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PROLOGUE

NEW YORK, DECEMBER 15, 2009

THE DAY OF RECKONING HAD ARRIVED

The gods had demanded a sacrifice A human sacrifice In ancient Roman times, when the city was at war, captured eneled on the battlefield in front of a statue of Mars, the war god Crowds of soldiers would have cheered, screaeance For blood

This was not ancient Ro heart of civilized America But New York was also a city at war It was a city full of suffering, angry people who needed somebody to blame for their pain Today's human sacrifice would be offered up in the clinical, ordered surroundings of the Manhattan Cri But it would be none the less bloody for that

Norhoulish spectators showed up only for murder trials Today's defendant, Grace Brookstein, had not murdered anybody Not directly anyway Yet there were plenty of New Yorkers ould have rejoiced to see Grace Brookstein sent to the electric chair Her son-of-a-bitch husband had cheated them Worse, he had cheated justice Lenny Brookstein - ods Well, now the gods must be appeased

The elo Michele, representative of the people - looked across the courtroo at the defendant's table, hands clasped calht, attractive blonde in her early twenties, Grace Brookstein had the sweet, angelic features of a child A coymnast in her teens, she still carried herself with a dancer's poise, back raestures ile Delicate Beautiful She was the sort of woman whom men instinctively wanted to protect Or rather she would have been, had she not stolen 75 billion in the largest, most catastrophic fraud in US history

The collapse of Quorue fund founded by Lenny Brookstein and co-owned by his young wife, had dealt a fatal blow to the already crippled American economy Between them, the Brooksteins had ruined fareat financial center of New York to its knees They had stolen more than Madoff, but that wasn't what hurt the most Unlike Madoff, the Brooksteins had stolen not from the rich, but from the poor Their victims were ordinary people: the elderly, s, blue-collar fa father made destitute by Quoru his children turned out on the streets Not once had Grace Brookstein displayed so much as a shred of remorse

Of course, there were those who argued that Grace Brookstein was not guilty of the criht her to this courtroom That it was Lenny Brookstein, not his wife, who had elo Michele loathed such people Bleeding-heart liberals Fools! You think the wife didn't knoas going on? She knew She knew everything She just didn't care She spent your pension funds, your life savings, your kids' college moneyJust look at her now! Is she dressed like a woives a shit that you lost your home?

Over the course of the trial, the press had made much of Grace Brookstein's courtroom attire Today, for the verdict, she had chosen a white Chanel shift (7,600),boucle jacket (5,200), Louis Vuitton puth mink handmade for her in Paris, an anniversary present from her husband The New York Post early edition was already on newsstands Above a full-length shot of Grace Brookstein arriving at Court 14, the front-page headline screamed: LET THEM EAT CAKE!

District Attorney Angelo Michele intended todays were over Enjoy those furs, lady This'll be the last day you get to wear 'em

Angelo Michele was a tall, lean man in his midforties He wore a plain Brooks Brothers suit and his thick black hair slicked back till it gleaelo Michele was an ambitious man and a fearsome boss - all the junior DAs were terrified of hielo's parents ran a pizza parlor in Brooklyn Or they had run one until Lenny Brookstein "lost" their life savings and forced theood money Without his income the Micheles would have been out on the streets in their old age, destitute like so elo Michele was concerned, prison was too good for Grace Brookstein But it was a start And he was going to be the man who put her there

Sitting next to Grace at the defendant's table was theFrank" as he was known in the New York legal community, was the shortest man in the room At five foot four, he was barely taller than his tiny client But Frank Hammond's intellect towered over his opponents like a beherand hter, Frank Hammond was Grace Brookstein's Great White Hope His specialty was playing juries, uncovering fears and desires and prejudices that people didn't even know they had and turning thee In the past year alone, Frank Ha Mafia bosses and a child-h profile, and his clients always began their trials as underdogs Grace Brookstein had originally hired another lawyer to represent her, but her friend and confidant John Merrivale had insisted she fire hi Frank

"You're innocent, Grace We know that But the rest of the world doesn't The ed, drawn and quartered Frank Haenius"

No one could understand why Big Frank had allowed Grace Brookstein to show up to court every day in such inflae the press still further, not to mention the jury Surely a titanic mistake?

But Frank Haelo Michele knew that better than anyone

There's a method in his madness There has to be I just wish I knehat it was

Still, it didn't really elo Michele was convinced he had built an airtight case Grace Brookstein was going down First to jail And then to hell

GRACE BROOKSTEIN HAD WOKEN UP THAT uest bedroom suffused with a deep sense of peace She'd had a dream about Lenny They were at their estate in Nantucket, always Grace's favorite of theirin the rose garden Lenny was holding her hand Grace could feel the warhness of his palms

"It will be okay,Have faith, Gracie It will all be okay"

Walking into court this , arm in arm with her attorney, Grace Brookstein had felt the crowd's hatred, hundreds of pairs of eyes burning a hole in her back She had heard the catcalls Bitch Liar Thief But she held on to her inner peace, to Lenny's voice inside her head

It will all be okay

Have faith

John Merrivale had said the saht Thank God for John! Without him, Grace would have been completely lost Everyone else had deserted her in her hour of need, her friends, even her own sisters Rats on a sinking ship It was John Merrivale who had forced Grace to hire Frank Ha to save her

Grace watched hi back and forth in front of the jury like a faruments ay over her head But she kneith certainty that her attorney would get her an acquittal Then, and only then, would her real work begin

Walking free from court is just the start I still have to clear my name And Lenny's God, I miss him I miss him so much Why did God have to take him away from me? Why did any of this have to happen?