Page 105 of The 1 Lawyer

“Objection, Your Honor!” Gordon-James said.

I took a step away from the table and appealed to the jurors in the box. “I mean, who would do that? I’d have to be a moron to stash that shoe in my closet. Believe me, I’m not that stupid!”

The judge pounded her gavel. “Mr. Penney, you’re out of order!”

That was true, I certainly was. But my outcry had seized the jury’s attention. A handful of them were finally looking at me.

The judge was too. She pointed a finger in my direction. “Take your seat at the counsel table, Mr. Penney. You know better than this; you can’t claim ignorance of courtroom proceedings. Sit down! I don’t want to have to warn you again.”

I stepped back to my chair. The judge gave me a threatening glare. I met her eyes and shook my head. Didn’t pretend to look repentant. She’d tried a lot of cases in Jackson and knew that jury trials involved theater.

I figured I’d let Judge Ostrov-Ronai wonder what I might do next.

CHAPTER 83

JENNY REACHED the Biloxi city limits around midafternoon. The road trip through the Mississippi Delta had cleared her head, afforded her a chance to think. She’d gone round and round trying to find a way to discredit the evidence that pointed to Stafford Lee as Iris Caro’s killer. By the time Jenny headed through the outskirts of downtown Biloxi, she was a woman on a mission, ready to execute her new plan.

She pulled into a parking spot directly in front of a run-down one-story building. She’d passed the structure dozens of times without ever venturing inside. A portable roadside sign topped by a flashing arrow read COMPUTER GEEKS UNLIMITED, BUY, SELL, TRADE.

Jenny walked in. Behind a glass counter was a dusty collection of laptops and towers poised perilously beside ancient Apple computers. A printed sign tacked over a door leading to the back of the store stated the company’s policy: PAYMENT DUE IN ADVANCE!

Only one employee could be seen on the premises. Jenny scrutinized the guy behind the counter. He might have been in his late twenties, but it was tough to say. At first glance, he looked younger. He was rail-thin, his face unshaven, with a head of untamed bushy brown hair. He wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the image of some comic-book superhero Jenny had never heard of.

She strolled up to the counter, but the guy didn’t look up. He was playing a game on his cell phone. The phone was set to max volume and emitted loud zapping sounds as he furiously tapped the screen with his thumbs.

Jenny waited, gazing at the merchandise on display under the glass countertop—a jumbled assortment of computer chips, hard drives, and power supplies—as if she were considering a purchase.

Finally, the clerk muted the phone and set it down. “You here to pick something up?”

“No. This is the first time I’ve set foot in this shop. I’m Jenny. Are you the owner?”

Jenny wasn’t a gambler, but she would’ve bet money that he wasn’t the owner. He said, “No, he left. Won’t be in until tomorrow morning.”

He wore his lack of interest like a badge. To put her plan in motion, she needed to engage him. “What did you say your name was?”

He hesitated before answering. “Raymond. You need something fixed?”

“Raymond, you’ve got an interesting business here. What services do you offer?”

“The usual. You got a broken screen on your iPhone or iPad, I can replace that. Or I can repair your computer or your phone.”

He sounded bored. He seemed to assume that she was seeking a simple fix for something.

Jenny shook her head. “I need something a little more, umm…” Her voice trailed off as she sought the correct word. “Sophisticated.”

A glimmer of interest showed on his face; his eyebrows rose slightly. “We can reset passwords, that’s no challenge. I can clean up your hard drive. Override and delete files. You need to get rid of something?” He cracked a small smile. “I can defrag your porn, get rid of those files for you, if that’s your problem. Is that what you came in for?”

He regarded her curiously. Jenny suspected he was trying to guess exactly how much porn she had on her device and why she needed it erased. She laughed. “No! That’s not why I’m here, I swear.”

He shrugged and reached for his phone again. Hastily, Jenny laid on the compliments. “It’s amazing, how knowledgeable you are. Tech just isn’t my thing. You’re so smart, it’s really impressive.”

He nodded absently as he pulled the game back up on the screen. She was losing him.

Jenny’s mother, a genuine Mississippi belle, had attempted to school her in the art of flirtation. Jenny hadn’t paid much attention because she didn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. But she recalled one of her old sayings: “Tell a handsome man he’s smart; tell a smart man he’s handsome.”

“Oh. My. God. I just figured out who you remind me of!”

He blinked at his phone.

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