The district attorney gritted his teeth at the thought of another day of cross-examination. "I've questioned her type before," he told the mayor. His mind was still reeling from the circus that had been opening statements, and the defendant's appearance in a pink mink wrap and a fresh tan. Respect for the dead was not her forté. "It'll be hard to get her to crack under pressure."

At the heart of the case was a dead man, but a representative of certain entrenched interests and an old friend of the political establishment. His had been a very public death, and as the vortex of money, sex and politics proved irresistible, the evidence that had once seemed so overwhelming began to take on a distinctively circumstantial tinge in public opinion. Whether it produce justice or not, the trial would stagger to a close one way or the next. As he left for the courtroom, the district attorney just prayed it would bring justice for someone, somewhere.