CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"Diana Shepherd, thank you for talking with us today," Detective Moore said. "Present in the room is Detective Moore, Diana Shepherd, Mr. Kinn, her lawyer, and Dr. Alison Payne."
Mr. Kinn was a tall, slim man, and he looked awkward sitting beside Diana as if he’d only just learned to sit that morning.
"Let’s start with an alibi," Moore said. "Can you prove that you were at your workplace all of last night, because we’re now dealing with a multiple homicide?"
Diana stared straight ahead at Detective Moore, but it was her lawyer who spoke.
"My client maintains that she was at her place of work last night, and she didn't leave the building after she got there at 5 pm yesterday until you visited this morning.
However, we also have no way to corroborate that, as all of the others working on the Judge Greene article left at 7 pm last night, leaving Miss Shepherd alone in the building.
However, I would urge you to check her laptop and the text editor she used to write the article, which might have a version history that proves she was compiling the articles at the time—the times when both victims were killed. "
Moore wrote something in her notebook. "We will check that, but they won't prove she was in the bundling last night, so we essentially have no alibi at the moment."
"Yes, that’s correct," the lawyer said plainly.
"Okay, and two nights previous, Miss Shepherd," Moore continued. "Where were you that night?"
"I was at home all night," Diana said.
"Alone?" Moore asked.
"Yes," Diana said, looking down at the table. She looked at her lawyer, her teeth making a scraping sound as she ground them.
"My client wishes it to be known that she had no idea something had happened to Judge Greene or any of the other victims until she got to the station two hours ago," the lawyer said.
"She also wants it on record that she could never put another through what she went through when her husband and child were taken from her. "
Detective Moore tore a blank page from her notebook and passed it across the table with a pen.
"I’d like you to write that down," Moore said. "Write down that you didn't kill anyone and you would never do that."
"What?" Diana asked, looking at Moore again.
"I want it in writing," Moore said.
Alison knew what the detective was doing. She wanted a handwriting sample to compare against the four notes left at the four crime scenes. It would never hold up in court, but it was interesting to see if the handwriting matched.
"We have four people dead," Moore continued while Diana scribbled on the torn page. "All four of them were involved in the trial of Michael Hartman. Did you know that, Miss Shepherd?"
"Yes, I know that," she replied before passing the page and pen back to Moore.
The detective picked up the paper, looked at it, then grunted and placed it on the table.
"When we asked at your place of work if you knew Langford and Holland, you didn't mention that they were involved in the trial," Moore said.
"I didn't have time to tell you. I never had anything from you," Diana claimed. "You asked if I knew them, and I told you that I have been outspoken against them both. Then you pressed me some more, and I was scared. I’ll admit that. I’m happy to talk with you now.
I don't know, they were a part of the trial, just like Judge Greene was.
And I know Dr. Cross was a witness for the prosecution. "
"You must hold some hate for them," Alison said.
"I did," Diana admitted. "I still do. I’m willing to admit that. I don't mourn their deaths, but I won't celebrate them either. It’s a horrible thing to happen to anyone. I know what it’s like, and I know the pain."
"Pain that can drive someone to do awful things," Moore pointed out.
"Or good things," Diana said. "We’re changing the way things are done, and that takes time. I know how easy it would be to have a knee-jerk reaction, but that would only set us back. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize all the work we’ve done to come as far as we have."
"How about the Michael Hartman?" Alison asked, pushing. "Are you angry at him?"
"This has nothing to do with the recent murders," the lawyer said. "You’re trying to antagonize my client. Anything she says now will be under duress and inadmissible in court. I’d ask you to move on to more relevant questions."
"It’s fine," Diana said. "I have nothing to hide. I hated him. There’s nothing he could have ever said or done to make things right.
He murdered my family in cold blood, and I don't care whether he knew what he was doing or not, or whether he was in control of himself, but he deserved to go to jail for the rest of his life. If he had, more people wouldn’t have had to needlessly die. "
"What do you mean?" Alison asked.
Diana sat forward. "What do you know about Hartman?" She was curious, not judgmental.
"We’ve gone through the court documents briefly," Alison told her. "The case only came to light to us this morning."
"Then you don't know what happened to him after that?" she asked.
Alison felt Detective Moore tense beside her. They were supposed to be the ones conducting the interview, but Diana had more knowledge than they did, and the upper hand because of it.
"What happened after that?" Alison asked as Moore remained silent.
Diana gave a wry smile and shook her head.
"The messed-up system happened after that.
Do you know he was released after five years in whatever that place was supposed to be?
And who knows if he was faking it or not, right?
I mean, he went straight back to trying to kill someone, but didn't do it this time. "
"Where is he now?" Moore asked.
"He was shot," Diana said. "The cops got there and shot him before he could kill more innocent people. He still likely messed up another family who’ll have to live through the trauma of that, but he’s gone. Is that justice? Is that how our system should work?"
Moore wrote something on her pad and showed it to Alison.
That’s why she couldn’t go after Hartman.
Alison nodded to acknowledge that she had read the note, but perhaps not in complete agreement. As she looked across the table at Diana Shepherd, she couldn’t tell if the woman was a cold-blooded killer or a woman numbed by the loss of her family.
"What did you have on Judge Greene?" Alison asked.
Diana looked at her blankly.
"I read the article you published this morning, and you alluded to having something that would put an end to Greene hurting people. What did you mean by that, and what do you have?"
Diana rubbed the back of her neck, then looked at her lawyer.
"Do you have something?" he asked.
"I guess there’s no point in keeping it secret now, and I will still publish the article. I know he’s dead, and out of respect for his family, I will remove the article for now, but I will publish it again with the additional information once we have it all together."
Diana paused.
"We’ve spent a lot of time analyzing data from cases across the country, especially those where there is an insanity plea, no matter the outcome.
" Diana took a breath. "I don't know the exact numbers, but I do know what they show. It’s almost impossible to prove that one judge accepts pleas of insanity over another, but we do see that Judge Greene was more willing to consider an insanity plea, and his numbers are slightly elevated over most other judges where someone is sent to a facility rather than a prison. "
Diana paused again before continuing.
"Now, those numbers on their own don't tell the whole story. Someone has to be at the top of the list, and it could be just that, but when we looked into it, we found that Martin Greene had a twin sister committed to a psychiatric facility when they were fourteen years old. A sister that he still visits to this day, or visited. He never mentions her, and in any interviews, he’s not once talked about a twin sister who’s been locked in a facility for her entire life.
It was his father who had her committed, and after his passing, he became her legal steward.
It wouldn’t look good for a judge to be talking about his crazy sister, but it makes perfect sense why his numbers are skewed, and if that got out, there would be far more questions about his integrity. "
Moore sat in quiet contemplation. Alison knew there were more questions to ask, but she didn't have any she wanted to ask just yet. They needed to check the information first to ensure it was accurate before they continued. That was exactly what Moore did.
"All right," Detective Moore said. "I’m suspending the interview at three-forty-two."
She looked at Alison.
"We’ll check out what you said, and then take it from there," Alison told Diana.
They needed to follow up on the information. Judge Greene was a man whose career was built on finding the truth, but was he hiding his own? And if he was hiding it, then why was he doing so? And why was it cropping up at a time when people were being killed?