Chapter 80
The minute I finish with Martha and return to my table, Dana is tugging on my arm. “What just happened?” she whispers leaning in close. “Did Reginald do this?”
Milton stands up. “I’d like to request a short recess, judge.”
“Once again,” the judge says, “I imagine you do. Fifteen minutes.” He pounds the gavel and the room erupts into more of the noise Martha’s testimony delivered.
“What’s going on?” Dana demands again.
“Let’s go to our private room,” I say.
“Dana!” Reginald screams. “I didn’t do it. I swear to you. I love you. I wouldn’t hurt your father!”
She presses her hands to her face, upset when she has reason to be happy. She has her reasonable doubt, and any jury doing their job will acquit her. My hand settles on her back and I twist around to find Cat, thankfully, at the railing. She has a way with Dana that I’m going to need right now and I motion for her to meet us in the back room. She nods and stands up, heading toward the door.
Elsa kneels next to Dana and says something to her, and Dana nods then stands up. I intentionally allow Elsa to guide Dana forward, while Richard and I fall into pace behind them. “Nailed it, boss.”
“If I nailed it the trial would be over,” I say. “I didn’t get my confession.”
“Close enough to win,” he assures me, but that’s not good enough.
“The longer the trial,” I say, reigning myself in right along with him, “the more chances to have it turn against us. Never be overconfident.”
We exit to the hallway and I hear Reginald shouting again, “Dana! Dana, please talk to me.”
The man must have run from the courtroom to get here this quickly.
Dana bursts out of the conference room where Elsa has just managed to lead her. “I need to talk to him.”
“No,” I reject instantly. “Not now.”
“I have to talk to him,” she insists. “I need to hear the truth directly from him. Please.”
“You’ll know the truth when he testifies,” I say. “If he turns on you, he killed your father.”
“And if he doesn’t?” she asks.
“That doesn’t mean he didn’t do it,” I say, and silently add: It just means he’s gambling on her protecting him with her money.
“I’m here!” Cat calls out.
I turn to find her and Savage rushing in our direction while Reginald’s voice fades as he’s clearly ushered away. “Our team took care of him,” Savage confirms as he and Cat join us.
“I don’t want him taken care of,” Dana growls. “I wanted to talk to him.”
I turn to face Cat, giving a barely-there shake of my head, letting her know how against that idea I am. She gives me a tiny nod. “Not if you want to help him and you,” she says, stepping around me and taking Dana’s arm. “Let’s go into the conference room. We don’t want to be overheard.” Cat ushers her into the room.
“Jesus,” Elsa murmurs. “Can’t a client just be glad you saved her ass? Thank God for Cat.”
“Agreed,” Richard adds. “You saved her. She’s losing her shit. That’s not how this is supposed to play out.”
No, I think, and that doesn’t sit well with me. “Give us a few minutes with Dana,” I say, but I don’t wait for an answer. I enter the room.
“Right now,” Cat says, as I shut us inside. “The prosecution believes you’re going to get a ruling in your favor. They’re scrambling to either convict you or save face. Anything you do will be suspect.”
“If you’re talking to Reginald,” I say, “you could be coordinating lies. The police are watching right now. You’re protecting you and him by staying away from him.”
“Why didn’t you warn me about that in there, Reese?”
“I needed you to be just as shocked as the jury,” I reply. “And I needed Reginald to give us an honest reaction, not one you prepped him for.”
“I don’t like that you didn’t tell me,” Dana snaps.
“That testimony,” Cat says, her tone angry now, my wife rising up to protect her husband, “was your ticket to freedom. Reese set you free. He saved decades of your life.”
Dana presses her hands to her face and then looks at me. “I’m sorry.” Her voice cracks. “I know you protected me. I just don’t want him to be guilty. I love him. He’s all I have.”
“Which is another reason to give yourself some space,” Cat says. “You’re vulnerable with him right now.”
“What happened to keeping him on our side?” she demands.
“Martha turned herself and him into the reasonable doubt we needed,” I say. “If he’s going to turn on you, he’s going to turn on you. He’ll be in desperate mode right now and we can’t let him take you down with him.”
“What if he’s innocent?” she says. “What if Martha’s lying?”
“We think she might be lying,” Cat replies. “But we don’t know. You’re so very close to freedom.” Cat walks up to her and settles her hands on Dana’s arms. “When you’re free, if he’s innocent and needs a lawyer, you can get him one. You can help him, but you can’t help him if you’re disinherited and behind bars.”
I don’t miss the fact that Cat didn’t suggest I become his lawyer, but Dana doesn’t catch the inference that I won’t be offering my services to Reginald. Dana breathes out and nods. “You’re right. You’re so right.”
I take the opening I’m given. “Then you won’t mind if I keep you under lock and key for the next few days.” Cat steps back to allow me direct eye contact with Dana. “I want you in a hotel room with Walker Security protecting you.”
“You think I’m in danger?”
“More from yourself than anyone else,” I say. “One wrong conversation or move could ruin this for you and us.”
“Do you think I’m in danger?” she presses.
“There’s a killer on the loose,” I say when I’m really just trying to keep her away from Reginald. “I’m not taking any chances. Desperate people do desperate things,” I repeat. “Do we agree on the hotel and the security?”
Dana hugs herself. “Yes. Yes, okay.”
“I don’t even want a text message exchanged with Reginald,” I add. “I mean it. Nothing. Agreed?”
“Yes. Agreed.”
I study her a few beats, ensuring she really does agree. “Give me a moment,” I say, motioning Cat to the hallway.
We step outside and shut the door. Richard, Elsa, and Savage join us. “I need her in a hotel with protection tonight,” I tell Savage.
Savage nods. “I’ll get a plan in place now in case court adjourns early.” His phone beeps and he grabs it, glances at a text message and then at us. “Royce has an insider who told him the DA just submitted for a search warrant for Martha and Reginald’s homes and offices.”
“They know they’re going to lose,” Cat says. “They’re trying to either connect Dana to the murder, via an accomplice, or make a new arrest before they look like fools.”
“In other words,” Richard says, “you didn’t get your confession, but you might have caught a killer.”
“Don’t tell Dana,” I say. “We do not want her warning Reginald.”
Savage looks at me. “You don’t think she’s afraid if he goes down, she goes down, do you?”
“No,” I say. “Do you know something we don’t know?”
“We searched his place,” he says. “We pulled random samples to look for DNA evidence. We didn’t find anything, but the police will do what we couldn’t do. They’ll tear his place apart.”
“That’s not an answer,” I say. “Do you know something I don’t?”
“No,” he says. “But you’re worried. I see it in your eyes.”
“There’s not an attorney on the planet that isn’t worried they’ve misjudged a client.”
Savage nods. “I’ll take care of the hotel arrangements.” He looks at Cat. “Page me when you’re ready to leave. I’ll be at the end of the hallway.” He walks away.
I take Cat’s arm and motion to the office we met in yesterday. We step inside and I shut the door. “Was she too damn worried about him considering the revelations on the stand or am I being paranoid?”
“I thought the same thing. She was too worried. For the first time since you started this trial, I’m worried she’s guilty.”
I rest my head against the door and breathe out. Cat is quickly in front of me, her hands on my waist. “We’re both being paranoid about your perfect record and our dislike of helping killers get away with murder. Let’s consider option number two: She loves him. The idea that he is guilty, that he used her for money, on top of her father’s death, makes her feel really alone. And once you have someone in your life that you love, the idea of losing them destroys you.”
I cup her head and pull her lips to mine. “Are you telling me you thought you were going to lose me over Debbie?”
“No. Not really.”
I pull back. “Not really?”
“I had fleeting moments that I felt those things. They were so very fleeting, but I think it’s natural in such a situation. The point isn’t about us, but rather that Dana’s afraid of losing everything. I get that because of my fresh feelings over Debbie. Let’s not decide Dana’s guilt, based on her confused, emotional state of mind. She might just really need what I did. For the man she loves to tell her he’s innocent.”
“You needed to hear me say it?”
“I didn’t think I did, but when I looked in your eyes and you assured me you were, I knew you were. It’s like I could breathe again. We’re denying Dana that chance and for good reason. We have to. I mean, if Reginald is guilty, for all we know he could turn dangerous and suicidal. I’m just saying, we believed in Dana. You believed in her and I don’t think you should stop now. That will affect how you defend her. Stand by your client and win with your client.”
I digest those words and they feel as right as everything with Cat always feels. This woman understands me in ways no other human ever has or could. She is truly my partner in this life, and she’s right. If Dana felt Reginald could be that for her, she’s going to resist losing him. “The questions is,” I say, “what will she do to protect him? She was ready to turn on him only days ago. She’s erratic and all over the board.”
“My mother stayed with my father even when he cheated. The fear of being alone is powerful.”
I cup her face. “That will never be us. You know that, right?”
“I know that, Reese Summer. We’re going to grow old together. We’re going to have babies together.”
I pull back and look at her. “Babies? You’re thinking about babies?”
“We’ve talked about it.”
“Yes,” I say. “We have. We should talk about it again.”
“You still want babies, right?”
I kiss her. “I want everything with you, Cat,” I assure her, but now she’s got me thinking. She’s been sick. She’s different right now. Did my wife just tell me she’s pregnant? Surely not. She wouldn’t tell me here and now, but if she is or if she’s just got the idea on her mind, I want her to know I’m all in.
There’s a knock on the door and I quickly kiss her again. “Just to be clear, Cat,” I promise. “Everything means everything,” I say before I’m forced to leave this conversation for later.