Page 16 of Trial Run

“For someone who didn’t want to discuss the case, you sure do have a lot of questions about the process.”

Brooke shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “It’s new to me. I like to know what to expect.”

“If we don’t reach a verdict, he can make us stick around until we do, and if that doesn’t work, he can declare a hung jury. The prosecutor can try the case again if they want to, but in the meantime, there’s no conviction. Mitchell’s not in jail, but if she was there would be a hearing to determine if she should remain there pending the new trial.”

“Do you think the prosecutor would try the case again?”

“Hell yeah. It’s a high-profile trial and they’ve already made a big deal out of it in the local press. Rigley and the entire DA’s office would look silly if they decided not to move forward.”

Brooke licked her ice cream and contemplated the scenario. If she hung the jury, there’d be a new one. Would the person threatening her find a new potential jury to intimidate into voting his way? Would they keep doing that until they managed to pull off a “not guilty”? Did that even make sense? Or were they stalling, hoping something else happened with the case before an unfavorable verdict came down? Either way she was stuck in the middle for now and there was no sense talking about it so she changed the subject. “Did you grow up in Dallas?”

“I did. Lived here my whole life. My folks moved to Plano a few years ago, but I live in a condo near downtown. Makes it easy to get to the courthouse in the morning.”

“Do you miss working there?”

“Sometimes yes, sometimes no.” Reggie started off into the distance. “I miss the people. It’s hard to be around a group of people for hours a day, many days of the week, and then suddenly not have them in your life anymore.”

“I can see that. Are there good people at your new job?”

“There are no people at my new job.” Reggie cracked a half smile. “I’m studying to take the licensing exam so I can be a private investigator and once I pass the test, I’ll be in business solo.”

“That’s a big change, right?”

“Huge. I think I’m ready for it, but…”

“But?”

“But it is harder than I thought it would be not to have pals on board.”

Brooke heard the wistfulness in Reggie’s voice. “Hey, you could be really successful and wind up having to hire new people really soon.”

Reggie met her eyes. “Good point. I’ll hope for that.” She crunched the last bite of her cone. “What do you do for a living?”

“I started back to school to get the bachelor’s degree I abandoned when I got pregnant with Ben, and I’m working at Dante’s to pay tuition and bills. It’s not ideal, but it won’t last forever. I have to say jury duty really cuts into the bill paying part of the equation.”

“That’s a big load. I’m guessing Ben’s dad is not in the equation?”

“He hasn’t been for a very long time. I don’t even know where he is.”

“I bet if you’d explained your situation to Judge Hunt, he would’ve excused you from serving.”

“I didn’t even think of that.” Brooke smiled to cover the lie. “But it might not have worked anyway. Remember, you didn’t think you’d get picked.”

“Word. Not sure what happened there.”

“Maybe they thought you’d be extra fair since you’ve worked at the courthouse.”

“More like someone wasn’t thinking at all.”

The conversation trailed off and they sat in silence for a bit. Brooke wasn’t sure what else to say that didn’t involve tiptoeing around the subject of the case, but she was fairly confident Reggie wasn’t involved with whoever had been threatening her and that was something. She crunched the last bit of her cone and crushed her napkin into a tiny ball.

“Ready to go?” Reggie asked.

“Yes, but I need a pint of rocky road for the kid.”

Reggie was out of her seat in a flash, headed for the dairy section. She grabbed a quart of rocky road and was headed to the cash register when Brooke intercepted her. “What are you doing?”

“Contributing to the cause.” Reggie pulled out a twenty and handed it to the clerk.

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