Chapter 21 #2
He withdrew the blue folder from the file.
“I’ve got another affidavit here.” He passed the folder to the bailiff for delivery to the foreman.
“From Rebecca Wright, a cooperating witness in custody, confirming she was contracted through Attorney Bowers to steal evidence from Assistant Director Moore’s private safe.
Evidence that incriminated Duncan Vaughn. ”
He had Bowers dead to rights.
And the US Attorney knew it.
Bowers shot to his feet, and for a moment Nic thought he was going to make a run for it. The door to the grand jury room was opening, but Bowers would have a hard time getting past him and the bailiff. Once AD Moore and the Deputy AG stepped into the room, however, Bowers knew the game was up.
“I’d like to speak with Attorney Price,” Bowers said to the foreman. “I believe I have information that will be useful to the case.”
So he was going to play it that way, then. Nic wasn’t surprised. Of course Bowers would try to save his own neck.
“Attorney Price?” the foreman asked.
He contemplated refusing—daydreamed for a second of tearing Bowers apart on the stand—but then the image of his sister flashed across his mind. A sister he wanted to get to know better. He had to wrap this up, as soon as possible, so he could get to what was most important.
“If you’ll please excuse us for a few minutes,” he said to the foreman. The jurors filed out, back to their work area, while the bailiff handed Cole off to Lauren at the door.
Once it was only Nic, Jack, and Elton left in the room with him, Bowers lifted his chin, proclaiming, “I want a deal.”
“That depends on what you’ve got,” Jack said.
“Proof that Duncan Vaughn ordered the murder of Curtis Price. I gave him the drugs that killed Curtis Price.”
Nic knew that already from the info and pictures Mel, Jamie, and Lauren had obtained, so the hot, bright flare of anger at hearing Bowers actually admit it—knowing he had a hand in his father’s death—took Nic by surprise.
Nic despised his father, but he hadn’t wished him death, hadn’t wished for his heart to be blown up, hadn’t wished for the danger that his murder put him, Lette, and all their loved ones in.
And this spiteful, hateful man before Nic, another he’d labored under for years, loved power so much, hated Nic so much, that it was worth compromising his professional and personal ethics to keep his superior position.
Fuck him for almost tearing Nic’s life and family apart.
He white-knuckled the edge of the witness table behind him, holding himself back from lunging.
Noticing, Moore moved half in front of him, and Nic both chafed at and appreciated the protective maneuver.
“Who exactly did you give them to?” Jack asked.
“To one of his associates, at Vaughn’s express request.”
“I’ve got the video of him stealing it.” Nic reached into his pocket and produced the flash drive, handing it to Jack.
“And of witness tampering. He paid Vaughn off to influence a witness in one of his cases.” Nic got more than a little thrill at seeing Bowers sweat some more.
“He’s had you ever since, hasn’t he? Including requesting Rebecca Wright to steal those flash drives from El? ”
Lips thin, eyes narrowed, Bowers nodded grudgingly.
“And you’ll testify to this?” Jack asked.
“For a reduced sentence, to be served at a minimum-security prison. I can’t go to gen pop, not with the same criminals I put away.”
Nic growled from behind Moore. “You’re no better than them. Between this and the file full of complaints Moore’s got on you . . .”
Jack turned to El. “That’s true?”
Moore nodded, but Jack deferred again to Nic. “This is your call, Price.”
He could have charged Bowers with any number of crimes—aiding and abetting, conspiracy to commit murder, felony murder.
He’d aided in killing his father, for fuck’s sake.
Still, it was his crimes against justice, against everything they worked daily to uphold, that rankled most. How many more lives besides his father’s had been lost or jeopardized because Bowers had turned his back on his oaths?
Those were the violations, the crimes Nic wanted Bowers charged for.
“Federal witness tampering, theft of evidence, and reckless endangerment,” he said. “Twenty-five years, parole hearing at fifteen.” If he even made it that long. “Minimum security.”
Jack nodded, then turned back to Bowers.
“That’s the deal, Lou, take it or leave it.
And obviously you’re relieved of your position, effective immediately, and stripped of any commendations and benefits.
I’m also reserving the right to review the complaints Moore’s got on you and take additional action if necessary. ”
“Fine. Just keep me out of gen pop.”
The click of handcuffs around Bowers’s wrists was only slightly sweeter than Jack making Nic acting US Attorney right in front of Bowers, with a promise to see about making the appointment official.
But neither the cuffs nor the promotion were as sweet as the indictment for Duncan Vaughn the grand jury handed him an hour later, after Bowers’s testimony.
The only thing sweeter was Moore’s order to “Go get him.”