Twenty Years Later(74)
“It doesn’t look like it, and you’re looking at the proof. These photos were taken two days after the murder. There’s no way a wound would heal that quickly.”
“So where did the blood come from?”
“It’s a very good question,” Walt said. “One that I don’t have the answer to.”
CHAPTER 46
Manhattan, NY Sunday, July 4, 2021
AVERY CONTINUED TO LOOK THROUGH THE PICTURES. “WHERE DID these photos come from? Why weren’t they in the original file?”
“That’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. Something’s been bothering me ever since I dove back into the Cameron Young case and stirred up the memories of that investigation.”
“What is it?” Avery said.
“When I was tapped to investigate this homicide, I was young. I wasn’t dumb, but I was inexperienced in running a homicide investigation. I was well trained and had been part of other homicides for the BCI, but never as the lead detective. The Cameron Young investigation was my first solo case. And, even looking back now, I don’t think I would change much. My job was to present the evidence I found to the district attorney’s office. I didn’t offer opinions or speculation. I just followed the evidence and then turned it over. I was good at procedure. Find the evidence, log the evidence; get the warrants, apply the warrants. I did everything by the book.
“What I was bad at were the politics involved in our criminal justice system. The DA was a woman named Maggie Greenwald. She had a reputation as a fierce prosecutor who was on the rise. She was aggressive, demanding, and had political aspirations far beyond the district attorney’s office. Rumors had her pegged for the next attorney general or governor. But to get that kind of shot, and gather the support needed to forge a serious run, she needed to make headlines as the DA. Headlines come from quickly resolving cases. And if a high-profile case comes your way, even better. Maggie Greenwald was all over the Cameron Young case from the very beginning and wanted things done quickly. She chose me to run the investigation. I was handpicked and quite proud of it. And I took the responsibility seriously.”
“Roman Manchester, Victoria Ford’s attorney, told me that Maggie Greenwald had a knack for . . . how did he put it? Fitting square evidence into round holes.”
“I didn’t know that about her at the time she tapped me to run the Cameron Young investigation. I found that out only after I left the BCI to join the Bureau. She got herself into a little trouble.”
“She was disbarred for suppressing evidence, so it was more than a little trouble.”
Walt nodded. “One of her biggest convictions got overturned when new DNA evidence was found. The defendant had served years in prison. And it wasn’t just new evidence that surfaced. It was evidence that had been there from the beginning. Greenwald suppressed it. The only reason the truth came out was because her ADA grew a conscience and blew the whistle on her.”
“She withheld evidence?”
“Yes.”
“How could she live with herself knowing that she put an innocent man in prison?”
“Prosecutors, some of them, believe the deck is and always has been stacked against them. They see guilty defendants getting off on technicalities. They see rock-solid cases go the other way because of reasonable doubt, despite how unreasonable it sounds to them. So, some of them try to even the playing field.”
“By lying? Or hiding evidence?”
“Sometimes. And Maggie Greenwald was determined to make a name for herself. Since the whistleblower came forward, some of her biggest cases have been overturned after evidence was found that had been suppressed. The US Attorney’s Office from the Southern District of New York got involved and began a formal investigation. They subpoenaed all her cases and all her records. They found four other cases where she tried to make evidence disappear, or where she withheld evidence during discovery. It was enough to get her disbarred and end her career, legal and political. The Innocence Project and other wrongful conviction advocacy groups have taken up all of her convictions and are taking a hard look at them.”
“Victoria Ford wasn’t one of them?”
“No,” Walt said. “First, Victoria was never formally convicted, so there’s nothing to overturn. And second, sadly, without a conviction no one really cares about it.”
“I care.”
“I know you do.”
“And Emma Kind cares.”
“I know that, too. And she’s lucky to have you digging through the case. I just wanted to give you the full picture as to why the files I showed you yesterday didn’t tell the whole story. This box”—Walt pointed at the table—“had been in the DA’s possession until the US Attorney’s Office subpoenaed all of Greenwald’s files. They took a hard look at each of them, but passed on digging into the case against Victoria Ford. The Southern District of New York shipped this box back to the BCI, where it has sat for years. And now, as I root back through the details, I can’t help thinking that for such a high-profile homicide, I was tapped early on to run the investigation. Maggie Greenwald requested me. At the time, I was honored. I thought I’d made such an impression that she picked me for my talent. But a little time and perspective tells me that maybe she picked me because I was young and green, and because she could manipulate me in ways another, more experienced detective would not have allowed.”