Jenna Bernstein Committed Corporate Fraud – But Did She Also Commit Murder?
Jenna Bernstein founded a biotech company, Ponce de León Restorative Technology (PLRT), whose revolutionary product, LINK, had the potential to cure deadly diseases and regenerate failing organs. One problem: LINK didn’t work. And when a whistle blower within the company, Erik Wei, the company’s chief scientist, was found dead, Jenna was charged with his murder. Patsy Duggan a legend in Seattle’s defense bar, having won some tough cases, represented Jenna and managed to get her off. Now, however, Sirus Kohl, PLRT’s CEO, is murdered and since he was about to take a plea and cooperate with the U.S. attorney pursuing charges of corporate fraud, Jenna has every reason to want him dead.
This time around, Patsy won’t be able to take the case. An alcoholic, Patsy has been sober for a while, but after several meltdowns in court, his reputation has taken a hit. His daughter, Keera, spent years as a prosecutor in Seattle, before switching sides to save her father’s failing law firm. With Patsy on the sidelines, Keera is Jenna’s only alternative.
The two women have a complicate history. As teens, Jenna and Keera were high achievers and competitive. Keera recognized early on that Jenna was a sociopath who would lie, cheat, and hurt others to come out on top. Keera isn’t sure Jenna is innocent, but knows her client is entitled to the best defense possible. Her goal is to create enough reasonable doubt to convince a jury.
While Elizabeth Holmes, convicted of fraud with her blood-testing company, Theranos, was never charged with murder, Jenna could be her doppelgänger. Like Holmes, Jenna is tall, blonde, and driven. Holmes wasn’t a scientist, neither is Jenna. Their talent was charming investors to fork over huge amounts of money to fund their startups. Like Theranos, PLRT tapped into the public’s enthusiasm for a process that would revolutionize medical procedures. Neither, however, worked and as the walls began to close in, Jenna, like Holmes, doubled down, doing everything possible to avoid being charged with a crime.
Robert Dugoni’s Her Deadly Game, introduced Keera Duggan, and based on this second outing, she will have many more cases in her future. The lead detective on the case, Frank Rossi, has always had a soft spot for Keera, although never acted on his feelings. Watching how she approaches Jenna’s defense, only increases his admiration for her talents and tenacity.
Jenna is not making Keera’s job easy. The morning Sirus’ body was found, Jenna left her apartment, leaving her cellphone behind. Because she has become so well known, Jenna said she often wears a disguise when leaving her apartment to avoid confrontations. On that fateful morning, she wore oversized clothes, a baseball cap, and sunglasses. She walked to Seattle’s Volunteer Park and stopped at a taco wagon. CCTV footage captured images of her along that route and even eating the snack. While there’s no CCTV showing she entered Sirus’ home on Capitol Hill, the prosecution alleges that she could have entered through a rear door.
Another complication: Sirus was shot with a Glock nine millimeter, the same gun used to kill Erik Wei. The gun, however, has disappeared, last seen in Sirus’ safe. Because Jenna was cleared of that crime, the prosecution is prohibited from introducing anything related to that previous trial. Keera suspects that the two murders are linked. Did Patsy manage to free a murderer? And has she killed again?
Keera uses a tried and true strategy, shifting blame onto someone else who might have had a reason to kill Sirus. At the top of the list is Sirus’ daughter, Adria, an attorney who was PLRT’s comptroller. She had planned to meet with her father that morning, hours before he was scheduled to meet with the U.S. attorney. Instead, she found him dead. It was no secret that she disapproved of Jenna’s relationship with her father. But did she have a reason to kill him?
Once again Dugoni, an attorney and journalist, makes good use of what happens in the courtroom and the press. The only thing missing is some romance, but with an ending that brings Keera and Frank together, maybe that will change in the third mystery in the series.
Beyond Reasonable Doubt
Robert Dugoni
Top photo of Robert Dugoni by Douglas Sonders
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