Page 18 of Trial Run

Reggie gave her a puzzled look which she ignored. She knew her pendulum mood swings sounded crazy, but she was feeling pretty crazy, so it tracked. They filed into the courtroom and took their seats.

The next few hours consisted of bone-dry testimony about financial reports. The forensic expert for the prosecution gleefully described a series of debits and credits that, in his words, showed a pattern of deceit tied to hiding funds paid to public officials for several development projects, but all she heard when he spoke was a bunch of blah, blah, blahs that made her head spin. The judge skipped the morning break, and by the time they stopped for lunch, she had a massive headache. Lisa and Jenny asked ifshe wanted to join them in the cafeteria, but she made an excuse about needing to get some air and left the jury room on her own.

She spotted Reggie ducking into a courtroom down the hall and wondered if she was going to visit some friends from when she’d worked there. Brooke couldn’t remember the last time she’d hung out with friends. Since she’d started school, she’d no free time and everyone had gotten tired of her breaking plans at the last minute on a regular basis either because she had to work, study, or be around for Ben. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to hang out with them, but one day, not that long from now, she was going to need to be able to pay for the kind of college Ben deserved and it wasn’t going to be cheap. Couple that with being a single parent and there wasn’t any free time to spend hanging out with pals.

She dug in her purse and seized on a granola bar that was likely out of date, but sustenance enough to mean she could forgo the cafeteria in favor of going outside for some fresh air. She took the stairs down to the lobby and walked out the front door, enjoying the light breeze and the warmth of the sunshine on her face. She wandered around for a bit and settled on one of the steps off to the right of the entrance—a perfect place for people watching. At this time of day, there were more people leaving than arriving and she found herself guessing whether things had gone their way by the way they walked and the expressions they wore. She’d evaluated the fifth person and was fully caught up in the game when she heard a voice to her left that caught her attention.

“Because it’s Shirley freakin’ Mitchell. She goes down and we’ll all be right behind her. Do I really have to spell what happens next?” A moment of silence and then, “Exactly. Stick with the plan.”

Brooke didn’t hear anything after that, and she casually turned her head to see if she could tell who’d been talking. She spotted several people standing in various places on the steps ontheir phones. Two of them had their backs to her and the third was a woman. She eliminated the last since the voice she’d heard was deep and masculine and turned her attention to the others. She mentally willed the two men to turn around, but neither did and a few minutes later one of them walked toward the garage and the other into the courthouse. She considered following one, but reason stopped her. What would she do if she caught up to them? She hadn’t seen the face of the man who’d accosted her in the parking garage so she wouldn’t know if it was the same person, and even if she did, what would she say? “I remember how you threatened me, and I heard you on the phone just now talking about Shirley Mitchell.” So what? She didn’t know what the plan was the man had been referring to although she suspected the threat against her might be part of it. But there was no real proof—only her gut telling her the conversation she’d heard was important. What was she going to do about it?

* * *

Harry Benton’s trial was in full swing, complete with a packed gallery of spectators and press cameras crowded into the last row. Reggie’s attention was drawn to the jury first, partly out of sympathy, but mostly in relief. Shirley Mitchell’s was fairly high profile, but her trial wasn’t as headline-grabbing as this one. These jurors were being scrutinized by all of Dallas.

She spotted Skye Keaton in one of the rows toward the back of the room and Skye waved her over, making room next to her.

“I didn’t think you were going to show up,” Skye whispered.

“I didn’t make a special trip for it. I’m stuck in jury duty up on seven. Hunt’s court.”

“Shirley Mitchell’s case?”

“That’s the one.” Reggie glanced around. “It’s a pain, but not a circus like this one.”

“Shirley didn’t show up at a judge’s house threatening to ruin her life.”

“True.” Reggie stared at the back of Benton’s head and then at the cop on the stand. “How’s it going?”

At that moment, the judge called a recess for lunch, and everyone stood while the jurors filed out of the room, but most of the spectators stayed put, likely afraid they’d lose their seats if they wandered off.

“Slow. There’s been a lot of breaks and jury selection took forever. They’re just now laying the foundation for what happened at Judge Aguilar’s place. I’m sure once they get to hers and Franco’s testimony things will start to get interesting,” she said, referring to Judge Aguilar’s girlfriend who’d shown up in the middle of Benton’s threats on the judge.

“How did you get out of testifying?”

“Franco can handle my part. The ADAs are trying to keep it lean and mean. They feel like if they keep the evidence related to the threat on Aguilar, they’re more likely to get a conviction. They can throw in other stuff during punishment or save it for another trial. The end game is to put him away forever, but if for some reason he gets off on this charge, jeopardy will not have attached to other possible charges.”

Reggie knew enough about the law to recognize the strategy made sense. “How long do you think it will last?”

“I figure they’ll wrap up testimony by the end of the week or early next. The real question is how long it’ll take for the jury to deliberate.”

“Speaking of juries, I better get back to mine.” Reggie started to stand up, but Skye motioned for her to stay seated. “You give any more thought to my offer?”

She’d shoved Skye’s offer to the back of her mind the moment she’d heard it. Most new PIs would jump at the chance to work for one of the top private detectives in Dallas, and sinceSkye was often hired for high-profile cases and didn’t have any other investigators working for her. Reggie would get to work on lots of interesting cases. But they’d all be criminal since Skye didn’t take what she called silly civil disputes. She’d be back at this courthouse on a regular basis, interviewing defendants and witnesses and testifying in court. Exactly the opposite of what she wanted, which made the conversation a nonstarter.

“I can’t do it.”

Skye’s smile was indulgent. “You can. I know from experience that if you don’t get back up after a bad experience, it can keep you down for good. You think you’re making a good choice for yourself by taking a new course, but you’re headed in the wrong direction. You’re cut out for this, not that silly stuff you’ve convinced yourself is harmless. It will eat your soul.” She stuck out a hand. “Call me when you change your mind.”

Reggie was replaying Skye’s words when she walked back into the jury room in Hunt’s court so lost in thought she almost ran into Brooke who was entering at the same time. She backed up so Brooke could go in first. “After you.”

“Do we have to?” Brooke said.

“Unfortunately, yes.” Reggie followed her into the room. “I wanted to go downstairs and get a snack, but I ran out of time. I bet a million dollars they leave us kicking around in here for another thirty minutes.”

“Seems to happen a lot.”

“True. What did you do with your free time?”

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