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When Benson entered the courthouse, the receptionist informed him that Mr. Ackerman wanted to see him.
“Yes. We spoke this morning.”
Benson still had no idea what the opposing counsel wanted to discuss with him. From Dennis’ tone, it sounded serious.
He knocked on Ackerman’s door.
“Come in.”
When Benson entered, Ackerman was placing items from his desk in a box. “Dennis? What’s going on?”
“I’ve turned in my resignation letter. It’s time for me to retire.”
That worried Benson. “Are you ill?”
Dennis motioned he take a seat. “Emotionally, yes. Physically, no.”
Benson wasn’t sure how to respond. “I’ll be sorry to see you go. You always gave me a good run for my money in court.”
“That’s kind of you to say, but surely you must have noticed I wasn’t up to the task in the Trent Williamson case.”
His confession was surprising. “I admit that I didn’t think that it was your best defense.”
Ackerman’s suit was rather rumpled, looking as if he’d spent the night at the office. After his wife died ten years ago, his whole life was work or Anna, his niece.
“It’s eating me alive. I can’t think. I can’t sleep, and I sure as hell can’t mount a defense.”
“What’s going on?” Benson asked.
Ackerman pulled out a chair and dropped down, looking like he’d considered suicide at one point. “I had to make sure Trent was convicted.”
That was Benson’s job. “I don’t understand.”
“What I’m about to tell you might get me disbarred, but it doesn’t matter what happens to me. They have Anna.”
Benson held up his hands. “Back up a bit. What do you meanthey have Anna? And who isthey?”
His immediate thought was that Dennis needed to call Uncle Adam, but he’d let Ackerman explain first.
“Before the trial began, I received a phone call from a man whose voice was distorted.”
Benson’s stomach tumbled. This was his worst nightmare. He’d been threatened only once not to prosecute to his best ability or they’d take their revenge out on his family. Turns out, evidence came to light that proved the man was innocent, so Benson was off the hook. “What did he say?”
“Apparently Trent owed some people money, but they soon found out that Trent couldn’t pay. It was why they wanted Ariel’s brother to spend the rest of his life in jail.”
His mind spun. “That seems rather harsh for a debt. Just so I’m clear, did this person ask you to basically throw the case?”
Dennis lowered his head. “I can’t tell you how ashamed I am, but they threatened to kill Anna if I won.”
And Anna was what he lived for. “Why didn’t you tell the sheriff?”
“They said if I told anyone, and I mean anyone, they’d kill both of us. I can’t let anything happen to her.”
“Have you tried contacting her?”
“They put her on the phone when they called. She was scared. Real scared.”
