Robert Browne - Trial Junkies

"And why is that?"

"At the risk of sounding foolish, I work with animals every day and I've learned over the years that people are very much like their canine counterparts. There are those who bite and those who get bitten. And despite what she may have thought of me personally, Ronnie never struck me as the kind who bites."

This, Hutch thought, was the most accurate characterization of Ronnie he'd heard. Hopefully the jury would take it to heart, as well.

Waverly dropped her pen to the legal pad. "Thank you for your honesty, Mr. Hardwick. I have no further questions."

"Your Honor, the prosecution calls Ms. Nadine Overman to the stand."

Hutch, Matt and Andy exchanged glances as the court deputy crossed to the witness room door, opened it a crack and ducked his head inside.

"Here we go," Andy murmured. "Judas is in the building."

Gus leaned toward him. "This woman is a friend of yours, right?"

"Depends on your definition."

Hutch ignored the exchange. He was thinking instead about Abernathy's trial strategy. First, he had presented the lead investigating detective who, despite Waverly's expert cross, had provided two key pieces of evidence that wouldn't be forgotten-the sweatshirt and the phone calls. This was followed by Jenny's secretary, who further hammered home the importance of those calls, then Raymond Hardwick, demonstrating that Ronnie had had ample opportunity to make them.

Now it was Nadine's turn, and she would provide direct evidence against Ronnie's character, proving-in the minds of some, at least-that Ronnie had been hostile toward Jenny.

Hutch figured the forensic testimony would follow, confirming the origin of the blood on the hoodie, as well as digging deeper into the question of the dog hairs. And even though Waverly had managed to point out that those hairs could have come from just about anyone, the jurors were likely to believe the simplest explanation:

That they had originated with the killer.

And that killer was Ronnie.

It was a carefully constructed case full of circumstantial evidence, and by the time Abernathy was done, the jurors wouldn't even remember or care that Detective Meyer was a misogynist pig, or that Ronnie and Carlene Harding had never met face to face, or that Raymond Hardwick had claimed that his one-time employee was not a biter.

Hutch had been hopeful the last couple days, especially in light of Frederick Langer's activities, but the creep hadn't yet made an appearance today. If he'd been scared away, if he was in the wind, Hutch doubted they'd ever find him again.

And now, with Danny Tillman's questionable suicide hanging over them, it was clear that whatever force of nature was coming after Ronnie might very well win.

Hutch was drawn from his thoughts as Nadine emerged from the witness room looking considerably better than she had three nights ago. Her eyes were clear, her hair neatly coiffed, and she was dressed in business wear, a tailored pants suit that said power executive .

But as she crossed to the stand, Hutch noted that she was fighting a case of the nerves. He'd seen stage fright before, had even suffered from it a few times himself, and he knew it when he saw it.

Not that he could blame her. Whatever she might be feeling about Ronnie, she was about to betray a woman she had once shared a room with, someone she had called a friend. And that couldn't be easy.

She didn't look at Ronnie as she passed the defense table, and Ronnie continued staring at her hands, her demeanor unchanged. It wasn't until Nadine was sworn in and seated in the witness box that they made brief eye contact-

— and Hutch saw something he hadn't expected to see in Nadine's eyes.

Sympathy.

He saw sympathy.

But before he could process what this might mean, Abernathy was on his feet and moving to the podium.

"Good morning, Ms. Overman, I appreciate you taking the time from your busy schedule to testify today. Can you tell the jury what it is you do for a living?"

Nadine glanced apprehensively at the jurors, then seemed to steel herself, finding her center. "I'm the CEO of Overman Associates, a real estate development firm here in Chicago."

"And what was the nature of your relationship with the victim in this case? Jennifer Keating?"

"We were friends," Nadine said. "Close friends. But we also had a professional relationship."

"Can you tell us more about that?"

"I'm in the middle of a project that involves the acquisition and development of a large parcel of land in Evanston. I hired Treacher and Pine to oversee the legal details and Jenny was handling the contracts."

"So is it to fair to say that you were in regular communication with Ms. Keating?"

"Yes," Nadine said. "We spoke by phone several times a week and had dinner or lunch together at least twice a month."

"And how long did you know Ms. Keating?"

"We went to high school together. Then college. We lived in the same dorm during our freshman year, then moved into a house near campus."

"This was a house on Miller Street, correct?"

"Yes," Nadine said.

Hutch thought about the first time he'd seen Jenny and Nadine walk into that house. He had passed up the opportunity to dorm and had lived there during his freshman year with Tom and Monica and several other students whose names were lost to him now.

When those students had decided to find other lodgings, the vacancies were filled by Ronnie, whom Hutch had met in a philosophy class, Andy and Matt, who had previously dormed together on campus, and finally Jenny and Nadine, the last to answer the want ad posted on the student housing website.

Hutch had just stumbled out of bed when he saw them from his second-story window, crossing with the landlady, Mrs. Kastner, toward the front door. He was standing in his boxer shorts, looking down at them, when Jenny suddenly glanced upward and caught his gaze.

This was nearly ten years ago, but Hutch could still remember the moment. The slight catch his throat as they made eye contact.

It was like one of those film noir moments, where the beautiful woman emerges from the haze or the staircase or the alleyway, so perfect in every way that any man watching is suddenly re-evaluating his life, asking himself, how can I have that?

Who do I need to kill to have that?

But Hutch hadn't been forced to kill anyone. Within a month, he and Jenny were madly in love and a game of musical roommates was played until they were sharing a room. There was some resentment at first-from Ronnie and Nadine in particular-but they all managed to grow past it and their time in that house became something special. Magical.

Oh, how things had changed.

"Isn't it true," Abernathy said to Nadine, "that you also lived with the defendant at that time?"

"Yes. We shared a room for nearly three years."

"So I'd imagine you came to know Ms. Baldacci quite well."

"Sometimes better than I wanted to," Nadine said and several people laughed.

"What about her relationship with Ms. Keating back then? How would you characterize it?"

"Objection," Waverly said. "I don't see how events of nearly a decade ago have any bearing on today's proceedings."

"I'm merely attempting to provide the jury with some historical background, Your Honor."

"Or color their judgment," Waverly said.

"I'm going to allow it," O'Donnell told them. "I'm sure the jury is capable of evaluating the testimony and deciding for themselves what is and isn't pertinent to the matter at hand."

Abernathy thanked the judge and went on. "You can answer the question, Ms. Overman."

Nadine hesitated. "Could you repeat it?"

"Yes, of course. How would you characterize Ms. Baldacci's relationship with Ms. Keating when you were all living together in the house on Miller Street?"