A Criminal's Mind

Five to Twenty

Ford and I make the long trip back to Quantico and neither of us are happy about the almost nine hour drive, round trip. It's one thing to go up there and spend a few days, but there and back in one day is just too much. I'm glad we get to fly when we go to California. By the time we get back the work day is done and we just head home. We can't do a lot until we get more information from the Altoona PD about the Barnwrights. We don't hear anything until about a week later. When I get to the office I see Ford and Tench standing at their desks, "about time," Tench chuckles.

I look at my watch, "what? I'm actually early."

Tench shrugs, "I hope you're ready for another car ride."

"No, no, no, no..." I shake my head, "dear God, please, tell me I get to beat the crap out of him this time."

"Which one? Benjamin or Frank?" Ford chuckles.

I shrug my shoulders, "you know, at this point, I don't care."

"Well, with any luck we'll be able to charge, hold and try these bastards." Tench nods, looking between Ford and I, "now let's go." We make the drive back to Altoona, honestly I think I slept through most of it.

Ford wakes me up as we get into Altoona city limits, "Nancy. We're almost there, wake up." I take a deep breath and stretch, "you know, you snore." Ford looks back to me in the rearview mirror.

"No, I don't," I shake my head.

"Bill?"

Tench nods, "you do a little. But it's alright, it's kind of cute."

I sigh, "well, as long as I'm cute," I laugh as do the boys.

When we pull up to the courthouse, since our first stop was the DA's office, Ocasek is waiting for us. Tench jumps out of the car, since Ford had been driving. "What fuck happened, Mark?" It isn't until I get out of the car that I see Mark looks very worried.

"You guys might be too late."

"Is he in there?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go talk to him."

"I know you came a long way..."

"Who doesn't like a four-hour drive in winter?" Ford shrugs.

"It's done," Ocasek shakes his head.

I shake my head as I walk past Ocasek, not breaking stride, "it isn't over until the fat lady sings." I walk up the stairs and into the DA's office.

"Ahh... Ms. Freeman, lovely to see you again," the DA looks up from the paperwork that is on his desk.

I take a deep breath as I place my left fist on my hip, "you offered him a plea bargain. Didn't you?"

"What is she talking about?" I hadn't realized it at the time, but Ford was on my heels as I matched into the courthouse and the other two weren't far behind.

The DA sighs, "he just pled guilty to third-degree murder. And he is now facing five to twenty years."

I nod, "yeah, in a state psychiatric hospital."

"You misunderstood," Ford shakes his head.

"Look," the DA leans back in his chair, "you did a great job. You almost got it right. But it was never Frank, it was all Benjamin."

I sigh and shake my head, "you know that's not true."

"You made a recommendation that Frank motivated Benjamin to commit murder and..."

"We said he pushed his buttons," Ford nods.

"And Benjamin came back and disfigured the body. Well, guess what?" The DA smiles, "Frank confirmed all of it. But you did get one thing wrong, Ms. Freeman... Frank didn't rape her. Benjamin did. The victim was already dead when Frank got there."

"Hold on," I shake my head.

"You said Benjamin was jealous, sexaully frustrated, humiliated. That's a motive."

"You got it all wrong."

"I have the report here."

"I've read the report. In fact, I wrote a fair bit of it and it points in the opposite direction. Benjamin was impotent because of the stressors. Therefore it would have been impossible for him to rape the victim."

"I understand the righteousness of your cause, but this is an exceptionally difficult and disturbing case. There's very little forensic evidence. Almost all the evidence is circumstantial."

"You classify our evidence as circumstantial?" Ford looks over to Tench, then to me.

"Frank told us where to find the victim's breasts. Benjamin had kept them."

"So?"

"So, I got a guy who's jealous, sexually frustrated and we find the victim's breasts buried in his backyard. Then I got a guy who's willing to tell us what happened."

"To save his own ass," I take a deep breath, "there is a massive difference between murdering a woman and mutilating her body after she's dead."

"A plea bargain is the only antidote against a failed prosecution."

Tench sighs, "you're letting Frank off."

I scoff, "he shouldn't just go to a mental institution for five years. He should be put away for life."

"Five to twenty years," the DA shakes his head, "and the defense is arguing the state had a duty of care the first time Frank was in the hospital. The onus is on the state to make him better."

"He's never going to get better. He can't."

"I have to make a phone call."

I scoff and turn out of the room, marching as my heels click on the tile. I hear Tench call out to me, "Nance."

I shake my head and turn, "I'm sorry, Bill. I'm sorry. But this is ridiculous."

"Hey," Tench puts his hands on my shoulders, "you have nothing to apologize for." As we stand in the hall, we hear the sound of chains moving toward us. When I turn, I see Frank walking toward us with a guard. As he passes us he smirks. I walk outside and lean against the railings outside. "Are you okay?"

I shake my head, "he's letting the wrong guy off with a lighter sentence."

"When you explain it to him, he seemed to understand," Ford leans next to me.

Ocasek crosses his arms, "I think he wasn't sure he could convince a jury. This way it's airtight."

I scoff, "he didn't try."

As I make this comment the DA comes out, walking over to us, "no hard feelings, okay?" He looks down to me, "I know the outcome wasn't what you wanted. All three behind bars, and Benjamin'll fry for what he did. Not all bad. You know what we're up against. We have to consider the attention span of a prospective jury pool. Need to keep them in mind. Our objective is the lowest cost for the highest quality of justice."

"You know who else you need to keep in mind? Beverly. And it is your job to make sure that she gets justice too."

"Let me get you a steak sandwich. Outside of KC, it's the best I've come across."

"No, thanks," Tench shakes his head.

"I think I speak for all of us when I say, we've lost our appetite," Ford puts his hands in his coat pockets.

"We need to hit the road."

"Okay," the DA nods, "thank you for everything." He shakes our hands before leaving.

We head back to the car and Ford sighs, "what difference does any of this make if we can't communicate it to the people who matter?"

"I don't know," Tench shakes his head.

"You say that like that DA matters," I scoff.