"We’ve gone through the court documents briefly," Alison told her."The case only came to light to us this morning."
"Then you don't know what happened to him after that?"she asked.
Alison felt Detective Moore tense beside her.They were supposed to be the ones conducting the interview, but Diana had more knowledge than they did, and the upper hand because of it.
"What happened after that?"Alison asked as Moore remained silent.
Diana gave a wry smile and shook her head."The messed-up system happened after that.Do you know he was released after five years in whatever that place was supposed to be?And who knows if he was faking it or not, right?I mean, he went straight back to trying to kill someone, but didn't do it this time."
"Where is he now?"Moore asked.
"He was shot," Diana said."The cops got there and shot him before he could kill more innocent people.He still likely messed up another family who’ll have to live through the trauma of that, but he’s gone.Is that justice?Is that how our system should work?"
Moore wrote something on her pad and showed it to Alison.
That’s why she couldn’t go after Hartman.
Alison nodded to acknowledge that she had read the note, but perhaps not in complete agreement.As she looked across the table at Diana Shepherd, she couldn’t tell if the woman was a cold-blooded killer or a woman numbed by the loss of her family.
"What did you have on Judge Greene?"Alison asked.
Diana looked at her blankly.
"I read the article you published this morning, and you alluded to having something that would put an end to Greene hurting people.What did you mean by that, and what do you have?"
Diana rubbed the back of her neck, then looked at her lawyer.
"Do you have something?"he asked.
"I guess there’s no point in keeping it secret now, and I will still publish the article.I know he’s dead, and out of respect for his family, I will remove the article for now, but I will publish it again with the additional information once we have it all together."
Diana paused.
"We’ve spent a lot of time analyzing data from cases across the country, especially those where there is an insanity plea, no matter the outcome."Diana took a breath."I don't know the exact numbers, but I do know what they show.It’s almost impossible to prove that one judge accepts pleas of insanity over another, but we do see that Judge Greene was more willing to consider an insanity plea, and his numbers are slightly elevated over most other judges where someone is sent to a facility rather than a prison."
Diana paused again before continuing.
"Now, those numbers on their own don't tell the whole story.Someone has to be at the top of the list, and it could be just that, but when we looked into it, we found that Martin Greene had a twin sister committed to a psychiatric facility when they were fourteen years old.A sister that he still visits to this day, or visited.He never mentions her, and in any interviews, he’s not once talked about a twin sister who’s been locked in a facility for her entire life.It was his father who had her committed, and after his passing, he became her legal steward.It wouldn’t look good for a judge to be talking about his crazy sister, but it makes perfect sense why his numbers are skewed, and if that got out, there would be far more questions about his integrity."
Moore sat in quiet contemplation.Alison knew there were more questions to ask, but she didn't have any she wanted to ask just yet.They needed to check the information first to ensure it was accurate before they continued.That was exactly what Moore did.
"All right," Detective Moore said."I’m suspending the interview at three-forty-two."
She looked at Alison.
"We’ll check out what you said, and then take it from there," Alison told Diana.
They needed to follow up on the information.Judge Greene was a man whose career was built on finding the truth, but was he hiding his own?And if he was hiding it, then why was he doing so?And why was it cropping up at a time when people were being killed?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
"It checks out," Moore said."Natalie Greene was committed to an institution when she was fourteen, and she still lives there.She’s in a mostly catatonic state from what they told me on the phone, but she does come around at times and then just rants and raves, and can become physical before she tires herself out.Martin Greene was her legal guardian up until the time of his death, and with no children, it looks like guardianship of Natalie will pass to the state.Diana was telling the truth about that."
"Does it give us anything?"Alison asked."We have a connection between all four victims.They were all a part of the Hartman case.We don't have another case that they all worked on together.At least at the moment. So, if we add this in, does it move the needle in any direction, or is it just background noise?"
"It has to be background noise," Moore said."Judge Greene wasn’t killed because of his sister.He was going to be exposed by Diana Shepherd, perhaps, but that’s not a reason for him to be killed.So, we come back to the trial, and Diana is our killer.You heard it in there.She might have gone after Hartman if he were still alive.He escapes being sent to jail, and then he serves five years?That’s nothing.And when he’s released, presumably with a clean bill of health, he tries to kill another family and is shot.That’s the narrative that Diana Shepherd sees.The system fails her again and again, and she’s forced to take matters into her own hands."
"Yeah," Alison sighed.