Page 112 of The 1 Lawyer

I turned her hand over, kissed her palm. Then I pushed my chair back and rose. “I’ve got to go back to the conference room and prep for tomorrow.”

“Right now? I’ve got more to tell you.”

“Yeah, right now. Pretty sure I know what is coming up next. Tomorrow morning, I think he’ll introduce the e-mails that supposedly came from my computer and the texts they found on Iris’s cell phone. I’m trying to figure out a way to combat those. I don’t know how I’ll convince the jury that I didn’t send them.”

Jenny broke into a triumphant smile. “That’s my best news! I was saving it for last. I found a witness to refute all that.”

That stopped me. I dropped back into the chair. “What have you got?”

She pulled a huge wad of handwritten notes from her bag. “I haven’t turned this into a formal memo for you yet because I’ve just spent about thirty-six hours with my new best friend, Raymond Plummer. He’s a geek, a tech whiz kid.”

I tried to scan the notes, but her writing was illegible. “What will he say?”

“He knows all about malware and spyware. He can explain to the jury how the e-mails were planted on the computer and the texts were sent to her phone. He can even do a demonstration, if the court will permit that. Make it happen right before the jury’s eyes.”

“Will it sound feasible?”

“Oh, yeah. People know that hacking is a thing, but they don’t understand how it works. Malware and spyware can be used to gain information, like passwords, contacts, personal ID details. One tool is the Trojan Horse. It can install backdoors to bypass normal authentication procedures.”

“Then what?”

“Then your phone is the hacker’s phone, and the hacker has complete access—he can send e-mails, texts, whatever.”

I could feel my spirits lift. Was it possible that Jenny had unearthed a bona fide lifesaver? “How will he look on the stand? Will he inspire confidence?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Working on that. I’m hoping we can clean him up for the stand. Maybe a haircut. If he wears a superhero T-shirt to court, would that be a disaster? Because it might happen.”

“Superhero? You mean like Spider-Man?”

“No, I’m thinking Thor. In fact, I’d bet on it. And speaking of betting, I think I’ll leave you to your trial prep. I’ve got someplace to go.”

I didn’t want her to leave, even though I’d informed her just minutes before that I needed to go prep. I considered asking her to stick around for a while, just for the comfort of her company. She was the only thing that made life tolerable, the single bright spot in my miserable existence. “Where are you headed?”

“The casino. I can see that I haven’t convinced you that my gut feeling about old Hiram is valid, so I’m going to do some digging.”

She grabbed her bag and headed out of the office. I called after her, “Jenny, no! I don’t want you going over there.”

I heard her laughter. “I didn’t ask you!”

She was under the mistaken belief that I was kidding around. I ran into the lobby and caught her before she reached the door. “Do I have to drag you into the conference room and lock you inside? I’m serious. The Caros are trouble, both of them.”

I had her arm in a firm grip, but she didn’t appear to be remotely moved by my speech. “Stafford Lee, my ex-husband thought he could boss me around. That’s why it didn’t work out.” She jerked her arm from my grasp. “Just because we’re sleeping together doesn’t mean you can tell me what to do.”

She left, slamming the door shut behind her.

CHAPTER 89

JENNY WISHED she hadn’t snapped at Stafford Lee. He was under crippling pressure—he was on trial for murder and juggling his own defense. His whole life was spinning out of control, so it made sense that he wanted to exert some power over the investigation.

Problem was, Jenny wasn’t the kind of woman who took orders. Not even when she loved the guy.

And she loved Stafford Lee. Not in a love-you-like-a-friend way either. Jenny had fallen hard, head over heels.

She couldn’t decide if the timing was disastrous or fortuitous. Maybe both.

She pulled into the parking lot of Hiram Caro’s waterfront casino. The lot was packed. She steered her car up and down the lanes, hunting in vain for a vacant spot. The tall pylon sign in front of the casino flashed a huge message on its reader board that explained the parking crush: VIP SLOT TOURNAMENT TONIGHT! $50,000 JACKPOT!

She circled around to a parking area clearly marked CASINO EMPLOYEES ONLY and pulled into a forbidden space. Looking up, she saw surveillance cameras in the lot. She was taking a risk. She assumed the casino’s promise to tow unauthorized vehicles wasn’t an idle threat. There was a distinct possibility that her car was being watched by Hiram’s goon squad—and that was a dangerous prospect.

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