CHAPTER 5

Clarence Berkley’s antebellum mansion was a monument to the Southern affluence of a time past.

The stately two-story building overlooked the river, standing proudly behind two tall palmetto trees. The front porch’s white columns were strong and prominent, and behind the white railings was a collection of wicker furniture. The cast iron gates creaked as Hennessy opened them, leading into a well-manicured garden. A warm breeze blew off the nearby Ashley River, bringing with it the salty smells of the pluff mud, and the temperature was pushing past eighty-five as the sun reached its highest point in the sky.

Hennessy admired the garden as he walked toward the top step of the front porch and rang the doorbell, listening to the chime echoing through the grand home. He had been to the mansion before, more than two decades earlier, when he was working in the prosecutor’s office and Clarence Berkley was a respected judge. Berkley had always been an entertainer, and his annual law parties in the sprawling yard were locally famous.

It took several minutes before the thick door creaked open.

“Never thought I’d see you at my home again,”

Berkley scoffed as he looked up at Hennessy’s tall figure. “But life has a way of surprising us all, doesn’t it?”

“Judge Clarence Berkley.”

Berkley was well past his prime, and it showed. His gray hair was almost all gone, his once athletic frame was slumped forward, and his once solid arms were bone thin. He had been a dominant force in the courtroom for decades, using his booming voice to exercise power over lawyers and their clients, but his dominance was a thing of the past.

“I’d say it’s good to see you, Joe, but that would be a lie.”

“You haven’t changed a bit.”

“I’m too old to change.”

He wiped his bony finger under his nose. “There are a lot of rumors going around town about you. One rumor even said that you’re taking on the defense of Palin’s case.”

“They’re not rumors.”

“Why would you do that? He’s a terrible, terrible man.”

“He’s not the one with a long line of sexual assault accusations.”

“And none have ever stuck to me, if you remember.”

Berkley shook his head, looking over his shoulder back inside the house. “What do you want, Joe?”

“Palin said I should talk to you.”

“Palin said that?”

The comment had caught Berkley off-guard. He squinted as he looked at Hennessy, stepped further inside, and closed the door until it was only just open. “Wait here.”

Hennessy heard voices from inside the home. Berkley opened the door again a few moments later. He pointed toward the gardens at the side of the house and began to walk that way.

“My wife is with the nurse,”

Berkley said as he held his hands behind his back. “The nurse comes daily to check on things and ensure everything is ok with her. It’s dementia. Some days, Valeria is good; others, not so much. Some days, she doesn’t remember who I am, and other days, she doesn’t remember who she is.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,”

Joe followed a step behind. “That must be hard.”

“Ah.”

Berkley shrugged as if it was nothing. They stepped off the porch and onto the path at the edge of the yard.

The path led around the right side of the house, bringing them to the enormous rear yard. Greenery was abundant. Tall hedges lined the perimeter, another pathway led to a decorative fountain in the middle of the space, and hibiscus flowers blossomed in an array of pinks and yellows. Several large oaks stood at the rear of the yard, complete with Spanish moss gently blowing in the breeze. The yard was a showpiece, a testament to the wealth Berkley had inherited and later built upon.

Berkley stopped to admire the flowers for a moment, touching one of the leaves and rubbing it between his index finger and thumb before slowly walking with his hands behind his back.

“When you were in the prosecutor’s office all those years ago, you were so righteous and firm in your belief of right and wrong. What happened? Why are your morals now for sale?”

“Palin is entitled to a defense.”

“Yes, yes, of course.”

He gripped his hands behind his back and stopped before the fountain. “We all know the rules of the game, but that doesn’t explain why you took the case. What could a man like Palin have on you? What’s he blackmailing you with?”

“Money.”

“Ah.”

Berkley smiled. “Never thought you’d be the one to chase a dollar at the expense of your morals.”

“The money will afford me the chance to give all this away,”

Hennessy conceded. “And then I can return to the vineyard.”

“The precious vineyard. Upstate, isn’t it? I remember when you left Charleston twenty years ago after your son’s death, and you bought that vineyard. Everyone understood why you left. We all would’ve done the same thing. It was too much to bear and then to hear that your old colleague Richard Longhouse was behind Luca’s death. Well, that was as much a surprise to me as it was to anyone.”

Hennessy didn’t respond, not wishing to be drawn into a discussion about old times with his former associate. Berkley continued to wander with his hands behind his back, letting the silence sit between them. He stopped at the yard’s edge and sat on a wooden bench. “How much do you know about Palin’s case? Have you seen the full witness list yet?”

Hennessy sat next to Berkley, looking back toward the mansion. “The witness list is long. Five of the main witness names are currently redacted to protect them from threats of violence, but I’m not sure knowing the names would make any difference. The state has an almost perfect case against your friend.”

“He’s not my friend. Never was.”

“Then why would he tell me to come here?”

Berkley grunted. “Because I’ve helped him in the past. He had evidence against me that I couldn’t risk getting out, and he used that as blackmail. That’s how he operated. He’d offer to do your accounting at a reduced rate, discover your secrets, and then blackmail you into doing favors for him. He’d overcharge for the accounting, sometimes more than double what it should’ve been, but that was the price he charged for keeping secrets. He did that to so many people. I have friends who were blackmailed by him right up until their deaths. That man has no morals.”

“What did he have on you?”

“He did my accounting for many years, and let’s say, in some of those years, I spent a certain amount of money on women who weren’t my wife. He threatened to tell Valeria unless I did several favors for him. I couldn’t let those secrets be made public, and I couldn’t let my wife find out. So, I helped him by encouraging law enforcement to investigate two of his rival accounting firms. Palin was also in the pocket of some members of law enforcement, and I encouraged them to use some questionable charges of fraud. I approved the warrants and law enforcement did the rest. The rival firms must’ve known what was happening because they both shut down within weeks. Anytime a new firm tried to muscle into Palin’s ground, the same thing happened. He was so well-connected that new accounting firms learned to avoid Charleston.”

“And if you didn’t help him, he would tell your wife about your extra-marital affairs.”

“That’s what he threatened me with, but that doesn’t matter now. I’m no longer employed as a judge, and my wife has dementia. There’s nothing he can do to me now.”

“Palin thinks you can convince Judge Clayton to release the redacted witness list early. He also thinks you’ve still got contacts to help us strike a deal that would mean no prison time.”

“I can’t help you with any of that. I was asked to leave to the bench, remember? A disgraced judge isn’t welcome back into the courtroom, Joe. My connections left me a long time ago.”

“Then why did Palin tell me to come to you?”

Berkley groaned and shook his head. “Before he was charged, he came to me for legal advice, off the books, and I talked to him. He talked to me about transferring a certain amount of money to Costa Rica without it attracting attention, and I advised him on the best way to do it. I have some connections in Costa Rica, and he wanted to leverage that network.”

“But?”

“But he was caught before he transferred the money. They closed the surrounding net faster than I thought they would.”

“Did you know about the children’s charity foundation?”

“I knew he was ripping someone off. Why else was he about to run off to Costa Rica? It was clear that he had been involved in something illegal and wanted to escape it. I didn’t ask how he got the money because I didn’t want to know. I have no desire to involve myself in any more legal cases like that. I’ve left that life behind.”

“Palin says one of his employees framed him.”

“And maybe, for this instance, he’s telling the truth. Maybe he was framed. It is a coincidence that they all quit on the same day. I don’t know the truth. All I know is that the past catches up with all of us. Palin has managed so much corruption in his life that he wouldn’t even know right and wrong anymore. When he had influence and money, he had a lot of friends and powerful allies, but times have changed. The people he was connected to have long retired, passed away or left the game, and now, he’s finding out that he has no powerful friends left. The only people left on his side are that thug motorcycle gang.”

“The Rebel Sons.”

“I’d heard rumors about Palin doing work for them, and I have no interest in involving myself in their dramas.”

“Would you testify as a character witness for Palin?”

Berkley laughed, his voice carrying around the spacious yard. “No, Joe. I’m not going to testify on Palin’s behalf. He’s spent his life dealing in manipulation and threats. He’s blackmailed law enforcement, politicians, business owners, and me. And he’s ripped off more people than you and I could ever imagine. He’s going to get what’s been coming to him for decades. It’s time he paid for all the hurt and pain he’s caused so many people.”

“So, you won’t help him?”

“There’s no chance I’ll testify on his behalf,”

Berkley stood and began to walk back toward the home. “And as an old colleague, I’ll give you a piece of advice—Palin is a sinking ship. And when he goes down, he’s going to take everyone else down with him.”