One thing that everyone knows about Drake McKenney is that he never admits a mistake. Any failure is always someone’s else fault. Of course, it would be hard to find a scapegoat regarding his decision to put Lauren’s murderer in charge of the investigation to find her murderer. Up until a second ago, I wouldn’t have put it past McKenney to try, though. That’s why I don’t expect his mea culpa to go beyond these walls.

“What I should have done was go outside the office and appoint a special prosecutor to handle it,” he explains. “At the time, I thought it was more important that we keep it within our family here, but . . . well, I’m not going to make the same mistake twice.”

It takes me a moment to realize how dramatically I’ve misinterpreted his call. Thirty seconds ago, I was sure I was about to become the bureau chief of Special Vics. But Drake McKenney isn’t offering me that job. Instead, he wants me to prosecute Dana Goodwin.

McKenney goes on to tell me that he’s selected me because I’m the finest non-Manhattan DA out there, but I’m not so naïve as to buy what he’s selling. He’s bowing to political pressure to do this by the book. But I’ve been granted this assignment for one reason, and one reason only: McKenney still wants to control the situation. Even though the whole point of a special prosecutor should be to wrest that oversight from him, he figures that, as long as he can dangle a potential bureau chief spot before me, I can be counted on to do his bidding. It’s a win-win for him. He gets to say that he appointed someone independent to prosecute the case, and yet he’ll still be manipulating the strings. It’s the exact same thinking that caused him to select Dana to partner with Gabriel, but now I’m the one playing the part of his puppet.

“Can I have some time to think about it?”

“Of course. I realize that this will be a big-time commitment and a lot of pressure. Media attention, that sort of thing. So you should give it some thought.”

He smiles the way I’ve seen him do at rallies. A politician’s smile.

“Let me leave you with this, Ella. And I realize that I run the risk of seeming heavy-handed, but I wouldn’t say this if I didn’t truly believe it.” He pauses for dramatic affect. “I’m quite certain that it would make Lauren happy to know you’re the one who’s going to bring her killer to justice.”

36. DANA GOODWIN

36.

DANA GOODWIN