happen. Do you like that better?"

"It has attractions."