Page 17 of Mafia Angel

“You know all the people on the witness list. Is there anyone on here you think would convince the jury of your alleged guilt?”

“There are a few who’d love to see me sentenced to life, but none of them know enough to put me away. They would have to perjure themselves.”

“Do you think any of them would?”

“Probably most of them.”

“Is there anyone at the top of the list?”

“I’d say your client still tops it. I’m not convinced you’ve dissuaded him from going through with his plan.”

“He wanted to go state’s witness for immunity from his charges. That won’t happen.”

“Then a reduction in sentencing.”

“Maybe.”

I can tell she doesn’t want to talk about her client more, so I don’t press. I’ll do my own digging and get Carmine to help me if I need it. I can’t think of what Cohenour looks like or who this guy is, but I predict it’s going to be nothing but a shit storm.

“At best, the evidence against you is circumstantial. There’s no evidence directly linking you to the scene, and there’s no evidence at the location that proves you were there the day or night it happened. The most damning thing they have is that you met with the construction foreman and the building inspector the day before. They’ll say you did something nefarious to them to get access to the building, or that you coerced them into helping you.”

“They buy materials from my hardware stores. That’s where I met them. The foreman was placing an order for lumber. The inspector was getting stuff for his garden. It was coincidental we were all there at the same time. I was only at that store because my manager had the flu. My stores generally run themselves. I only go in for payroll, which wasn’t until the following week.”

“But security footage shows you talking to them.”

“By the register. If I were plotting something, would I do it where any customer could overhear?”

“I know that. You know that. The prosecution knows that. But can they convince a jury otherwise? Possibly. The upside is we have the email your manager sent and the time-off request. Since she sent it the night before, and there’s no email or phone record you contacted either man, we should be able to poke holes in that argument. What the prosecution is really going to hammer home— forgive the pun —is that you have all the necessary supplies for the explosives right in your store. You have easy access to it all.”

“If I was using a fertilizer bomb. These were demolition bombs that require nitroglycerines and explosives. Those aren’t things I stock.”

“But Salvatore owns a construction company that has access to them. The prosecution will argue you used those.”

“They’ll argue that I got the supplies from my hardware stores, then they’ll say I got them from Mancinelli Developers’ warehouses. It can’t be both.”

“I know Tyler. He’ll use the store video to say you conspired with the other men. He’ll insinuate that you considered the supplies from your store, maybe even tested them. Then you decided to use the construction company’s more powerful explosives.”

“We run security at the warehouse around the clock, so no one can steal from us. I haven’t been there in months.”

“Since he’s arguing this is premeditated, he may suggest you stockpiled them until the right time. Or that someone abetted your crime and got them for you.”

“This grows more ridiculous by the moment, Sinead.”

“You know that. I know that. The prosecution knows that. But if they can convince the jury, then it’s completely logical to at least some of them. After that, it’ll be up to those jurors to convince anyone on the fence.”

“That’s a lot of ifs that have to line up.”

“Tyler is persuasive.”

“You sound like you know that from more than just the courtroom.”

“I dated him most of my second year of law school.”

That’s a gut punch. I didn’t expect the idea of meeting a past boyfriend to bother me so much. Meeting someone she’s fucked at Cries and Whispers would be unpleasant, but that would just be about sex. Most of a school year implies an emotional connection.

“Gabriele, that was years ago. I ended it.”

Was I that transparent? Does she know it’s because I want her? Or does she think I’m doubting her professionalism? It’s the former, but I hope she thinks it’s the latter.

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