Page 12 of Trial Run

“Because we weren’t discussing the evidence, only the presentation.”

“Again, I don’t see the difference.”

She couldn’t tell if Reggie was being obtuse or just enjoyed messing with her. Either way, she wanted out of this conversation. “That’s cool. You do you.” She started to back away and bumped into Lisa and noticed the other jurors had started to crowd around them.

“Are you talking about the case?” Lisa asked.

“No!” Brooke said, perhaps a little too emphatically. Suddenly she’d become the center of attention and she needed to escape.

“I think it’s okay for us to talk about what we’ve seen so far as long as we don’t make any decisions,” Jenny said.

“It’s not, actually,” Reggie said. “The instructions were pretty clear.”

“They must not have been that clear or we wouldn’t all have different opinions about it,” Jenny said in a snarky tone. “Right, Brooke?”

Shit. She held up her hands in surrender. “I could be wrong. I mean, I’m not the one who works here.”

“That’s right,” one of the other men, Jack something, said, pointing at Reggie. “You work at the courthouse. What did you do here?”

Reggie frowned. “I don’t work here. I used to.”

“That’s right, you were shot when that crazy guy opened fire in the courtroom. Didn’t you work for one of the judges?”

The frown twisted deeper, and Reggie backed up. “I don’t work here anymore, but I do know Judge Hunt said not to discuss the case and I know for a fact he meant any aspect of it.”

Brooke wanted to argue the point. It was obvious Reggie was taking the judge’s instructions too literally and she didn’t appreciate being schooled in front of the rest of the jury. She’d said cases about money were boring and more so than cases about people getting physically hurt and she stood by that. And arguing with Reggie would only draw attention to herself—one of the things she wasn’t supposed to do, so instead of trying to get the last word, she ducked out the door and went to the restroom, taking a few extra minutes to clear her head. It worked until she walked out the door to find Reggie standing a foot away.

“You have to stop doing that.”

“What?” Reggie asked.

“Following me everywhere. I’m beginning to think you’re spying on me.” She floated the words and watched closely for Reggie’s reaction.

“I’m not.”

“So, you’re out here waiting to go into the bathroom?”

Reggie kicked a toe at the carpet. “Uh, well, not really.”

Brooke stared at her for a moment. She detected no signs of deception. Either Reggie was really good at spying on her or she was completely innocent. Either way she wanted to know and impulse pushed her to say, “Next time you want to give me a note, don’t leave it in my bag. That’s creepy.” She watched for Reggie’s reaction, but at first there was nothing but a blank stare. No flicker of recognition, no nod, nothing. Several more seconds passed, and Reggie finally spoke.

“Okay.”

She turned and walked back into the jury room, and Brooke watched her go wondering what had just happened and whether she’d made a horrible mistake.

She waited until Reggie was completely out of sight, and pulled out her phone. She fired off a text.

Asserting mom privilege. Ping me back to say you’re okay.

She hit send and waited. One minute. Two. If he was in class, he couldn’t text. Other kids would do it anyway, but not Ben. She needed to introduce a mom exception to the no texting in school rule.

She stared at the screen. She stared at the wall. She stared back at the screen. She could hear the rest of the jury stirring behind the wall of the juror room. It was almost time to go back into the courtroom and after being late this morning, she didn’t want to be the one who held things up this afternoon. Especially not after the scene just now. Dammit, Ben. Answer your damn phone.

All good.

The two words brought huge relief and she breathed deep. Whatever had happened in calculus, Ben had survived it, but she’d been worried about way more than that. All was well. For now. She vowed to keep her mouth shut and head down for the rest of this trial. Let know-it-alls like Reggie Knoll be the center of attention.

When they all walked back into the courtroom, Jenny and Lisa flanked her and shot Reggie disdainful looks in a show of solidarity. She barely knew these women and she wasn’t sure she liked them, but the weird dynamics of being trapped in a small group and sequestered from information bound them together. Rule number two played through her head: don’t mingle or talk to the other jurors. Well, that ship had sailed through no fault of her own. Nothing she could do now but embrace the fact she wasn’t entirely alone.

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