Page 40 of Trial Run

Reggie stepped back. “Seriously, Skye. What’s with the spy knock?”

“Trust me.”

The door opened and Lennox’s girlfriend, Wren, was standing on the other side. She motioned for them to join her inside where Lennox and Sarah were seated around her desk. “I’m pretty sure we decided on three quick knocks followed by two slow ones,” she said to Skye.

“Then why did you open the door?” Skye asked.

“Because I’m also pretty sure no one in this building is trying to decode your secret knock to get into my office.”

“They might if they knew what you were brewing in here.”

Reggie cleared her throat. “Would someone mind telling me what the hell is going on?”

Wren pointed at an empty chair. “Have a seat. Do you take cream and sugar with your coffee?”

She fought the urge to scream. Coffee service wasn’t even close to the first thing on her mind right now, but Wren was staring at her intently, waiting for her response, so she decided to play along for now. “Cream, no sugar.”

“Good choice.” Wren reached for a mug on the shelf behind her desk and poured from a French press. She added a splash of creamer and stirred it in with an expensive-looking silver spoon. When Reggie took the mug from her outstretched hand, Wren motioned for her to try it, so she dutifully complied. The brew was smooth and rich, and for a brief moment, she focused solely on the moment.

“It’s good, right?” Skye said.

“It’s probably the best coffee I’ve ever had,” Reggie said.

“I heard a ‘but’ on the end of that compliment,” Wren said.

Reggie sighed. “Yep. How about this—butas much as I’m enjoying this coffee, I’m still wondering what I’m doing here.”

“Plotting, of course.” Wren motioned to the rest of the group. “We do our best plotting right here and we’re inviting you to be a part of it. It has to be secret because you’re on a jury right now and Lennox and Sarah shouldn’t be telling you what they’re about to tell you.”

Reggie wanted to know how a PI, a PD, an ADA, and an FBI agent had all wound up plotting together, but more than that, she wanted to know what they had to tell her, so she simply nodded.

Sarah shoved an envelope across the desk at her. “Take a look at this.”

Reggie folded back the flap and slid the note out of the envelope and instantly recoiled. The mismatched tape and glue letters formed an ominous message:Cooperate and die.The message was simple, to the point, and delivered in the form of haphazardly placed letters cut from a magazine. She dropped the note on the table. “Where did you get this?”

“It turned up at Shirley Mitchell’s house after the intruder was there last night.”

Reggie thought back to the conversation she’d witnessed in the parking garage between Shirley and Harry Benton. “She must’ve been pretty spooked to share it with you.”

“She didn’t and I’m not sure she ever would’ve, but one of her kids found the note and gave it to the nanny,” Sarah said. “Nanny called the cops who should’ve found the note when they were there to investigate the break-in.”

Reggie stared at the note a moment longer. “It sure looks like the ones Brooke’s received.”

“Exactly.”

“You think Harry Benton is leaving threatening notes around town?”

“I think he’s having it done.”

It tracked. And she could understand why Benton might be sending notes threatening to harm Shirley Mitchell, but whywould he also be sending notes to a juror on Mitchell’s trial that were designed to help her? Unless…

“He’s desperate for her to be found not guilty.” Her thoughts churned faster now. “He’s scared if she’s found guilty or thinks the trial is going south, she might offer up some of the inside information she has on him for a plea or at sentencing in a last-ditch effort to avoid prison time. So, he set up this plan—tamper with the jury to change the outcome.”

“Which might have worked had you not told us about what happened to Brooke’s son,” Lennox chimed in. “Once Judge Hunt knew about the threats against Brooke, they were no longer effective, so Benton stopped threatening Brooke and risked going straight to the source.”

“Okay, but how did Benton find out the judge knew?” Reggie asked. “I thought Judge Hunt had a meeting in chambers with just the attorneys and Sarah.”

“Any one of them could’ve talked.”

---