Chapter 16: The Trial

The trial of Richard Harwick began in March and lasted eleven days. Crane attended every day. Inspector Osei had explained that this was unusual — investigators typically testified and then withdrew — but she had also understood, when he explained his reasons, that this was not a usual case. Harwick's defense team was excellent. They challenged the valuation documentation on technical grounds, questioned the chain of custody for the Society minutes, and presented an alternative narrative in which Harwick was a victim of a faction dispute who had been unfairly implicated in a medical event that was, they argued, naturally occurring. The forensic physician's testimony ended that last argument. The physician was precise and thorough and had the specific quality of credibility that came from someone who had nothing to gain and everything professional to lose from an incorrect conclusion. The findings were clear: Mrs. Farquhar's death was not a natural cardiac event. The specific substance involved was consistent with substances available to someone with Harwick's industrial connections. Harwick's expression when this testimony concluded was the first genuine emotion Crane had seen from him. The verdict was returned on the eleventh day: guilty on the fraud charges, guilty on the charge of manslaughter — the prosecution had declined to pursue murder in the first degree given the evidentiary standard required, and the lesser charge was, in Inspector Osei's judgment, the correct one to pursue for conviction. Crane sat in the gallery and thought about a chess player that had been designed to contact the right person and had done exactly that. Mrs. Farquhar had won. The manner of winning was not what she had planned. But the outcome was what she had built toward.