Knight hid a smile. I understand you are a little perturbed that I led the way forU.S. v. Chanceto be put on the docket at the end of the last term.

Ramsey sat up straight. Dont believe everything you hear around here.

On the contrary, Ive found the clerk grapevine to be extraordinarily accurate.

Ramsey sat back once more. Well, I have to admit that I was a little surprised about it. The case presents no unsettled question of law that requires our intervention. Need I say more? He threw up his hands.

In your opinion?

A tinge of red eased across Ramseys face. In the published opinions of this Court over the last fifty years. All I ask is that you accord the Courts precedents the respect they deserve.

Youll find no one who holds this institution in higher regard than I do.

Very happy to hear that.

And Ill be delighted to entertain your thoughts further on theChancecase after we hear oral argument.

Ramsey looked at her dully. It will be a very short discussion, considering that it doesnt take long to say yes or no. Bluntly speaking, at the end of the day, Ill have at least five votes and you wont.

Well, I convinced three other justices to vote to hear the case.

Ramsey looked as though he might laugh. Youll quickly learn that the difference between votes to hear a case and votes to decide it is enormous. Rest assured, I will have the majority.

Knight smiled pleasantly. Your confidence is inspiring. That Icanlearn from.

Ramsey rose to leave. Then consider this other lesson: Small mistakes tend to lead to large ones. Ours is a lifetime appointment, and all you have is your reputation. Once its gone, it doesnt come back. Ramsey went to the door. I wish you a productive day, Beth, he said before leaving her. ["C3"]CHAPTER THREE

Rufus? Samuel Rider cautiously pressed the phone to his ear. How did you track me down?

Aint many lawyers up these parts, Samuel, Rufus Harms said.

Im not in the JAG anymore.

Being on the outside pays good, I guess.

Some days I miss the uniform, Rider lied. He had been a terrified draftee, fortunately with a law degree in hand, and had chosen a safe role in the Judge Advocate Generals Office or JAG over toting a gun through the jungles of Vietnam as a pudgy, fear-soaked GI, a sure beacon for enemy fire.

I need to see you. Dont want to say why over the phone.

Everything okay up at Fort Jackson? I heard you were transferred there.

Sure. Prisons just fine.

I didnt mean that, Rufus. I was just wondering why you looked me up after all this time.

Youre still my lawyer, aint you? Only time I ever needed one.

My schedules kind of tight, and I dont usually travel over that way. Riders hand tightened on the phone with Harmss next words.

I really need to see you tomorrow, Samuel. You think you owe me that?

I did all I could for you back then.

You took the deal. Quick and easy.

No, Rider countered, we did the pretrial agreement with the convening authority, and the trial counsel signed off on it, and that was the smart thing to do.

You didnt really try to beat it none on the sentencing. Most try to do that.

Who told you that?

Learn a lot in prison.

Well, you cant waive the sentencing phase. We put on our case to the members, you know that.

But you didnt call no witnesses, didnt really do much that I could see.

Rider now got very defensive. I did the best I could. Remember something, Rufus, they couldve executed you. A little white girl and all. They wouldve gone for first degree, they told me that. At least you got to live.

Tomorrow, Samuel. I put you on my visitors list. Around about nineA.M. Thank you. Thank you kindly. Oh, bring a little radio with you. Before Rider could ask him why he should bring such a device, or why he should even come to see him, Harms had hung up the phone. Rider eased back in his very comfortable chair and looked around his spacious, wood-paneled office. He practiced law in a small rural town some distance from Blacksburg, Virginia. He made a fine living: nice house, new Buick every three years, vacations twice annually. He had put the past behind him, particularly the most horrible case he had ever handled in his brief career as a military lawyer. The kind of case that had the same effect on your stomach as curdled milk, only no amount of Pepto-Bismol could right the discomfort. Rider touched a hand to his face as his thoughts now drifted back to the early seventies, a time of chaos in the military, the country, the world. Everybody blaming everybody else for everything that had ever gone wrong in the history of the universe. Rufus Harms had sounded bitter over the phone, but hehadkilled that little girl. Brutally. Right in front of her family. Crushed her neck in a few seconds, before anyone could even attempt to stop him. On Harmss behalf, Rider had negotiated a pretrial agreement, but then, under the rules of military law, he had the right to attempt to beat that deal in the sentencing phase. The defendant would either receive the punishment in the pre-trial agreement, or the one meted out by the judge or by the members the military counterpart of a jury whichever involved less prison time. Harmss words gnawed at the lawyer, though, for Rider had been persuaded at the time not to put on much of a case at the sentencing phase. He had agreed with the prosecutor not to bring in any witnesses from outside the area who could attest to Harmss character and so forth. He had also agreed to rely on stipulations from the official record instead of attempting to find fresh evidence and witnesses. That was not exactly playing by the rules, because a defendants right to beat the deal was not supposed to be waived or bargained away in any substantive manner. But without Rider working behind the scenes like that, the prosecutor would have gone for the death penalty, and with those facts, he probably would have gotten it. It mattered little that the murder had happened so quickly that proving premeditation would have been very difficult. The cold body of a child could derail the most logical of legal analyses. The bald truth was nobody cared about Rufus Harms. He was a black man who had spent most of his Army career locked in the stockade. His senseless murder of a child certainly had not improved his standing in the eyes of the military. Such a man was not entitled to justice, many had felt, unless it was swift, painful, and lethal. And maybe Rider was one of those who felt that way. So he hadnt exactly practiced the scorched-earth policy in his defense of the man, but Rider had gotten Rufus Harms life. That was the best any lawyer could have done. So what could Rufus want to see him about? he wondered. ["C4"]CHAPTER FOUR

As John Fiske rose from the counsels table he glanced over at his opponent, Paul Williams. The young assistant commonwealth attorney, or ACA, had just finished confidently stating the particulars of his motion. Fiske whispered, Your ass is grass, Paulie. You messed up.

When Fiske turned to face Judge Walters, his manner was one of subdued excitement. Fiske was broad-shouldered, though at six feet he was a couple of inches shorter than his younger brother. And unlike Michael Fiske, his features were far from classically handsome. He had chubby cheeks, a too-sharp chin and a twice-broken nose, one time from high school wrestling, the other time a carryover from his cop days. However, Fiskes black hair was swept over his forehead in an unkempt manner that somehow managed to be attractive and intimate, and his brown eyes housed an intense core.

Your Honor, in the interest of not wasting the courts time, I would like to make an offer in open court to the Commonwealth Attorneys Office regarding its motion. If they agree to withdraw with prejudice and contribute one thousand dollars to the public defenders fund, I will withdraw my response, not file for sanctions and we can all go home.