Chapter 63
LUCY
On Monday, I realized I was exactly one week away from starting my first trial. I was beyond excited, even if I was sitting third chair.
I’d been at Jewell, Rock, and Barrientos for approximately six months. More precisely, Tarah Jewell, Sharon Rock, and Isaac Barrientos.
That’s right. Two of the three founders of my law firm were women. You don’t see that every day. That’s not the reason I went with them, but it certainly didn’t hurt.
I was honored that they were letting me sit third chair this early into my tenure at the firm, even though the third chair didn’t really do much. I wasn’t going to be standing up and saying “Objection, Your Honor” every five minutes. That would be left to the first and, possibly, second chair.
But I was in the game, and that’s all I could ask for.
It was a wild case.
Our client, Winona Savage, had been convicted of killing her co-worker, Jeannie Nourse, because Savage had been passed over in favor of Nourse. They both worked as doctors for a pharmaceutical company and collaborated with AI companies to help diagnose diseases.
Nourse was selected as the manager of the project over Savage, and less than two weeks later, was found dead due to fentanyl poisoning. After a thorough investigation, the LAPD concluded that Savage had killed her, putting crushed up fentanyl in a sandwich that Nourse had left at her station.
It became pretty cut and dry when they found fentanyl at Savage’s apartment, where she lived alone.
That was four years ago, and she was convicted after a three-week trial.
Fast forward eighteen months, and someone sent a letter to our law firm, claiming that Savage had been framed by another of their co-workers, Reyna Lockhart. The letter alleges that Lockhart was jealous of both co-workers and was trying to kill off one while framing the other.
Our firm started looking into it, and there was a lot on the bone. Lockhart had told many people she despised the other two. The problem was that Savage was next in line for Nourse’s job, so suspicion fell on her. And then when they found fentanyl at her house, she was toast.
Our firm hired a private investigator who was able to find an eyewitness, Winona Savage’s neighbor, who swears she saw Reyna Lockhart hovering around Savage’s apartment around the time of Nourse’s death.
Our firm presented this evidence to the grand jury, insinuating Lockhart had planted the fentanyl at Savage’s apartment.
This, along with a few other things, led to Savage being granted a retrial. With yours truly sitting third chair.
I couldn’t wait to start. My parents would be so proud, and I couldn’t wait to talk to them about it when they returned from Lake Tahoe.
Sadly, as excited as I was about my upcoming trial, I was equally torn about whether or not to divorce Eddie.
I was starting to seriously consider divorcing him before the trial began.
Give myself a clean break.