The Verdict, page 6
“Why is she emotional?”
I hesitated.
I shouldn’t have said this last part because Barbara would obviously ask.
This was a tricky question to answer. Barbara might believe a personal entanglement between Stephanie and me was making things awkward.
This wasn’t true.
But I also didn’t want to tell her I’d known Stephanie was investigating Thomas Guyton. I’d probably have to do it at some point, but was now the right time?
“I’ll get into that later.”
It was apparent from Barbara’s face that she expected to learn that Stephanie and I had some personal drama between us. It might be better to let her think that than to tell her I knew Thomas Guyton was under investigation at the time of his death. She was already upset with me for not telling her I suspected him of wrongdoing, but what would she think of that?
I hesitated for the barest moment just before we turned onto the road, looking at Barbara and wondering if she could have done this.
Every instinct in my body screamed it was impossible for her to kill another human being, but I didn’t know if that was actually true.
There was also one thing that really bothered me.
I couldn’t forget how she’d asked me to help her dispose of the body. Had she killed him in the heat of passion? Had she regretted what she’d done and then tried to save him afterward?
That was a viable explanation of the facts as I understood them.
I considered the question but couldn’t see it.
Perhaps I was too close.
In my mind, the most likely answer was the one Barbara had given me.
But why would she ask me to help hide the body?
I knew it was a question that would gnaw away at my brain until I had dispositive proof she was not behind this. I glanced over at her again. She was looking out the window, oblivious to my concerns.
Now was not the time to delve into her desire to hide Thomas Guyton’s corpse.
While it might have just been fear and anxiety that drove her to ask, I couldn’t easily discount the possibility she’d killed her boyfriend.
It was painful to acknowledge this.
Stephanie’s words still rang in my ears.
She was right.
I definitely had my own bias.
They have the murder weapon, I thought. They have the body. They have Barbara’s prints all over. They probably just collected ten different samples of his blood from her person, not to mention the clothing she was wearing.
I suddenly felt cold as I considered all of this information as if, for the first time, looking at it fresh from the eyes of the prosecuting attorney who’d be driving the case.
My instincts told me Barbara could be charged before the day was out.
This had obviously occurred to me before, but I hadn’t given it much thought because I’d been more focused on trying to help with the immediate situation.
That was done.
Now there was only one thing left to think about.
A stab of panic shot through my body as I came to a stoplight, and another thought occurred to me.
Had I done something wrong?
Setting aside that conflict at the end with Stephanie, had I somehow made the situation worse?
I thought through everything that had happened but didn’t see a different course of action I could have taken.
It’s not like Barbara can sue me for malpractice because I convinced her to call the police and turn over evidence of a crime. This thought was not helpful and would be of little comfort if she went to prison.
I was reminded of the last time we’d both been in my car. That had not been a pleasant experience. We’d fought. She’d eventually demanded I stop the car and had gotten out in a not-so-good neighborhood.
At the time, I was unaware she’d been under the influence of a drug-laced candy bar. That drug had been the catalyst that ended our relationship. I couldn’t help but wonder that even if I’d known about the drug, things would have eventually gone the same way.
“We need to prepare for the worst,” I said several minutes later.
Barbara nodded. “I know. It looks terrible, doesn’t it? I know I didn’t do it, but I can’t see a different conclusion when I think about how it looks from their perspective.” She turned and stared at me, not speaking, until I looked at her. Her face was pale. “You know I didn’t do this, right?”
I immediately nodded. “Of course.”
I’d been prepared for this question and had planned my answer beforehand, hoping to avoid an awkward situation where she felt I wasn’t being supportive.
She needed me to believe in her.
I could wholeheartedly give her that.
She studied me as if looking for deception. She must not have seen it because she nodded with a sigh.
I believed she was innocent, or at least I wanted to believe she was innocent.
Hopefully, that was good enough.
Unfortunately, the skeptical lawyer in the back of my head wasn’t so sure.
11
Barbara asked me to take her back to her apartment. She quickly packed a suitcase of clothes, and then I took her to a hotel.
I could tell what she was thinking. She wanted to make it harder for the police to find her if they came to arrest her. Part of me wanted to analyze this, wondering if it was evidence of a guilty mind, but I refused to do it.
I somehow made myself ignore the question.
I stayed for a few minutes in Barbara’s room to ensure she was okay. She didn’t strike me as suicidal, nor did I think she’d go out and do anything drastic, but I could tell she needed time to herself. I also wanted to get out of there.
While at her apartment, she’d called her family.
Barbara had a brother who lived in the city. He was just a few minutes away. I wasn’t keen to be around when he arrived because I was certain Barbara had told them everything that had happened between us.
I didn’t want to see the accusatory look on his face. I checked my watch, anxious to go while I waited for Barbara to come out of the bathroom.
After getting ahold of her brother Steven, her next call was to her parents. They were flying in from Indiana but wouldn’t arrive for several more hours.
I’d met her brother once in passing but had never met her parents.
I hadn’t gotten along with Steven and hadn’t liked him.
He was an arrogant loudmouth mechanic who didn’t seem to like how his sister was dating a defense attorney.
We’d met him over dinner. After she’d gotten up to go to the bathroom, Steven had told me that she could do better.
Actually, I thought darkly, it looks like she did worse. At least I wasn’t a criminal.
Of course, in his book, there might not be much difference between a criminal defense attorney and his client.
Barbara came out.
I could tell she’d been crying because of the streaks through her makeup, but she wasn’t crying now.
“Are you gonna be okay by yourself?” I asked quietly, wanting to reach out and hold her but thinking that was inappropriate. If she made a move, I’d go along, but I wouldn’t lead off.
“Yes.” She studied me. “Thank you for putting the room in your name. I don’t know if it will keep people away, but I’m grateful anyway.”
I’d done it hoping to make it harder for the police to locate her. I wanted Stephanie to have to call me. That way, I could be onsite if they arrested Barbara. This was my way of taking control in an uncontrollable situation.
I nodded. “Call the moment anything happens. Make sure to call if you somehow catch wind of anything. If not, have your brother call me, and I’ll meet you at the station.”
I doubted the police would find her without going through me, but it was best to be cautious.
Barbara nodded as I turned to go, but she stopped me, touching my arm. “Are you sure you want to handle my case?”
I cleared my throat. “We haven’t actually gotten to the details, but that’s a good question. I’m willing to handle things at the moment, particularly if they just have more questions but don’t charge you.” I paused. “I don’t want you to feel like I’d ever abandon you, but we’ll need a different attorney if they do charge you.”
“Why?”
“I’m too emotionally involved to think I could adequately represent you. If you had a jaywalking ticket? Sure. I’d take care of that. This is a different ballgame. You need somebody who will be a hundred percent focused on you and your case, and I can’t guarantee that I can do that.”
It looked like Barbara was about to accuse me of abandoning her, but she shook her head. “I guess that makes sense.”
“It’s not the way I’d prefer to do things, but it’s the best plan. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Let’s hope if they call, it’s just for a few questions.”
“Who would you recommend?” Barbara took in a deep breath as if anxious.
“I don’t know. I’ll give it some thought.” I gave her a tight smile. “Luckily, that’s not a decision we have to make right away. They haven’t charged you, and even if they do, I’ll handle the arraignment. We’ll take it from there after that.”
“What about Keith Williams?”
The question stopped me cold.
From an outsider’s perspective, Keith Williams looked like a good attorney who always won.
In reality, he won no more than any other attorney. Nobody really kept track of these things, but I suspected his record was worse than most, primarily because he was more focused on show and less on substance.
While I didn’t know that for a fact, I’d certainly never recommend Keith Williams. He pled out most of his clients, like every other defense attorney.
That was just how these things worked.
There was another factor that played into his record. Keith Williams charged a bundle, so he could afford to be selective. He tended to represent high-profile cases that attracted significant media attention. I suspected this was usually his primary motivation when taking a new case. If I’d been in his shoes, I’d have focused on finding people who were innocent and helping them out since that was the reputation he’d developed for himself.
As it was, I usually had to take every case that walked through the door. I had a monthly overhead to meet and partners who occasionally fell short.
They relied on me to make up the difference.
Keith Williams was no better than any other defense attorney and was probably worse.
There was one thing he did best, and that was marketing.
Keith was good at spinning the news. He spent thousands of dollars on advertising each month. He had some of the most expensive billboards in the city locked down for the foreseeable future, and his commercials frequently ran on every major cable channel.
My marketing budget was limited. My billboards were far cheaper and much smaller, and I could only afford to run a few commercials on late-night cable.
But marketing and advertising were not the best way to judge an attorney.
I knew I was the better attorney.
“You could go with Keith, but there might be a more suitable option.” It pained me to say this, but I didn’t want to shoot down Barbara’s idea. When the time came, I’d supply her with at least four or five different attorneys suitable for the job. I’d recommend one or two, hoping she picked from my list. “I’ll help you locate a good attorney if it comes to that.”
On instinct, I reached out and took her hand, intending to shake it or give her a comforting squeeze or something, but she pulled me into a hug.
“Oh, Mitch. I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I don’t know if anything you’ve done is going to help, but thank you so much for coming.”
I nodded, a lump in my throat.
I left her hotel room a few minutes later, walking quickly toward the elevator. I heaved a quiet sigh when I got to the parking garage without running into Steven.
I knew he’d blame me for her situation.
He’d also grill me about everything I knew.
I wanted to avoid that. He could get those answers from Barbara if she wanted to give them.
I usually didn’t shy from confrontation, but this was Barbara’s brother, and I wanted to avoid it at all costs. I was driving out of the garage when I saw Steven driving in.
His eyes locked onto mine.
He scowled as he disappeared down the ramp.
12
I was shocked when I returned to my office and found Ellie at reception. I hadn’t expected to see much of her while she was undergoing chemotherapy, but she’d still come in far more often than she should have. Zoey was working today, last I’d checked, and she’d have gone home hours ago because she always went home at 5:00 PM. She never worked a minute later unless I had a special assignment.
Ellie had told me her prognosis wasn’t looking good the last time we’d talked, so I was doubly surprised to see her.
I frowned when I glanced at my watch and saw it was 7:19 PM. Perhaps Ellie had shown up after Zoey had gone home.
That was the sort of thing I expected Ellie to do.
When Ellie was full-time, she’d worked the hours she wanted, which generally meant she was here far more than she should have been. I already knew she worked more than she reported, a reason I was generous with her bonuses.
I might have gotten on her case about how she was coming in too often, but I liked having her around. Things were less chaotic when she was sitting in that chair, running my office.
Her presence would also let me check up on how she was doing. We didn’t have a relationship outside work, and while I’d started to reach out to her more often to express support and see what I could do to help, it had been a while since I’d done so.
But she wasn’t waiting here because it was just a habit or had nothing better to do.
Judging from her face, I could tell she’d somehow caught wind of what had happened to Barbara.
“How do you know?” I asked as soon as I saw her, not bothering to wait for her to tell me. I’d checked the news several times before leaving the hotel and had listened on my drive back to the office but had not found one mention of Thomas Guyton’s murder.
“Come on, Mitch.” She shook her head. “I have a sixth sense about these things. Don’t you know that by now?” She probably would’ve given me a teasing smile at another time, but the circumstances were too dire for that.
I frowned. It was possible she didn’t know and was pretending. I might have unintentionally walked right into her trap.
She must have recognized her tone was coming off a little light for the situation because she went on. “I’m sorry to hear about Barbara. How’s she doing?”
Winston, I thought. He told her. That’s the only way she could know.
I didn’t like leaky faucets. I was confident that if I confronted Winston or Ellie, both would deny he’d said anything. I liked to employ competent people who thought for themselves, but sometimes it got in the way.
I suppressed my annoyance. Overall, it was a good thing to have Ellie on hand while dealing with this. She helped me think when I was too emotional.
“She’s okay,” I said slowly, still wondering if I should ask about Winston.
“She been arrested?”
I shook my head. “It won’t be long.”
Just uttering that out loud was enough to rock me. It was one thing to think it but another to admit it to Ellie.
Hadn’t Barbara and I just finished talking about the possibility? Why was I having such a hard time dealing with this?
Perhaps I was in shock.
Maybe I was just now starting to process everything.
“Think so, huh?”
I nodded. “It doesn’t look good.”
I was about to head into my office, but Ellie put out a hand and stopped me. “I haven’t had time to tell you.”
She looked flustered, which was unusual for her. I suddenly felt bad that I hadn’t yet asked about her condition but stopped short.
“What?” I asked.
“You had a prospective client stop in. It was just before six, so the main door was still unlocked. I told them they could wait for you in your office.”
I nodded absentmindedly and took a step toward my door but stopped again. Ellie didn’t come out and say it, but it was implied I’d need to take on another case as soon as possible to fill up my workload. I rarely ever got to take a vacation, primarily because work kept me busy, and we had a substantial overhead. I was usually okay with that, but I was wondering if maybe I needed time off to help Barbara.
It was also very unusual for Ellie to send somebody to wait in my office. She knew I wasn’t a trusting man. I didn’t want people messing with my things.
Perhaps this was a lapse caused by her illness. It was probably best if I said nothing. I stopped halfway through a turn and shook my head.
She must have noticed.
“I just barely sent her in when I saw you coming, Mitch,” Ellie said in low tones. “I wanted to check on you; otherwise, she’d have been out here waiting. Trust me. Your office is fine.”
I nodded, glad to see she hadn’t forgotten. I still would’ve preferred if she’d kept the potential client waiting here, but it was too late, and the situation wasn’t likely to come up again, so I didn’t feel the need to reprove her.
I also didn’t have the heart for it.
It wasn’t until after I’d walked into my office to find a young woman waiting for me that I realized I still hadn’t asked Ellie about how she was doing.
Hopefully, she’d still be around afterward so I could check.
13
My meeting went well enough. The potential client’s name was Vince Cruz, but I actually met with his sister, Jamy Cruz, because Vince was in jail. He’d been charged with felony murder in Kankakee, approximately an hour and a half south of where I kept my office. I hadn’t yet said I’d take his case, but I’d promised to think about it.
