Perfect (Second Opportunities 2)

Outside the courtroom, the halls were packed with reporters from all over the world who were waiting to discover the latest titillating developments in the trial of Zachary Benedict. Once, the media had fawned over him, now they reported every detail of Zack's fall from prestige with even greater relish, serving up each juicy morsel of conjecture and allegation to fascinated Americans, who digested each tidbit along with their dinners and the evening news.

"You've heard the proof," Peterson reminded the jury more emphatically as he continued his final summation, "the unimpeachable testimony from dozens of witnesses, some of whom were actually Zachary Benedict's friends. You know that the night before Rachel Evans was murdered, Zachary Benedict discovered her naked in Anthony Austin's arms. You know that Benedict was enraged, that he attacked Austin and had to be dragged off the man. You've heard testimony from guests in the hotel who were in the hall outside Benedict's suite and who heard the loud argument that ensued. From these witnesses you know that Rachel Evans told Benedict that she was planning to divorce him and marry Anthony Austin and that she intended to gain half of everything Zachary Benedict possessed in that divorce. These same witnesses testified that Benedict warned his wife, and I quote…" Peterson paused to glance at his notes, but it was all for effect, because no one in the courtroom could forget that threat. Raising his voice for emphasis, he repeated, "I'll kill you before I let you and Austin get half of anything!"

Gripping the railing around the juror's box, he searched each rapt face. "And he did kill her, ladies and gentlemen. He killed her in cold blood, along with the innocent, unborn baby she carried! You know he did it and I know he did it. But the way he did it makes this crime even more revolting, more heinous, because it shows the kind of cold-blooded monster Zachary Benedict is." Turning, he began to pace, recapping the way the crime had taken place, working up to his conclusion: "Zachary Benedict didn't murder in an unpremeditated rage of passion like your ordinary killer. No indeed, not him. He waited twenty-four hours so that his precious movie could be finished first, and then he chose a method of revenge that is so bizarre, so cold-blooded it makes me gag! He put hollow point shells in a gun, and then at the last minute while they were filming the end of that movie, he changed the way the script had been written, so that his wife, not Anthony Austin, would be shot during their fake struggle!"

Alton paused and gripped the railing again. "None of this is conjecture on my part. You've heard the testimony that proves every word: On the afternoon of the murder, while the rest of the film crew was on a break, Zachary Benedict went into that stable alone, ostensibly to rearrange some things on the set. Several people saw him go in there—he admitted it himself—yet no one on the film crew could think of a single thing that looked different when they returned to the set. What was he doing in there? You know what he was doing! He was switching the harmless blank shells, which a production assistant testified he had put in the gun himself, for deadly hollow points. I remind you once again that Benedict's fingerprints were on that gun. His and his alone, left there no doubt by mistake, after he'd wiped the gun clean. And once all his preparations were made, did he finish the gruesome deed and get it over with like an ordinary murderer? No, not him. Instead of that," Alton turned to face the defendant, and he did not have to feign his loathing and revulsion as he said, "Zachary Benedict stood beside a cameraman in that stable, watching his wife and her lover embrace and kiss and fondle each other, and he made them do it over and over again! He stopped them each time his wife was ready to reach for the gun. And then, when he'd had enough 'fun,' enough sick vengeance, when he could no longer prolong the moment that the script called for—the moment when his wife was supposed to reach for the gun and shoot Tony Austin—Zachary Benedict changed the script!"

Twisting around, Peterson pointed a finger at Zack, his voice ringing with loathing. "Zachary Benedict is a man who is so corrupted by wealth and fame that he actually believed himself above and beyond all the laws that apply to you and to me. He believed you'd let him get away with it! Look at him, ladies and gentlemen of the jury—"

Compelled by Peterson's booming baritone, every single face in the crowded courtroom turned in unison toward Zack, who was seated at the defendant's table. Beside him, Zack's chief defense attorney hissed without actually moving his lips, "Damn it, Zack, look up at the jury!"

Zack raised his head and complied automatically, but he doubted that anything he did was going to make a difference in the jury's collective minds. If Rachel had set out to frame him for her murder, she could never have done a better job at making the "evidence" point to him than he had done on his own.

"Look at him," Alton Peterson commanded with renewed fervor and fury, "and you'll see what he is—a man who is guilty of murder in the first degree! That is the verdict, the only verdict, you can return in this case if justice is to be done!"

* * *

The following morning, the jury retired to debate their verdict and Zack, who was free on $1 million bail, returned to his suite at the Crescent, where he alternately considered trying to make a run for South America and trying to murder Tony Austin instead. Tony seemed like the most logical suspect to him, yet neither Zack's lawyers nor the private detectives they hired could turn up any damning evidence against him except that he still had an expensive drug habit—a habit that he would have been better able to indulge if Rachel had lived to marry him after divorcing Zack. Furthermore, if Zack hadn't decided at the last minute to change the script, Tony, not Rachel, would have been the one shot. Zack tried to remember if he'd ever mentioned to Tony that he didn't like the ending as written and was thinking of changing it. Sometimes, he thought out loud and bounced ideas off others without remembering he'd done it. He'd written notes about changing the ending in his copy of the script, and he'd left the script lying around, but all of the witnesses denied having known anything about it.

Like a caged tiger, he prowled the length of his suite, cursing fate and Rachel and himself. Over and over again, he went through his own lawyer's closing statement, trying to make himself believe Arthur Handler had been able to sway the jury from convicting him. Handler's only real, only plausible defense had been that Zack would have had to be a complete fool to commit so blatant and bizarre a crime when he knew every scrap of evidence was going to point directly at him. When it came out during the trial that Zack owned a large gun collection and was fully familiar with various types of guns and shells, Handler had tried to point out that since that was true, Zack would have also been able to switch the shells without leaving a clumsy fingerprint on the gun.