Page 8 of The 24th Hour

“Possibly.”

“I don’t like this, Yuki.”

Yuki thought that was at least the fourteenth time he’d told her that.

Parisi slapped the conference table and stood up.

“You want to ride this case into a box canyon, it’s your horse. Go right ahead. I have a meeting.”

Yuki nodded and Len Parisi left the room. He was a great prosecutor. He’d never told her she was crazy to take on a case before, no matter how bad the odds of winning. But this one was brand-new territory. She didn’t know a single prosecutor who’d ever been dealt a stack of wild cards like this one.

Then again, she’d never had an easy case in her life.

CHAPTER 5

MARY ELENA SAT in a visitor chair across from Yuki’s desk, relating a dream she’d had.

“We’re in court,” Mary Elena said. “TV movie–type courtroom. I’m sitting next to you and someone says, ‘Has the jury reached a verdict?’ And the jury foreman says, ‘We have, Your Honor.’ The foreman looked like Sean Penn and I woke myself up like three times.”

“How did you feel in the dream?” Yuki asked.

“Scared, I guess,” she said. “Who wouldn’t be?”

Yuki nodded. Mary Elena said she was “grounded,” but Yuki saw fear in her eyes.

“It’ll be all right, Ms. Hayes. I read that Sean Penn is shooting a movie out of the country.”

Mary Elena grinned and said, “My grandmother called me Mary Elena.”

Yuki said, “My grandmother called mechiisana neko.Which means ‘little cat,’ but you can call me Yuki.”

They both laughed and then Yuki said, “I’d like you tomeet Nick Gaines. He’s working with me as second chair in our case against Mr. Cates.”

“He knows all about …?”

“Absolutely. And he’s got a few questions for you.”

Yuki grabbed the desk phone and called Gaines. He picked up, and, by the time Yuki had clicked off, was at her open door. He pulled the second visitor chair around so that he triangulated both Yuki and Mary Elena.

He smiled, said, “We have a good case, Mary Elena, but the defense is prepared and they’re going to try to win. Here’s what we figure is going to be the defense’s position. Shall we talk about it?”

“I’m ready. I think.”

“Nothing to worry about. This is just you and your legal team doing a practice run. Not a problem, right?”

“Okay.”

Gaines said, “Good,” and kept going. Yuki thought Mary Elena was not exactly okay, but she let it go. Gaines was smart and even if Mary Elena didn’t know him, this was a safe place.

“Here we go,” Gaines said.

Yuki saw Mary Elena’s face flatten and she heard Parisi’s warning in her mind.

This is a weak, circumstantial case…You want to ride this case into a box canyon, it’s your horse.

Yuki watched Gaines lean closer to Mary Elena, who, under the force of his stare, pushed her chair back flush against the wall. If Gaines felt her withdrawing from him, he showed no sign.

“Now, Mary Elena. Ed Schneider, Tyler Cates’s attorney, is a pit bull.”

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