“Yes. If you want to tell me, and I won’t find anything about you boring at all.”
“A lot of people would call me cold, calculating, and ruthless.” He held up his hand. “Don’t deny it, Kate. I believe you’ve pointed that out to me just recently when I blocked your attempt at a competency hearing for Mr. Hamilton.”
“Everyone has their flaws, Jericho.”
“Touché, Kate. You were right. My education was carefully thought out and faultlessly applied. I saw inequities even at the upstanding school where I was a student.”
“That’s the way of society. The haves and have-nots.”
“That’s true. But our society is also based on independent ingenuity, and a have-not can become a have with a good old-fashioned work ethic.”
“There was such a person in your school?”
“There was. Andrew Matheson.”
“The pianist?”
“One and the same. You see, Andrew’s parents could barely afford to send him to the posh school, but somehow, they did it. There was a scholarship, a really fat one. Money, I didn’t need, but I was entered in the contest, and I came in first.”
“Let me guess. Andrew was better than you.”
“Ten times. Music wasn’t something that I intended to pursue. It was something I enjoyed, more of a hobby.”
“But even if you had decided to pursue music, you would have turned down the scholarship.”
He turned to look at her, his dark eyes glittering in the darkness. “That you said that makes me so glad that I try every day to be a better man.”
“You did turn it down, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did. Andrew got it and rightly so, but the inequity stayed with me, Kate. I wanted to be able to right wrongs when I saw them.”
“So, you left your uncle’s law firm because his ethics were questionable.”
“They were. I couldn’t stand it another day. My family was surprised, but they have always supported my decision, and becoming a prosecutor could be a step toward public office.”
“So, in their eyes, it was an admirable change.”
“I wouldn’t have cared if it was. It was what I was going to do.”
“Does running for DA serve some other kind of need for righting wrongs?”
“No. Not really. It does give me more power, and I can prosecute the cases I feel Roth sometimes shies away from because he’s afraid he can’t win, and it’ll look bad for the office.”
“You don’t care about that.”
“No. I don’t give a damn about that. I fight the good fight whatever it takes.”
“What about Danny?”
Jericho turned on the bench and pulled Kate closer, cupping her face. “I’m an advocate for Mrs. LePlante. She has no one to speak for her. It’s my job to get justice for her. If Danny took that woman’s life, I’ll make sure that he pays for it. It’s not up to me to make that decision. A jury of his peers will do that. It’s only up to me to present the evidence to them and convince them beyond a shadow of a doubt he did it.”
“Do you believe that he did it?”
“I don’t speculate, Kate. I can only look at the evidence we have now and go forward with that information.”
“But what about Ken Mitchell?”
“I need proof, Kate.”