Machiavelli warns conspirators that the most dangerous time is after the deed is done. It is as if Peter and Harder did not fully consider this. “We thought the point of maximum tension would be the trial and once we were done with that, you know, if they couldn’t figure it out at the trial they never would,” Peter says. He would also say that he thought the end of the trial would put them past the “point of maximum danger.” In fact, this was exactly the point of the highest vulnerability. Loss inherently makes the loser sympathetic. We can easily be made to feel bad for the person on the
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