Gregory G. Sarno
As a teen, prosecutor Ben Santos fathered a daughter out of wedlock. Hell-bent on a career in law, he lost contact with her. A dozen years later, his failure to embrace fatherhood is his one abiding regret.Blood money claims the life of a pregnant woman. A jail snitch badgers her husband into implicating himself. Conviction seems a safe bet until the criminal lawyers go to work, bending the rules of evidence so as to profit from the husband’s cellblock confidences.Santos is initially gun-shy about handling the case. His one previous murder trial ended in a hung jury. The rapist-killer, released on bail pending retrial, claimed the life of another victim.At trial, Santos parries the aggressive ploys of Vietnam Veteran-defense attorney Francisco Duran. Even so, Duran backs him into a corner. At the eleventh hour, Santos devises a strategy worthy of Solomon. Duran counters with a cynical plea-bargain proposal. Momentum turning, Santos insists on submitting the case to the jurors despite risk of another hung jury.On the home front, Santos and his teacher wife are working on a baby of their own. As trial nears its climax, Santos rushes Carmel to Delivery. 3
