“You know. Surely you’ve been.”

Shalimar cleared her throat. “We’re, uh, new here.”

“But the Church is everywhere, all across the nation.” Mina seemed flabbergasted. “Do you really not know? The Temple of the Vampire.”

Loving shook his head. It just got weirder and weirder. “There’s a church called the Temple of the Vampire?”

“Absolutely. It’s a bona fide, national, federally registered church. Protected by the First Amendment. Tax exempt. But let’s not talk about that now. You must’ve come here for a reason. What kind of pleasure suite can I arrange for you?”

“Nothin’ just now,” Loving said, guiding Shalimar away. He wondered if he could find his way out of this maze by himself. “I’m not in the mood for pleasure anymore. For some reason, I’m suddenly feelin’ very religious.”

21

“Y our honor, the defense calls his wife, Marie Glancy, to the stand.”

Now that was more like it, Ben thought, as he heard an appreciable murmur rising from the gallery and saw one of the reporters run to the back doors, crack them open, and wave for his fifth-estate buddies to come inside. Everyone knew who Marie Glancy was. And everyone, whether they believed her to be a tragic victim taken advantage of by a wayward husband or a shrewd politico with her own agenda, wanted to hear what she had to say.

Ben wasted as little time as possible on the introductory material. The jury already knew who she was, either liked her or didn’t, and was well aware of her relevance to the case. He wondered how many minds in the courtroom were comparing the petite, somewhat plain figure in the witness stand to the video’s lusty feral child in the lacy undergarments.

“How long have you and your husband been married?”

“Almost sixteen years now. We wed when we were in college. We were very much in love.”

“And you went to law school-”

“At the University of Oklahoma.” She glanced up at Ben. “As did several other distinguished members of the bar.”

Ben had to hand it to her. She was doing a great job of staying cool, but not cold. Calm, but not unemotional. She was even allowing herself a little wry humor, though nothing that might seem sarcastic or flippant. She was dressed professionally but neither too richly nor too austerely. The woman knew her audience.

“And you graduated? Got your juris doctorate?”

“Yes. But I never practiced. Todd took over his father’s oil business, then went to the DA’s office, then onward and upward into politics.”

“And you?”

“I was his wife. I did what was necessary to make his career possible.”

Fair enough. And said in a way that made her point without seeming martyrish. For perhaps the first moment ever, Ben began to think this just might possibly work.

“Mrs. Glancy,” Ben continued, “much of the prosecution case has centered on allegations that your husband had an… an-” Dammit, he had practiced this three times just to make sure he didn’t stutter. “-an extramarital affair. Did you ever suspect that your husband was… doing anything like that?”

“Oh, I did a lot more than suspect.” She folded her hands in her lap and directed her attention to the jury. “I knew all about it.”

That raised more than one eyebrow in the jury box. “You knew about the affair with Veronica Cooper?”

“Absolutely.”

“For how long?”

“Virtually from the moment it started. For that matter, I think I knew it was going to happen before Todd did.”

“You seem to have taken it well.”

“No,” she replied, for the first time allowing her lips to turn slightly downward. “I didn’t take it well at all. Not then and not now. But I know my husband. Like many great men throughout history, he has had… appetites to match his ambition. And tastes that were, well, somewhat outside the norm. I knew I couldn’t satisfy him. I don’t think any one woman could, at least not so long as he had options.”

“When you learned of the affair, did you attempt to end it?”

“Not then, no. What would be the point? He would be angry and would only move on to someone else.” Back at counsel table, Ben noted a concerned expression on Christina’s face. Was this testimony supposed to be helping them? “I couldn’t stop my husband from straying. So I resolved to simply remain informed of the situation. I couldn’t prevent my husband from philandering. But I could certainly prevent myself from being left in the dark.”

“So what steps did you take?”

“I hired a private detective.” A definite stir in the courtroom. Even Judge Herndon appeared extremely attentive.

“To follow your husband?”

“No. With all the security at the Capitol, that would be next to impossible. Plus there’s a good chance he’d spot the tail, and then the game would be up.” She turned, crossed, then recrossed her legs. “I hired the man to follow Veronica Cooper.”

Point made, Ben thought, and convincingly done, too. The foundation for his next witness was laid. Now he could proceed with Marie.

“Mrs. Glancy, another great linchpin of the prosecution case has been a certain videotape. I believe you were in the courtroom when it was played. It appeared to portray-”

Marie held up her hand. “I know the one you’re talking about. I don’t need a description.”

Several of the jurors almost laughed. She was handling this very well.

“Before it aired on C-SPAN, did you have any prior knowledge of the video?”

“Yes.”

Jurors’ necks craned. A few lips parted.

“You did?” He paused. “Did your detective-?”

“Make the video? Absolutely not. He took notes, not pictures. But he did find out about the video, and he told me immediately. You see, on this point, the distinguished junior senator from Oklahoma was right-and this may be the first time that’s happened in his entire career.” A full-fledged round of laughter. She was charming them, absolutely winning them over. “Veronica Cooper made the videotape herself. She set up the camcorder, hid it, and made copies of the tape afterward.”

“Objection,” Padolino said, rising to his feet. “Since Ms. Glancy is relating what was told to her by this alleged detective, this is hearsay.”

“That’s not entirely true,” Marie said, before Ben had a chance to respond.

“Ma’am,” Judge Herndon said, “you should allow counsel to handle the objections.”

“Why? I’m a lawyer, too.” More laughter, even louder than before. “It’s true that I got a report from my detective. But less than twenty-four hours later, I had personal knowledge of the tape. Because I saw it. In Veronica Cooper’s grubby little hands.”

“She came to you?” Ben asked.

“No. It’s not my style to wait for the inevitable, especially when it could be so potentially dangerous. I went to her apartment and confronted her.”

“Why would you do that?”

“It was pretty obvious that she made that video for a reason, and it wasn’t just so she could spend nostalgic evenings remembering how fabulous my husband had been. My mission was damage control. Find out what she wanted and get it to her before she did something stupid-and irreversible.”

“Wouldn’t it have been smarter to tell your husband? Let him handle this?”

“Absolutely not. Todd is an intelligent man and an excellent politician, but that in itself can be very limiting. No telling how he might react. And quite frankly, there are some things a U.S. senator simply cannot do-but a wife can.”

Ben nodded, slowly scanning the eyes of the jurors. Even those he thought had been most hostile to her at the outset were beginning to melt. That was good. Very good.

“What was it Ms. Cooper wanted?”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ve already guessed. She needed money, of course. Lots of it. Apparently she had quite an active nightlife-I guess the previous witness gave you some idea of that-and she was using this designer drug that was very expensive. She’d gotten herself deeply into debt, with the kind of people who don’t take IOUs. She wanted to leave town, but her meager intern’s salary wouldn’t permit it. She basically had two options: prostitution, or blackmail.”