Page 106 of The Devil's Advocate

Korn noticed, not for the first time, that Shipley’s irises were so deeply brown that they looked black. The flame from the tealight on the table became trapped in those eyes, as if their darkness reached out to capture the flame – and drown it in pitch.

‘I figure I’m as safe here as anywhere else. Maybe more so, with our new sheriff here,’ said Patchett. ‘This is my home county. And besides, there’s this trial, and of course a funeral for our sheriff coming up in a few days. It makes sense that I stay here, for now.’

‘Well, I’m just glad you can enjoy our hospitality a while longer. These are dangerous times,’ said Korn.

‘You’re telling me,’ said Patchett. ‘Do you know the president suspects the Democrats are going to try and steal the election next year?’

Many years ago Korn’s father had dealings with the now president. Thought he was a chump, like the rest of New York.

‘The president says a lot of things. But I’m not concerned about him. It’s you we need to worry about—’ But Korn didn’t get to finish the sentence.

‘Not anymore,’ said Shipley. ‘My men will make sure the governor is safe, with all means at our disposal.’

That phrase –All means at our disposal– struck Korn as slightly ominous. He wondered if Shipley might welcome an attack on the governor as an excuse to use his more draconian methods.

‘So how is the trial shaping up?’ asked Patchett.

‘It’s early days but I know we’ve got the jury on our side in this one,’ said Korn.

‘Fuckin’ A,’ said Wingfield. ‘Mr. Korn is on fire. And we’ve got all the big guns coming today. Mr. Hogg, here, is testifying. That’s why he’s with us today. And we have two witnesses who say Dubois confessed – his cell buddy, Lawson, and then Deputy Leonard will testify to the confession Dubois signed with Sheriff Lomax, God rest his soul. Today is a game changer – Dubois is done.’

While Wingfield believed he was being helpful, Korn couldn’t help but wince at that phrase he’d used – game changer. He knew Patchett would grab a hold of that one.

‘A game changer? So it hasn’t been going so well up to now?’ asked Patchett.

‘It has proved more of a fight than I’d first thought. That’s fine. I enjoy a challenge,’ said Korn.

‘The jury will hear the confessions today, and that’ll be all she wrote,’ said Leonard.

‘That’s right,’ said Shipley. ‘A jury can never understand why someone would confess to a crime they didn’t commit. There’s just no getting past that with a jury, and he confessed not once, but twice.’

Pouring himself a coffee, Korn regarded Shipley closely. The veins standing out on his forearms against the muscle, the fat gold ring on his finger and the reptilian intelligence that burned behind his narrow eyes.

‘When do I testify?’ asked Hogg.

‘Later today probably, but don’t worry. You’re testimony will be short and sweet,’ said Wingfield.

‘I just want this over with. I should’ve known better than to hire Dubois,’ said Hogg.

‘Lot of people make the same mistake,’ said Shipley. ‘Sooner or later you realize their kind is all the same.’

Leonard nodded, but no one else said a word. Korn had an unusual distaste for human life in general. He told himself it didn’t really matter what color his victims were. They all screamed and died the same. Yet, the underlying racism of authority in the South was ever present. He’d seen it his whole career. But this was the first time he’d heard it spoken aloud in a more public conversation. This wasn’t a whispered discussion among two conspirators. It was out in the open now. The silence which followed the statement was not uncomfortable. If anything, it felt natural for it to come out in the open now, in these times.

‘Just nail this son of a bitch, won’t you, Randal?’ said Patchett, breaking the silence.

‘Rest assured, we’ll be strapping him into Yellow Mama someday soon,’ said Korn.

He took another few minutes to finish his coffee and left Wingfield, Hogg, Shipley, Leonard and Patchett to finish their breakfast. As the hostess brought him his briefcase, he thought how easily the Pastor hid in plain sight these days. No one would suspect one of the men at this table was a multiple murderer.

He had the security footage, which gave him leverage over the Pastor. Such a man could be extremely useful. A time would come when he would become more of a threat than an asset, and when that happened Korn would kill him, just as he had killed Lomax.

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

EDDIE

Bloch met us at the courthouse with the death certificates. I didn’t need to read them to know that we’d had the first piece of luck in this trial. My theory was right. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t a hundred miles of hard road ahead of us. We didn’t have a knockout punch – we had a shot. That’s all.

And sometimes they miss.