Part 19 (1/2)
”Yes.”
”You are lying!” he yelled, slamming his fist on a counter. ”You are lying!” Everyone, including Bohannon, leaned away from Suter.
”Even Mr. Ping here says he saw blue lights in the pa.s.senger cabin, that the other pa.s.sengers were panicking. You saw none of that? That's your story?”
”Yes. That's my story,” Mara said, pressing her lips together.
”Where were you last night at about nine o'clock?” Suter squinted at her.
Mara blanched, said nothing.
His head jerked around to Ping. ”How about you, Mr. Ping? Where were you?”
”I suspect you know or you would not be asking,” Ping replied.
”It appears we have security camera footage of the two of you-no, the three of you-breaking into a hangar where we keep evidence related to the crash of Flight 559. Would either of you like to explain that?”
Mara began to say something, but Ping interrupted. ”I think we are done talking, Special Agent Suter. We are invoking our right to remain silent. Either arrest us or leave.”
He pulled out four folded sets of papers and waved them. ”I have an arrest warrant for each of you and a search warrant for your little shop next door, Ms. Lantern. Which school is the boy attending? We need to pick him up.”
Neither answered.
Suter nodded toward Bohannon who waved toward the front windows of the bakery. Two uniformed policemen walked in, and asked Ping and Mara to place their hands behind their backs. They cuffed them and read them their rights.
”We might be able to work something out if you cooperate, Ms. Lantern. Just tell us what happened on the flight,” Suter said.
She looked away without responding, concentrating on not tearing up. Two minutes later, she and Ping sat in separate police cruisers on their way downtown.
CHAPTER 30.
A LARGE FEMALE guard in a drab brown uniform maintained a grip on Mara's arm as they marched down the courthouse hall. The cuffs around Mara's wrist jangled as they pa.s.sed by the open ornate wood doors of the courtroom on their way to a more ordinary entrance just down the hall. Diana dashed out of the courtroom after them.
”Mara!”
The guard turned and placed the hand not holding Mara onto her holster. ”I'm sorry. She's not allowed to talk with anyone but the attorney.”
Diana ignored the guard, speaking to Mara. ”Are you all right? They would not let me come see you last night.”
”I'm fine. We'll talk later, I promise,” Mara said.
The guard guided Mara toward the door.
Inside, Ping and a graying fiftyish-looking man in a dark suit sat at a small round table. Mara sat down. William Sullivan introduced himself and shook her hand.
”For these preliminary matters I can represent you both. If a case moves forward, you each may need your own attorney. As for today we are simply dealing with an arraignment. They'll say what laws they think you have broken. The prosecutors seem to be in a hurry on this for some reason.”
”What do we need to do to get out of here?” Mara asked.
”We have to wait and see what it is they think you've done, then we can discuss bail.”
”How do we convince them we didn't do anything wrong?”
”Mara, this is just a hearing. We don't have to convince anyone of anything today,” Sullivan said.
Ping put a hand over hers. ”Don't worry. This will all be sorted out shortly.” He looked at the attorney. ”Did you make arrangements for my nephew to be here?”
”Yes, my a.s.sistant went to get him. They should be here in a few minutes. You'll see him in the gallery when we get out there.”
”Excellent.” Ping sat back, looked relaxed.
Ping and Mara entered the courtroom escorted separately by guards who directed them to a table facing the raised bench at the front of the chamber. Sullivan waited there for them. At the other table before the bench slouched a wiry dark-haired woman who followed them with her eyes. From watching television legal dramas, Mara took this to be the prosecutor. Mara turned to look into the gallery and saw her mother immediately behind her. Sam sat two rows behind Diana. He grinned, waved a couple fingers and wiggled his eyebrows.
On the other side of the gallery, Suter and Bohannon sat with an empty chair between them. Suter glared at Sam.
The judge walked in, and everyone stood. She sat at the bench behind a name plate that read Judge Nancy Wallace. Everyone sat down.
”What's so important that we can't follow the regular order of things around here? Why is this case moving ahead of everything else? Miss d.i.c.kerson?”
The wiry woman stood up. ”Your Honor, Mr. Ping and Ms. Lantern are accused of breaking and entering into a secure federal facility, tampering with evidence related to a federal investigation-”
”Miss d.i.c.kerson, I didn't ask to be read the charges. Why didn't this case get in line with the rest? While I agree breaking into a hangar containing evidence-”
”We didn't break into that hangar. The guard invited us in,” Sam shouted from the gallery. ”You have to let them go.”
Judge Wallace grabbed her gavel and smacked it three times. A bailiff made a move in Sam's direction, but the judge raised her hand to stop him.
”Young man, this is a federal courtroom, not a pep rally. Sit down, or I'll have you thrown out.”
The judge turned to the prosecutor. ”Is that true?”
”Your Honor?”
”Did the guard let them into the hangar?”
”I don't know. I did not review the security video myself.” The prosecutor turned around and looked at Suter. He stood up.
”Your Honor, I'm the arresting officer, FBI Special Agent Suter.”
”Special Agent Suter, did the guard let them into the hangar?”