ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 14, 1996 TAG: 9607150098
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
PATRICIA CORNWELL made a high-security splash in Richmond Saturday. Thousands came to a book signing by the mystery writer - who also figures in a bizarre divorce case.
More than 2,000 people lined up outside a book store for a book signing by local mystery writer Patricia Cornwell, who has recently been embroiled in a mystery of her own.
The author, surrounded by armed security guards and police officers, signed books nonstop for four hours Saturday. Part of her notoriety may have come from stories linking Cornwell to the bizarre divorce of two former FBI agents.
Cornwell declined to say whether she has received threats from Eugene Bennett, the man being held in Prince William County on charges linked to the alleged abduction of his wife's minister.
According to authorities, Bennett used the hostage situation to lure his wife, Marguerite, to the Manassas church where the minister was held. When Marguerite Bennett arrived, she argued with her husband before firing a shot at him. The shot missed. He fled and was arrested after a four-hour standoff at his home.
In the Bennetts' pending divorce papers, Cornwell is named as Marguerite Bennett's lover. Cornwell met the couple while researching one of her books. Both were FBI agents at the time.
Cornwell said that the publicity has been difficult. ``It hurts people around me, but I go on with my life. I know I'm a decent person.''
It has been five years since she last saw either of the Bennetts, and Cornwell said she wouldn't hesitate to testify in court about her involvement with them.
``I'm always comfortable telling the truth,'' she said, adding that she ``was never involved in any sort of behavior that had anything to do'' with the events last month.
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