Love's Verdict

by Carsen Taite

  “Thanks, bro.” She eased out of his arms and started for the door.

  “And for the record,” he said.

  “Yes?”

  “I don’t think you misread the signals.”

  She didn’t reply, but he was right. The problem was what was she going to do about it?

  * * *

  When Carly walked into the office, her hopes of grabbing a cup of tea and hiding out for a bit were quickly dashed. Jane, Landon, Trevor, Shelby, and several of the first-year associates were gathered in the glass-paneled large conference room, and based on the raised voices and exaggerated gestures, the discussion was heated.

  She stopped in the doorway, but Trevor waved her in. “Hey, Carly, I’m so glad you’re here. Maybe you can explain this.” He pointed at the empty chair on his left, and she slipped into the seat, ignoring Shelby, who sat on his other side wearing pursed lips and what Carly had come to refer to as resting bitch face. Shelby’s surly attitude didn’t bother her since it didn’t seem to have any impact on what Trevor thought about her. The good thing was she was as far from Landon as possible, and Carly would rather risk Shelby’s annoyance than the lingering lure of Landon Holt.

  Mr. Jasper’s words had eaten at her all the way to the office. She wasn’t lonely and she didn’t need a nice woman to fill some void. And even if she was lonely and did want company, Landon couldn’t be that person. After this trial, one of two things was going to happen. Landon would be her boss or she’d get the partnership, which meant Landon would go back to Austin. Neither one of those scenarios was a good foundation for a relationship.

  She turned her attention to Trevor. “Explain what?”

  “Shelby seems to think they can’t try me here in Dallas for Jocelyn’s murder, but you’ve been preparing to deal with evidence about it, so I assume it’s going to come up.”

  It never ceased to amaze Carly how often defendants in a case simply didn’t get all the angles, no matter how many times she explained them. She knew for a fact Jane and Landon had reviewed this very issue with Trevor last week. She shot a look at Jane, who nodded for her to take point, and then she looked around for a pad of paper. Like a mind reader, Landon pushed a legal pad and pen down the table toward her. As Carly said “thanks,” she locked eyes with Landon. The look was long and intense, but Carly couldn’t discern the message, choosing to believe it was only empathy for having to explain this subject again.

  She drew three boxes on the pad, one centered over the other two. She wrote Guilt/Innocence in the box on top. “The guilt/innocence phase is the first part of the trial. The prosecutor won’t be allowed to bring up Jocelyn’s case during this phase for several reasons.” She scrawled shorthand notes as she talked. “The most important ones for our purposes are that Dallas County doesn’t have jurisdiction to charge you with a crime that happened somewhere else, and the rules of evidence don’t allow the prosecution to use evidence of an uncharged crime to bolster their case. It would be like saying the more cases you’re accused of, the more likely it is you’re guilty. Got it?”

  Trevor nodded slowly and pointed at the other boxes. “So what are those?”

  Carly circled the word Innocence, drew an arrow to one of the boxes below, and wrote the word Freedom. “If the jury finds you not guilty, then you’re free to go. A Houston DA could charge you with Jocelyn’s murder, but you can bet they will consider what happened here in Dallas before they decide to pursue charges.” She looked at Trevor as she said the words, but she was acutely conscious Landon was staring in her direction. Avoiding her gaze, Carly dropped her head, circled the word Guilty, and drew a line to the remaining empty box on the paper. She hesitated just a second, and then wrote Punishment.

  “If the jury finds you guilty, then they will decide your punishment.”

  “Can’t the judge decide?” Shelby asked.

  Landon spoke up. “It’s up to Trevor, but we have to decide whether to go to the judge or jury for punishment before the trial begins.”

  Carly turned to Trevor. “It’s okay if you want to discuss the decision again, but we’re all in agreement that it would be a bad idea to have Judge Grafton decide your punishment. She’s a fair judge, but she’s looking at a contested primary after the first of the year, and her fellow Democrats will eat her alive if she’s perceived as going easy on a convicted murderer in a domestic violence case. If the jury finds you guilty, she’s likely to give you the maximum to show she’s strong on women’s issues.”

  Trevor reached over and placed his hand on hers. “I trust you.”

  Carly shifted with discomfort but stopped just short of pushing his hand away. She got it. His entire life was on the line, and he was desperate to connect with the person who had answers, and she just happened to be that person. It should be Jane offering advice and explanations to their client, but this was another of the partnership tests, and she struggled to get through it. She squeezed his hand with what she hoped was an encouraging gesture and then extracted it gently under the guise of pulling the legal pad back toward her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Landon telegraph sympathy with a small sigh. Carly resisted the temptation to look too long in Landon’s direction, and wrote the words Aggravating Factors next to the box labeled Punishment.

  “If you’re convicted, then we move to the punishment phase. We can call witnesses to provide mitigating evidence—to show why you should receive a sentence on the lower end of the scale—and the prosecution can present evidence to support aggravating factors. They will use that opportunity to say you killed or at least threatened Jocelyn.” She paused to let her words sink in. “I understand that it feels weird to be planning to win at the same time as we’re planning to lose, but if the jury finds you guilty, it’s likely the sentencing phase could start the next day, and it’s for your benefit that we need to be prepared.”

  “Contingencies. I get it.” Trevor nodded vigorously. “You have to be ready to change course if the game isn’t going your way.”

  “Exactly,” Carly said, wishing she’d had the foresight to couch her words in gamespeak to begin with. “We have to be ready to run every play in the book.” She delivered the words with a straight face, but she wanted to groan at the idea of equating the chess-like maneuvers of legal strategy with a game where the entire goal was to run a ball down a field.

  They spent the rest of their session answering general questions about what to expect from jury selection and more general details about the trial. Carly was only too happy to let Jane and Landon take the lead on the rest, and when the meeting was finally over, she was the first one out of her chair.

  “Carly?”

  She turned back to face Trevor, who was fixated on her while everyone else was packing up their files. “Yes?”

  “I imagine things are going to get pretty crazy starting tomorrow. I just wanted to say thank you for everything. No matter what happens, I know you have my back.”

  Her first instinct was to nod and get the hell out. Two more weeks. Once she was a partner in this firm, she wouldn’t have to put on an act anymore. She could be her usual no-nonsense self and let her legal work speak for itself. In the meantime, she’d play whatever role necessary in order to get the job. “I do have your back, Trevor. We’ll get through this together.” She reached for his hand and gave it a tight squeeze. To her surprise, he pulled her into a hug. Over his shoulder, she locked looks with Shelby, whose eyes narrowed as the hug lingered on.

  Finally, Carly slipped out of Trevor’s arms. She avoided Shelby’s hard stare and walked briskly toward her office. She could hear footfalls behind her, but she was desperate for a few moments alone after the intensity of the meeting. When she was almost at her door, she risked a look back. Landon stood a few feet away, leaning against the wall, staring in her direction with a hopeful expression. Carly glanced at her office door, wishing she could will herself to the other side. Instead she stood, rooted to the floor. “Yes?”

  “You were great in there
.” Landon stepped closer as she said the words. “I couldn’t have done better.”

  The air was thin and it got thinner as Landon came closer. Carly had been careful to avoid being alone with Landon since they’d returned from Austin, but the proximity threatened her resolve. “Just doing my job.”

  “About that, can we talk?”

  Carly didn’t know a way out. This was the first time Landon had approached her in a while. “About the case?”

  Landon paused briefly before answering. “Sure. About the case.”

  Carly waved Landon into her office and shut the door behind them. She walked around behind her desk, the heavy wooden furniture a barrier to keep her from giving in to what she wanted. Landon settled in the chair across from her but didn’t say anything. The silence was loud.

  “You wanted to talk about the case?”

  “This isn’t working.” Landon leaned forward. “I kissed you, and you kissed me back. I thought it was pretty amazing, and based on your reaction, I thought you felt the same. I’m willing to accept I was wrong, but I can’t sit next to you for the next two weeks and make decisions with you in a murder case unless we clear the air between us.”

  “Oh, thank God.” Carly breathed deep, trying to ignore the sharp shot of arousal she’d felt when Landon said the kiss was amazing. It had been amazing, and that was the problem. Amazing was distracting. Amazing kisses led to crappy litigation. Maybe when the case was over, there would be time for amazing. The thought barely formed before she remembered what would really happen when the case was over. One of them would win, and one of them would lose. One of them would stay, and one of them would go. But no matter what happened, kisses—amazing or not—weren’t in their future.

  Landon stood. “So we’re good?”

  “We’re good.” They were anything but good, but they were at least at a place where Carly could focus on the trial and nothing else. She watched Landon walk out of the room and stifled the urge to call her back. She’d gotten what she’d convinced herself she wanted. Why did it suddenly feel like she’d lost so much more?

  Chapter Seventeen

  Landon looked out over the sea of faces in the courtroom. She sat between Jane and Carly at the defense counsel table, facing the gallery where the jury panel was assembled. Trevor was seated on the other side of Carly, but his presence was superfluous at this point since this part of the process was pure legal hocus-pocus. Shelby had angled to be present in the room, but Jane had gently informed her that there wasn’t room for visitors during jury selection and she’d have to wait outside.

  Judge Grafton had ordered double the usual number of jurors for a felony case, which was a good thing since a bunch of them were saying anything they could think of to get out of serving on a high-profile case. Hardly anyone could claim an excuse for not being available the length of the trial, since it wasn’t expected to last more than two weeks. Texas was quick to justice in criminal trials. But plenty of the potential jurors labored under the assumption they could simply state that they loved or hated football and get tossed from the panel. Grafton had spent the morning dispelling them of that notion before she’d turned the questioning, or voir dire, over to the attorneys.

  The prosecutor, Donna Wilhelm, hadn’t been particularly impressive. She was an old-school workhorse when it came to questioning the panel, and she didn’t employ any fancy tricks or attempts to sell the panel on the merits of the case. She merely went through her checklist of questions and did her best to get the jurors to open up and talk about their feelings.

  Jane on the other hand, was a master. She managed to get most of the panel to engage in debate and conversation with each other, an expert move to keep them from feeling like they were being interrogated. By the time she was done, Landon and Carly had amassed pages of notes on almost everyone in the room.

  Judge Grafton explained to the jurors they would be taking a short recess and they should plan to be back outside the courtroom in thirty minutes. It was a guess since there was no telling how long the rest of the process would take.

  Landon, along with Jane, Carly, and the other attorneys, stood while the bailiff escorted the last panel member from the courtroom. “Counsel,” Judge Grafton said. “Does anyone have any challenges for cause?”

  Donna spoke first. “Yes, Judge. Jurors number seven and twenty both expressed doubts they could be impartial based on their strong and abiding love of all things related to the Dallas Cowboys. Number seven even had his car custom painted to match the team’s colors.”

  “That’s crazy. Neither one of them said they couldn’t be impartial.” Landon felt a hand on her arm and looked back at Carly sending cautionary signals with her eyebrows. “Respectfully, Your Honor, neither one of those professed fans definitely stated they couldn’t be impartial when you questioned them further.”

  Grafton nodded. “It’s true, Ms. Wilhelm, both jurors said they could set aside their fandom and decide this case on the merits. Absent any evidence to the contrary, I’m going to take them at their word. Anything else?”

  Donna shook her head, but Landon spied Carly whispering in Jane’s ear.

  “Just one more, Your Honor,” Jane said. “Juror number six listed on her questionnaire that she has been or knows someone who has been the victim of domestic abuse, but when I asked the same question during voir dire, the juror didn’t raise her hand. Out of respect, we didn’t pursue the matter in front of the entire panel, but we’d like the opportunity to ask her some questions.”

  “Very well.” Judge Grafton signaled to the bailiff and asked him to bring juror number six back into the courtroom.

  While they were waiting, Jane made a few notes and thanked Carly for making the catch. “Last thing we need is a sleeper on the jury.” Carly shrugged off the compliment, but Landon took note. She was going to have to step up her game.

  The rear door opened, and the bailiff entered with a petite African American woman who looked like she’d rather be anywhere else. Judge Grafton waved her up to the bench, and both sets of attorneys gathered around. “I noticed on your questionnaire that you checked yes to question eight,” Grafton said, motioning for the bailiff to hand the juror a copy of the document. “The attorneys may have some questions for you about your response. Ms. Sturges?”

  To Landon’s surprise, Jane stepped back. “Ms. Pachett is going to take the lead on this.”

  Carly’s eyes widened, and for a second it looked like she wanted to dash out the door, but when it became clear Jane wasn’t kidding, she moved forward. “Just a couple of questions, Your Honor.” She turned to face the juror. “Mrs. Franklin, were you referring to yourself or another person when you answered yes to the question about domestic abuse?”

  “It was my sister,” Mrs. Franklin replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

  “And are you personally acquainted with the facts…” Carly stuttered and stopped, and she cleared her throat. “Tell us what happened to your sister.”

  “Her boyfriend beat her bad enough to send her to the hospital. He lost a bet on the Super Bowl last year.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. Is she okay now?” Carly asked.

  “Bruises are gone and bones are healed, but she’ll never be okay again.”

  “And I imagine since you’re her sister, you helped care for her while she was healing.”

  “I did.”

  “And how did what happened to her affect you?”

  Mrs. Franklin looked confused for a moment, like no one had ever thought to ask her about her feelings. “Truth be told, it scared me. Vida is a strong woman, but she was no match for that man’s anger.”

  “Do you think what happened to her would prevent you from keeping an open mind about this case?”

  Mrs. Franklin nodded slowly. “It might.” The nodding got more vigorous. “Yes, I think it would.”

  Donna rolled her eyes, and Landon could tell Donna thought Mrs. Franklin had just figured out the get out of jury duty pass. “That�
��s all from me, Judge,” Carly said.

  “Mrs. Franklin, is there a reason you didn’t raise your hand earlier when I asked, or when these other attorneys asked about this very issue?” Donna asked.

  “I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. The judge had just told us how important jury duty is, and I wanted to do my part.”

  Donna smiled. “I understand. It sounds like you’re willing to follow whatever instructions Judge Grafton gives, is that right?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “So if she tells you to put aside your personal experience and decide this case based only on what you hear in the courtroom during trial and nothing else, you will follow that instruction?”

  “Of course.” Mrs. Franklin looked at the judge as if for approval.

  “Thank you for your honesty,” Donna said. “Judge, the state has no issues with Mrs. Franklin’s ability to serve on this jury.”

  Smooth, Landon thought. She watched Carly closely to see how she would respond. “Your Honor, I have just one more question.” Grafton nodded, and Carly moved one step closer to Franklin. “I have no doubt you would make a diligent and fair juror under normal circumstances, but it’s my job to make sure that my client starts this trial with a level playing field. Now I know the prosecutor and the judge have told you that if you are on the jury you will have to follow the judge’s instructions to set aside any personal feelings you might have and decide this case only on the facts, but that’s when you’re already on the jury. But if you think there’s any chance what happened to your sister might impair your ability to be fair, now is the time to tell us.”

  Mrs. Franklin’s eyes welled with tears, and Landon thought she might start weeping right there in the courtroom, but she didn’t. She did say, “Lord help me, I don’t think I can be fair to that man.”

  The judge thanked her for her honesty and dismissed her from the courtroom. Donna barely waited until the doors shut behind her before starting in on Carly. “What was that?” She turned back to the bench. “Judge, she was clearly leading that woman into a way out of jury duty.”