Gregory G. Sarno

As a teen, prosecutor Ben Santos fathered a daughter out of wedlock. Hell-bent on a career in law, he lost contact with her. A dozen years later, his failure to embrace fatherhood is his one abiding regret.

Blood money claims the life of a pregnant woman. A jail snitch badgers her husband into implicating himself. Conviction seems a safe bet until the criminal lawyers go to work, bending the rules of evidence so as to profit from the husband's cellblock confidences.

Santos is initially gun-shy about handling the case. His one previous murder trial ended in a hung jury. The rapist-killer, released on bail pending retrial, claimed the life of another victim.

At trial, Santos parries the aggressive ploys of Vietnam Veteran-defense attorney Francisco Duran. Even so, Duran backs him into a corner. At the eleventh hour, Santos devises a strategy worthy of Solomon. Duran counters with a cynical plea-bargain proposal. Momentum turning, Santos insists on submitting the case to the jurors despite risk of another hung jury.

On the home front, Santos and his teacher wife are working on a baby of their own. As trial nears its climax, Santos rushes Carmel to Delivery.