M.J. Rodgers - For The Defense

“Who owns the property now?”

“According to the county assessor’s office, Donald and Joyce Epstein, formerly of Plainfield, New Jersey. The sale included all personal items—furniture, appliances, dishes, flatware, even towels.”

“Which implies that the Weaton family didn’t remove much, if anything, before putting the property on the market.”

“That’s the way I read it,” Diana agreed.

“When did escrow close?”

“Last week. I drove by the place yesterday. No one has moved in yet. If the Weatons or Epsteins haven’t cleaned out the garage, there might be some evidence left.”

Jack repositioned the Rolex on his wrist. “Being able to tie Bruce to Amy’s hit-and-run will blow Staker’s supposed jealousy motive right out of the water.”

“Yes, and that’s important. The jury needs to understand that Connie is not the kind of woman who would fly into a jealous rage. If she had discovered Bruce cheated on her, quietly fading away would have been far more in character for her.”

“Speaking of character, the villain I played in Seattle was brought to trial on a first-degree murder charge. As I remember, there was a scene where my attorney had to disclose to the prosecutor who he was going to call as witnesses.”

“The writers on your series did their homework,” Diana said. “I do have to give Staker a list of potential defense witnesses.”

“Then how are you going to keep him from knowing who you’re going to call to the stand?”

“My initial witness list will have close to sixty names—few of whom I actually plan to call on to testify. Each week I’ll add more names.”

“How does that help?”

“All those extra names will camouflage who I’m really going to have testify. Staker won’t have a chance to check out all the witnesses. Knowing him, he probably won’t bother to check out any since he thinks he’s got an airtight case.”

“If he sees the names of private forensic lab personnel, he’s bound to know that something is up,” Jack pointed out.

Diana liked the questions Jack was asking. They told her he had a good mind and was thinking carefully about the case. Despite his lack of experience, he was hitting on some key points.

“I’ll be requesting that a lot of the physical evidence evaluated by the sheriff’s department be reevaluated at an outside lab,” she said. “When I put the names of the lab personnel on my list, Staker will assume they’re a smoke screen. Chances are he won’t bother deposing them.”

“Give him a forest so he won’t see the trees,” Jack said with a smile. “I’ve always liked clever women.”

Diana shortened the smile she gave him, reminding herself that liking Jack too much wasn’t a good idea.

“Once Connie takes the stand and tells the jury what happened, we’ll go right to the proof that Bruce killed her child,” she said.

“And effectively turn the tables on Staker by putting Bruce Weaton on trial instead of Connie.”

“Which is going to bring some immediate questions to the minds of the jurors.”

“Such as why Bruce pursued Connie after he’d gotten away with the hit-and-run murder of her child?”

No doubt about it, Jack was very quick.

“Yes,” Diana confirmed. “Step two of getting Connie acquitted will be answering that important question as well as others. Even when the law doesn’t require motives to be established, juries always look for them. Wanting things to make sense is part of what makes us human.”

Jack nodded. “Why we do something is often as important as what we do.”

She placed her forearms on the table, aware she couldn’t have put it better. “And, for the life of me, I can’t imagine what possessed Bruce to do what he did. He was responsible for the death of Connie’s child and had successfully hidden his crime. Why would he pursue her? I would think she’d be the last woman he’d want to be around, if he had any conscience.”

“Maybe that was the problem,” Jack said. “He didn’t have a conscience. Or he got some sick thrill out of getting the mother of the child he’d murdered to fall in love with him.”

That thought gave Diana the chills.

Jack counted off on his fingers. “First, you want me to prove Bruce killed Amy. Second, you want me to find out about Bruce so the jury understands what drove him to pursue Connie.”

“Yes,” Diana answered. She could feel his next question coming. She’d been waiting for it.

“That’s two things. You said there were three. What’s the third?”

“The third thing could be the toughest,” she admitted. “I have to be sure to seat a jury who will listen to Connie, understand the shock she was in and believe her when she says that she was only trying to get away from Bruce that day. Because even if we prove to the jury that Bruce killed her child, and help them to understand his motive in pursuing Connie, and they sympathize with the awful shock she must have felt when she learned what he did, they can still convict her of murder if they believe she deliberately tried to kill him.”

Jack was quiet a moment. Diana had no clue as to where he might be looking or what he might be thinking. She was beginning to resent those sunglasses that reflected back her own image and nothing of the man wearing them.

“How are you going to seat a jury made up of people with open minds and the ability to recognize the truth when they hear it?” he finally asked.

“By your investigating the hundred and fifty people whose names have been selected as prospective jurors so we can weed out the ones who won’t while identifying the ones who will.”

“A hundred and fifty prospective jurors?” he repeated, his voice rising a full octave from its deep bases.

“The original jury pool was close to seven hundred,” she added. “The others were dropped after a preliminary questionnaire established they had either heard or read about the case, had hardship circumstances that prevented them from serving, or were relatives or friends of law enforcement or others connected with the case.”

“How long did that take?”

“Two months. Judge Gimbrere told Staker and me in a pretrial conference last week that we had to select our jury from this panel. He was adamant that he would not call up any others.”

“How long do I have to investigate these people?”

“Formal jury selection starts in six weeks. We have to gather every piece of information we can about these people by then in order to know which twelve we want sitting in the jury box.”

“You want me to investigate a hundred and fifty people in addition to gathering the evidence to prove Bruce killed Amy and discovering his motive for pursuing Connie, and do it all in six weeks?”

“Yes,” Diana said as if she was making an everyday request. “Everything has to be done before we go to trial.”

Now he knew. The next move was his.

Jack rested casually against the back of his chair, the index finger of his right hand gliding along the rim of his iced tea glass. Whatever he was thinking was well hidden behind his disguise.

As the silence lengthened, the waiting became more difficult for Diana to bear. She looked away from him to stare at the blur of people passing by on the sidewalk below.

Jack had to know that she’d asked him to accomplish the impossible. A team of professional trial consultants would probably be able to give her a thumbnail sketch on a hundred and fifty prospective jurors in the time available. But not even they could provide the kind of in-depth analysis she required in order to know whom she could trust with Connie’s life.

If such an analysis was even possible. Diana had no idea. But she couldn’t ask anything less of Jack. Connie’s life was at stake.