Page 33 of The Instruments of Darkness

This brought us to the issue of why Stephen Clark had become involved, however briefly, with Mara Teller. Maybe she had ignited a dormant fire in him, but this particular flame bothered me.

“And the next question?”

“Do you think Stephen was capable of hurting Henry?”

“By ‘hurt,’ do you mean physical abuse? Hitting?”

“No, I mean worse than that.”

She stared at me for what felt like a very long time. I didn’t look away, but allowed her to consider the question in silence.

“No,” she said at last. “I may dislike him intensely, but I don’t think he has murder in him.”

“What about his brother and sister-in-law?”

She pursed her lips and thought long and hard before she answered.

“I liked them better than Stephen, and their longing for a child is real and profound,” she said. “They fussed over Henry like he was their own, so I don’t think they’d ever have done anything to harm him. If you’re looking at them as possible abductors, I’d have to conclude you were on the wrong track. Which is not to say that I couldn’t be mistaken, but I’d be very, very surprised.”

“Thank you,” I said. “That’s all for now. If you’d like, I’ll give you a ride to the courthouse. If not, one of the Fulcis can keep you company.”

“I don’t think either of them would fit in my car,” she replied, “so I’d better go with you.”

MEANWHILE, AS I LEARNED later, Moxie wasn’t enjoying the company of Erin Becker at the courthouse, but at least the feeling was mutual. Becker was digging in on bail, which didn’t surprise Moxie, even if the extent of her animosity toward Colleen Clark did. As anticipated, Becker rejected outright personal recognizance—release without bail—and neither would she countenance unsecured bail. Instead, she initially set the line at $250,000 secured and precluded Colleen from using her share in the family property as that security.

Moxie couldn’t help but laugh. In Maine, $50,000 was a ballpark figure for bail on a murder charge, and usually required a body. For now, Henry Clark remained missing, if quietly presumed dead, and the most serious charge against Colleen was manslaughter, not murder.

“If you’re actively seeking to alienate Pam Jedry,” Moxie told Becker, “you could just try burning down her house or calling her kids ugly.”

Because the charges against Colleen involved not only felonies, but also felonies alleged to have been committed against a family member, a bail commissioner was prohibited from setting bail, leaving the judge to make the determination. The initial hearing would therefore be held before Judge Pam Jedry, who was no soft touch but had worked closely with the Maine Women’s Lobby before becoming one of Governor John Baldacci’s first nominations to the bench back in the early part of the century. It was fair to say that she wouldn’t have been Becker’s first choice for any stage of the Clark proceedings. There was also rumored to be bad blood between her and Nowak, the animosity being as much personal as political.

“I don’t think you’ve been paying attention, Mr. Castin,” said Becker. “You need to look again at the list of charges.”

“And you need to look at a calendar, Ms. Becker. This isn’t the nineteenth century. Bail isn’t prohibited on these charges and you can’t try to conjure a version of such a prohibition by pulling figures from thin air. You know you’ll just be asking for a bad-tempered sidebar with Pam Jedry.”

“Or a Harnish,” said Becker. “Would that be preferable?”

A Harnish bail proceeding determines whether a crime is a “formerly capital offense” as identified by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Those offenses are limited to murder, rape, arson of a dwelling at nighttime, armed robbery, armed burglary of a dwelling at nighttime, and treason. In such cases, the defendant’s constitutional right to bail is extinguished.

“Again,” said Moxie, “I refer you to the manslaughter charge.”

“It’s manslaughter for the present, but I’m becoming more optimistic about securing a murder conviction. Maine Revised Statute 17-A, Section 201: a person is guilty of murder if that person ‘engages in conduct that manifests a depraved indifference to the value of human life and that in fact causes the death of another human being.’ I’m open to adding or revisiting charges should any new evidence justify it. I’m willing to bet on that evidence emerging before too long. The investigation into Henry Clark’s disappearance is ongoing, and I’m confident that the police will ultimately establish the truth about what happened to him. With that in mind, I’d have no difficulty announcing at our preliminary hearing that we’re contemplating raising the main charge to murder.”

Moxie hid his unhappiness well, but Becker knew she’d scored a hit. If she went with a murder charge, a Harnish hearing was subsequently requested, and the judge sided with the prosecution, Colleen would be left behind bars while her case wound its way to trial. She’d also be transferred to a less amenable environment than Cumberland County Jail, where a woman accused of killing her child would be a prime target for putative avengers.

Becker sat placidly, like an alligator watching a fawn cautiously approaching water, and said nothing while Moxie ran through a range of potential outcomes in his head. It could, he knew, all be a bluff, because he wasn’t convinced that Becker was prepared to go with a murder charge. She needed a win, and manslaughter offered a better prospect.

“You won’t get the judge to sign off on a quarter of a million,” he said finally, “and I very much doubt that Jedry will look favorably on your Harnish play, not after I’ve had my say.”

Becker, having made Moxie squirm for a while, eased off.

“We always have the option of parking the request,” she said, “and seeking revocation of bail at a later date based on a new charge. Who knows which judge might be required to make that decision?”

Moxie decided that he really, really didn’t like Erin Becker. She possessed the vindictiveness of a despot, but also the conceit.

“You could go down that route,” said Moxie, “but your friends in the media won’t be able to get any good shots of my client if she’s locked up. Out of sight, out of mind and all that, because there’s always some new scandal to occupy the masses. It’s a long journey to trial, even if you do manage to accelerate proceedings, and I’ll do my best to stymie you every step of the way. I think you and your boss want Colleen Clark in the public eye, or else she’s no use to you as an electoral tool.”

He waited for Becker to blink. It took a while, but she did.

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