by Alexis Angel
"Yeah, it sucks, but I should probably be responsible right now," I say with a sigh, smiling at Jackie.
"Okay, well, I'll see you tomorrow, right?"
"For sure."
"See you later!"
"Bye Xavier!"
I have to make my exit and leave the hotel because I have an early morning. I hate to say goodbye to Jacqueline, but work must be done. What happened in there was just crazy and life changing. I'm becoming super obsessed with this guy. She's wild! Back in college I always had a crush on her and I always wanted to realize it, but the timing was never right for us. Now, it seems to be working. Although I would never have considered myself one of her three boyfriends, but hey, I'll take her any way I can get her. She is so amazing, it's no wonder other guys are after her. I hope I've left an impression though and that she deems what we have is special. Now that she's come back into my life in this way, I'll never, ever let her go again. In fact, what was I thinking in college letting her slip through my fingers like that? I should've dropped everything to be with her. But time moves on, and we've both grown up. I anticipate that the time between us being together has actually made our connection stronger because we've both had this unfulfilled desire for years . . . well, finally it's been filled, especially tonight. God, that was just awesome in there.
But, I have to consider what I've been doing with her. What could this ever lead to? I have feelings for Jackie. I'm starting to fall in love with her, but I can't risk losing her entirely to one of those other guys. But sharing? I mean...that was good. I knew she enjoyed it. And I’m not jealous. I just don’t want to lose Jackie. I think about how strange that must seem but it just makes sense to me.
As I'm walking down the hallway of the hotel, I realize that I've left my phone in the room so I have to turn back. I let myself back into the suite, and I hear them all talking. They mention Emma's name and I hate to eavesdrop, but I need to find out what's going on.
"We need to explore it, Jason," I hear Jackie say.
"Yeah, the fact that she did have this other, secret boyfriend is a major issue. I'm frankly shocked the police didn't find it. To have not even considered another man is negligence is what it is," Marcus says, and he seems genuinely concerned.
"Well, I'm sure they looked at it," Marcus says. "Look how long it took us to find it." Jason's talking now. "But there was no evidence. They just went straight to Cain."
"Yeah," Marcus agrees. "They only looked at the billionaire bad boy who was all over the press for his antics. It's almost like the DA wanted a distraction instead of a real investigation into what went on that night."
"This is frightening," Jacqueline says. "The killer's still out there. What if he's manipulating the case?"
"It's okay babe, we're going to be the ones to nail this guy. We know there's more to the truth." Jason is trying to comfort her.
I'm standing at the door listening with my mouth agape. I thought Damian Cain was Emma’s only boyfriend. That's what I was told. Wolff said he investigated it and the police did too and she didn't sleep around, she was only interested in Cain. The fact that they're saying she had somebody else in her life is just unbelievable. I feel enraged that I didn't know this. I don't want to be prosecuting the wrong guy.
"We have to find more evidence, you guys," Jackie says.
"Yeah, we can't into court with this unless we get something substantial," Jason agrees.
"We need to do it soon," Marcus says.
"Poor Emma, what was she thinking sleeping with a criminal like that?" Jackie sounds upset and I want to hold her.
"She probably had no idea who he really was," Jason offers. He’s right, and I can tell by his tone of voice that he knows Jackie just needs comforting right now.
"I know, but I just wish she had had some intuition about him. And if only she hadn't kept him a secret, her life might have saved, or at least the police would have known where to look," Jackie says. She’s tough as fuck, but she’s got this huge heart.
"It's okay Jacqueline." Jason is trying to calm her. "At least we're going to figure something out and we'll save Cain's life from a future in jail."
"Yeah, you're right. I'm letting this case get to me. And I just want to be focused on you guys."
"You have us," Marcus says.
I take this as my cue to bow out. I really shouldn't have been listening to that, but if they have evidence to prove that Cain is the wrong guy then I need to know. I can't be working to destroy an innocent man. This whole conversation I just heard is making me rethink my position on the legal team of the prosecuting attorney. I'm there, at this public service job to put criminals behind bars, not to ruin the lives of innocent people. I'm questioning my boss and the police and how everyone could have missed this. I'm questioning myself. How could I have missed this? For the sake of Emma, I should have seen this. I should have done my own investigative research.
I've got to get my bearings again. And, I'm glad I overheard what I did so that I can think more clearly about this case. I'm going to have to also find evidence of what they're saying otherwise no one will believe it wasn't Cain. Fuck, my life just got a lot more complicated.
The only thing, I realize, that makes me feel even a little bit okay is that it sounds like Jackie has two men beside her that care deeply for her. I care for her, too...so maybe when this is all figured out, the dust can settle and whatever that was we all did doesn’t have to be the last time.
Jacqueline
We're back in court for another day and things don't look good for Damian Cain. Xavier and Wolff seem to have found virtually every girl that Damian has slept with in the last decade. They're all taking the stand and testifying that Damian left them hurt and jaded. It's like the same story is coming out of each of their mouths and it's not looking good. We know that none of this proves anything, but the jury might be feeling swayed in the direction of hating him. I'm wishing Damian could've warned us about just how many girls he had sex with and then dumped so that we wouldn't feel so blindsided by their testimony. Of course, we didn't think the opposing counsel would use these women as evidence of his reputation. I should've thought to ask him about all the other women, or anybody that might've had a grudge against him. I wish I would've known that the prosecutors would go there.
Again, it's a competency thing with me. I have to win this case. This goes on record with the firm as the first case I'll have won since my promotion. And Marcus needs to step it up too, considering he's new also.
I look at Jason and Marcus and I can tell we're thinking the same thing. This isn't good. But before we can discuss a new tactic for overcoming this hurdle, the prosecuting attorneys bring in old business rivals of Damian's to testify against him. One after the other they say that Damian was unethical and immoral in dealing with them. They say he's got a mean streak and that they witnessed it. This is all defaming his character and it's probably making the jury think he's more capable of such a serious crime as murder than they may have previously thought. It's like everything we're working to prove has gone out the window. If I don't get a handle on this thing we may lose.
I write a note to Jason and Marcus, "What are we going to do?"
They look at me and shrug their shoulders like they don't know and they too realize how badly this could go.
Before we know it things go from bad to worse. Damian, who is sitting next to me gets just furious at what one of his ex-business partners is saying.
He yells out of turn, "That's not fucking true, Bobby! You're such a liar. You just can't get over all the money you lost by not investing with me. Get over it man, you are such a loser!"
And then Damian does the worst thing ever; he tries to lunge at the guy, just seeing all rage. In the process, he knocks me over and it looks just terrible in court, like a circus or something. Jason and Marcus are immediately at my side, and even Xavier comes over and I see the worried looks on their faces. All of them look like they want to kill Damian for doing this.
"I'm fine. I
'm fine. Thanks."
I take Xavier's hand and let him help me up. He checks to make sure I'm ok. Then he returns to his table.
How am I going to approach this with the judge and jury?
"Thank you all, I am fine. I guess we see here what the threat of prison does to an innocent man. Just consider for a moment if you will, that you are my client, Damian, sitting here as an innocent man looking at prison, and there was a host of people defaming your character and telling lies, and you feel convicted by that alone instead of by proof of any crime. It is not crime, ladies, and gentlemen, to make a host of bad business deals, or to break up with some of your girlfriends. These acts are not proof that my client laid an abusive hand on Emma. If it were proof enough then we wouldn't still be here, the case would be closed.
The prosecution is fumbling for answers in light of the fact that they have no feasible evidence that is always what character defamation means, it means they've got nothing on our client and despite his outrage and uncourteous behavior in court today, it doesn't mean he is guilty of this crime."
My statement seems to make a difference, and the jury seems impressed, the judge seems impressed, and most importantly to me, the looks on Marcus, Jason, and even Xavier's face tells me that I have done a good job setting the course right again in court today. Damian has proved to be an unruly client, but I do not want this trial to look like a joke. There's so much media attention on this that I have to keep things sailing smooth. I hope above hope, that the fact that Damian is innocent is enough here, but a part of me doubts that it is. We are going to have to come up with concrete evidence before anyone will see the light of truth here. We just have to find something real to go on, otherwise, this case may be lost. I have Damian's entire future in my hands, and it's up to me and my team to pull out all the stops and to get this thing locked into place. It's also up to us, to prove, for Emma, that someone else is the perpetrator.
Jason
My whole team is in my office. We have a meeting with Damian Cain; just the sound of his name in my head makes my blood start to boil. He's a true prick and I want nothing more than to punch him in the face, but that wouldn't be professional I keep telling myself. I'm standing in front of the panoramic window, and I can see Marcus adjusting his tie and Jacqueline smoothing her pencil skirt in the reflection of the glass. Standing here I close my eyes and take a deep breath.
Damian Cain almost got Jacqueline hurt and the rest of us were on edge. We don’t do business that way, putting people in danger especially my people is a very problematic.
The intercom roars to life as the receptionist announces that, "Mr. Cain is here for your 3:30 meeting Jason."
I slowly turn to walk to the door Marcus went to get up from his chair and I just motioned for him to sit back down. I stand in the doorway of my office watching as he walks down the hallway. So cocky his hands in his pockets as he checks out the paralegals by the copiers. He really makes me sick to my stomach, he finally reaches me and holds his hand out to shake mine.
I slide to the side so he can enter the office he scoffs and as he lowers his hand he walks past me into my office. The tension in there could be cut with a knife, everyone is throwing eye daggers at him as he moves to take a seat at the table.
As I close the door I take another deep breath. The sound of the door closing behind me echoes as if it's a million miles away. Walking to the front of the table, I slam my hand down on it so hard that the water pitcher shakes. Cain looks up at me after he damn near jumps out of his chair. "Oh do I have your attention now?" I scream at him moving inches from his face. "Do you know the shit you pulled almost got a member of my team hurt you son of a bitch!" I point my finger in Jacqueline's direction never taking my eyes off of Damian Cain. He can see the rage in my eyes as I keep making my point. "We don’t do business this way, people ending up in harm's way, we never intentionally do these kinds of things! You, sir, are a sick individual. And we cannot work like this, more importantly we won’t work like this!" Before I realized what I was doing I had my hand wrapped around his tie pulling him across the surface of the table.
Marcus is up out of his chair trying to pull me off of him.
Jacqueline is standing beside me her hand is on my arm. She places it there as she calls my name. "Jason."
I slowly turn to look at her as I loosen my grip on Cain’s tie. Enough so he can pull himself free, Cain’s face is red right now his tie is all dishevelled he stands straight up and fixes his tie, in a huff he smooths the wrinkles from his shirt. I take a deep breath and look into Jacqueline’s eyes.
The look on her face tells me not to do this.
"I’m fine" I tell her through gritted teeth.
She looks like she doesn't believe me but moves her hand from my arm anyway. I move and head to the door, Cain jumps a little as I put my foot there blocking him from leaving in a calm voice I inform him, "if you ever try to pull anything else that might put my people in harm's way, we will drop you as a client." I stare at him for a long time.
It seems like his eyes searching mine if he was looking to see if I was bluffing.
I wasn't at all.
I stood in the door of my office as I watched Damian Cain hurry from our office. When I finally do turn back around I gaze around my office making eye contact with everyone who is there. The looks on their faces said what their mouths would not. Damian Cain is a major client for us. I know this I know what it means if we lose his retainer but right now that is the furthest thing from my mind. I am pissed and now know we cannot trust Cain at all and that is a problem. Trust is worth more than any amount of money. I go back and stand in front of my window just staring out into the setting sun. My mind is racing right now with all the possibilities of the things to come.
What would I do if his actions actually would have gotten Jacqueline hurt? That I couldn't live with. And for what, money? It just isn't worth it, Marcus comes to stand next to me and starts staring out with me. I glance over at him but he doesn't say a word. I can hear everyone else leave and the receptionist enter the clacking sound of her heels on my floor sounds like she is a million miles away.
She moves about straightening up the table, my heart's still racing. I am trying to calm down. I close my eyes breathe deep and try to calm all the thoughts that are racing through my head. Marcus eventually puts his hand on my shoulder, tapping it lightly. He is saying something to me that I can’t quite make out. I just nod my head and in the reflection I see him walking away.
My office is quiet now all that remains are my thoughts and I finally I move from in front of the window finding my way to my desk I sit down behind it staring at the blinking message light that is alerting me to the new voicemails I have. Ugh. I lean back in my chair and close my eyes rubbing my forehead. I have a massive migraine now.
Xavier
I'm in my office going over the Damian Cain case. There are files and paperwork all over my desk as I try to wrap my mind around this thing. My office is pretty crummy, considering I work at the DA's office, but it's all worth it to me because I think I'm on the right side of justice. I've always wanted to be a prosecutor and to fight for the underdog and I assume that's what I was doing here. I thought I was fighting for Emma and I was going to lock up whoever killed her for good. But now I'm questioning everything. After overhearing Jacqueline at the hotel suite I am for the first time in my career wondering if we have the wrong guy. The winds of litigation may change, but one thing always remains clear and that is that truth is at the forefront of my mind at all times. I don't care if I'm the opposing counsel, I'm not gonna fight to put an innocent man behind bars. That's just not what I do.
And so I've been pouring over paperwork. I stayed up most of the night and I'm trying to rewire this case in my brain and to see what I've been missing. I'll find the killer that's for sure, but at this moment I need to rework my strategy. I really need to talk to Jacqueline about this, but what am I going to say? "Hey, I was eavesdropping and . . ." That m
ight not go over too well and so for the moment I keep my mouth shut. Besides, I've got Wolff coming in here in a minute and I'm going to run things over with him first.
"Knock, knock." It's Wolff.
"Perfect timing man, I was just gonna come find you." He comes into my shitty little office. It's the life of a public servant, but I could care less what my surrounding look like as long as I maintain that sense of integrity inside me.
"Well, I'm here now. What'd you got?"
"Hey, so I've been looking over everything we have on Damian Cain, and I'm not sure we have enough evidence to prove that is was him. After all, attacking his character in court may help tarnish his image, but we still have no proof of the crime."
"Listen, Xavier, you're working too hard on this thing. We've got it nearly wrapped up. And hey, you look like you haven't slept in a week. Why don't you take the day off and come in when you're fresh. I'll handle things here."
"Well, that's just the problem, Wolff. I think this case is not resolved."
"Xavier! Come on, relax. This case is a slam dunk. Cain has been burying his own grave in court with his outlandish behavior. We've gone this thing on our side."
"No, there's more to it. Cain may be entirely innocent. In fact, I have it on good authority that Emma may even have had other boyfriends."
The color drains from Wolff's face and he looks at me in a weird way. Was it something I said? Seems a little fishy that this news would affect him like that.
"Wha- What did you just say?" The words stumble from his mouth.
"I said that we haven't even checked the boyfriend issue. Cain was not her only guy. Why have the police not explored this?"
His sense comes back to him and he says, "Oh Xavier, didn't I tell you? Yeah, I looked into the boyfriend thing already. It was one of the first things I did for this case. I wanted to make sure Cain was the only guy in her life and he was, so, you needn't pursue this further."
Hmm, he seems a little sketchy. Why did Wolff never mention going over this potential evidence before? And why did he seem so odd when I brought it up? I decide to assuage him for now.
