Lone Witness

by Rachel Dylan

  Lord, what is your plan here? Is there a plan?

  She couldn’t help but question God, because she had no clue what she had gotten herself into.

  But regardless of how she felt, it was now time to get to work. The innocent homicide victims deserved her full attention.

  Patrick entered the kitchen and made eye contact with her. “Do you want to work in here?”

  “This is a good spot, but if you want to go somewhere else, we can.”

  He looked the part of a prosecutor, wearing a traditional dark suit and navy striped tie.

  “You came from court?” she asked.

  “Yeah. I had a few hearings this morning.” He set down his bag and started to unpack his things—a laptop, a legal pad, and a stack of documents. “Before we get into the nitty-gritty, how are you doing?”

  “Obviously, being locked up in a safe house isn’t ideal, but I know it’s for the best, given the circumstances. And thankfully I’ve been able to get work done on my own case, so at least I don’t feel like I’m getting too far behind. I’m not the type of person who likes to sit around and do nothing. This way I can keep being productive.”

  He pulled a few pens out of his bag and set them on the table. “I imagine your caseload is a bit different in White Collar than when you were a general ADA?”

  “Yes, it’s much lighter. I can actually spend good chunks of time on each file instead of just grabbing something and hitting the courtroom. I feel like I’m developing a different skill set, and that should help in me in the future.”

  “Do you miss the daily courtroom grind, though?”

  She considered his question. “You know, I don’t think I really have. I’ve enjoyed being able to take a deep dive on some issues. I like the research and case building. There was absolutely no time for that in my prior role. Everything felt like it was off the cuff, and there was barely time to catch your breath. This position allows me time to think through issues in a way I’ve never been able to do before.”

  Patrick nodded and took a moment to organize his materials in front of him. “Let’s get down to business, all right?”

  “Sounds good.” The sooner this trial was over, the sooner her life could get back to normal.

  “Let’s start with the rules of the road. I’m going to do my best to treat you the same as I would any other witness. I don’t want to presume that you’re going to act one way or the other just because you’re also a prosecutor. I think it’ll be best if I try to keep things as normal as I can under the circumstances.”

  “All right. But I think we both know this is going to be unique. Ashley will treat me differently. I think she’ll come at me in a much more aggressive fashion because of who I am.”

  “And we’ll get to that. But let’s go through the basics of testifying first, just like any other witness. You may need this even more than other witnesses, because you have a specialized level of knowledge.”

  She knew what he was getting at. The fact that she was a lawyer might make her a worse witness. She was going to do her best to stay open-minded and focused. This was too important for her to have an ego. “I’m listening.”

  “You’ll be called after the law enforcement officers. I want them to set the stage from their perspective, just like a regular case. That’s going to be my theme here. Then I’ll put you on the stand, and I want you to play the role of a true eyewitness. No lawyer speak. None.”

  She laughed. “I’ll do my best, but some of it’s just built into my vocabulary, and it has become who I am. But I realize it’s important not to play prosecutor.”

  “Good. I’d like to practice some of your direct examination to see how you’ll answer things. But remember, for this trial, you’re just Sophie Dawson—a thirty-two-year-old woman who was at the Quick Stop to grab a snack after a long day of work. Got it?”

  “Yes.” She had relayed the series of events that took place that evening many times, but as the trial drew nearer, it was all starting to weigh on her.

  As Patrick led her through what he envisioned to be the examination, she answered him to the best of her ability. They spent over an hour on that portion of the preparation.

  “Now let’s turn to preparing for your cross-examination,” he said. “This is going to be tough, and I want to say upfront that this may become uncomfortable. But I’d rather we hash this out here than in the courtroom with Ashley. Just remember that I’m on your side, even if I’m role-playing as Ashley.”

  “It’s your job to prepare me for what might be coming. I’m ready. Please don’t hold back.” It wouldn’t do either of them any good if he was too gentle with her. He needed to go all out so she’d have the best chance of actually handling Ashley’s cross-examination.

  “I’m going to try to stay in character through a series of questions. Then we’ll stop and talk about them.”

  She readied herself for Patrick’s attempt to become Ashley Murphy.

  He looked down and then back up at her. His dark eyes focused in on hers. “Ms. Dawson, you testified that you had just finished up a trial earlier in the day of the shooting. Is that right?”

  “Yes.” She knew she needed to keep her answers short and to the point. Make Ashley work for everything. One of the first rules of testifying—don’t volunteer.

  “And after the trial, you had more work to do, and you didn’t leave the office until late?”

  “Yes.”

  “Had you slept much the night before?”

  “I think I slept about the normal amount.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Even though you had closing statements the next day? You didn’t stay up late preparing for that? For your first big trial in your new job?”

  She clenched her fist by her side as she started to see where Patrick was going with this. “I had completed the preparation work for my closing statement. I don’t recall how much I slept, but I know I did sleep.”

  “Ms. Dawson, just a moment ago, you testified that you slept the regular amount. Now you’re saying you don’t recall. Which is it?”

  “I don’t specifically recall.”

  “But it might have been less than you normally do?”

  Patrick was using leading questions, which would be perfectly allowable on Ashley’s cross-examination. “It might have been. I can’t remember. What I do recall is that I definitely slept that night.”

  Patrick leaned forward. “Okay. Let’s pause for a moment.” His eyes softened. “You’re sounding defensive already, Sophie. There’s no reason for you to get your back up against the wall on this topic. I need you to take a few deep breaths and put all of this in perspective.”

  “I’m sorry. I’ll do better.”

  “That’s why we’re going through this exercise. I know you will end up being a strong witness, but just like any other person testifying, it’s helpful to go through it and practice.”

  Patrick was being very diplomatic. He was good at his job, and she could probably learn a few things from him. “Do you think she’s going to argue that I was too tired to make an accurate witness identification because of the trial?”

  “It’s one of many paths she may go down.” He lifted his legal pad, showing his chicken-scratch handwriting. “Unfortunately, I have a whole list of possible lines of questioning she may pursue. I’ve spent a lot of time going through all the scenarios I could come up with and tried my best to put myself in Ashley’s shoes. Although she’s so different than I am, it has been a challenge. We have to be prepared for the fact that she doesn’t have a strong moral compass guiding her. She will do anything—and I mean anything—it takes to win.”

  Hearing those words gave Sophie pause. “I really don’t remember how much I slept that night. Yes, I was preparing for trial, but I definitely didn’t pull an all-nighter. I rarely do. It just doesn’t stand out to me, because there’s no reason for me to remember exactly what happened then. Especially given what did happen the next night. I can tell you that I did not sleep much th
e night of the shooting. That I remember very clearly.”

  Patrick set down his pen. “Let’s stop for now. I don’t want to overdo it in one day.”

  “Whatever you think is best. I can keep going as long as you need to.”

  He started gathering up his papers and looked down at his watch. “No. This was good for today. I’ll make arrangements with Cooper and Noah for the next session.”

  “Thanks.”

  He leaned in close and put his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t obsess over this tonight.”

  She looked into his brown eyes and felt a bit reassured. But she also saw that he had some concern about her performance today.

  Cooper and Noah walked into the kitchen, and she noticed that Cooper’s gaze went directly to Patrick, who removed his hand from her shoulder.

  Patrick straightened. “Great timing, guys. We’re done for the day.”

  “I’ll get you back to the office,” Noah said.

  Sophie rose from her seat. “Thanks, Patrick. I’ll be better tomorrow.”

  “Remember, don’t worry.” Patrick gave her shoulder a pat before he exited the kitchen with Noah.

  She took a few breaths. If she couldn’t handle that set of sample questions from Patrick, how was she going to respond when all eyes were on her at the trial? She needed to get her head on straight and do a lot better than that.

  Her stomach churned at the thought of letting down the families of the two victims. Closing her eyes for a moment, she prayed. Lord, I am not strong enough to do this on my own. I need you.

  Cooper walked up to her. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah.” She looked up at him.

  “What were you talking about with Patrick?”

  “We’re preparing for cross-examination, and I fumbled the first set of questions. It was not good.”

  “Just tell the truth, Sophie. You’ll be fine if you do. I have all the confidence in the world in you.”

  His words were meant to comfort her, but she was too wound up. “Ashley will do everything in her power to discredit me. And if I perform in the courtroom like I did today, it will not be good for the prosecution. I can’t give the jury anything to have a shred of doubt about.”

  “I think you’re being too hard on yourself.”

  “Two people were murdered, Cooper. There is a lot on the line.” She tried to keep her emotions in check, but she wasn’t doing a very good job. A wave of exhaustion washed over her. “Maybe I should lie down for a bit.”

  “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  “Yes. There’s nothing you can do right now.”

  She needed to be alone. Maybe Cooper was right. She shouldn’t be consumed with him and their relationship right now. She had bigger problems.

  Patrick sat in Noah’s truck and started to process his meeting with Sophie. Unfortunately, she’d not been as strong of a witness as he had expected. Even on the direct examination, she’d seemed too lawyerly, too measured, too guarded. How was he going to break her of those habits? That was the big question.

  “How did it go?” Noah asked him.

  “Okay for the first prep session. It’s just an extra challenge, Sophie being a trial lawyer. I worry that she might get too much inside her own head. That won’t work well in front of the jury.”

  Noah glanced over at him before focusing on the road. He seemed like a good guy. Not a huge talker, but serious about his work. Noah had taken the lead in making sure Patrick would be able to visit Sophie at the safe house.

  “Sophie seems like a smart woman. I think with a little practice, she’ll probably come around,” Noah said. “It has to be hard on her after witnessing the murders to relive it over and over again.”

  That angle hadn’t occurred to Patrick. “That’s a good point. I was so preoccupied with the legal aspect of things that I didn’t take the emotional impact into account. Maybe you should go to law school.”

  Noah laughed loudly. “I’m perfectly content in the private security business.”

  Patrick smiled. “Tell me about your business.”

  “What started as just Cooper and me has turned into a growing security company. Landon came on as another partner, and we’ve been able to expand and hire some additional employees to assist us. We operate in the personal security and tech space.”

  “Have you always been in that line of work?” Patrick figured he’d be spending a lot of time with this guy, so he might as well get to know him a bit.

  “No. Before I opened K&R Security with Cooper, I was at the ATF.”

  “Remind me not to get on your bad side.” The revelation didn’t surprise Patrick one bit. Noah had a strong law enforcement presence about him. Patrick worked with the law-and-order types every single day, so he was very familiar with the vibes they gave off. “You like the private sector better?”

  “I enjoy running my own business. The ATF was a great experience, and the work they do is important. But in this phase of my life, I feel like I’m in the right place.”

  “That’s great,” Patrick said.

  “Are you going to be a prosecutor for the long haul?” Noah asked.

  “Maybe. I don’t like the politics involved in moving up the chain, but you learn to work within the system because you have to. I get up most mornings excited about going to work. Not many people can say that.”

  “Isn’t that the truth. How do you feel about the case?”

  “It’s always tough in situations like this. Especially when you throw in the Juan Wade factor. We can’t guarantee the integrity of the jury.”

  Noah tapped his fingers on the wheel. “You think Juan would go after the jury?”

  “Yeah. He’s ruthless, and he has the money and power to back it up.”

  “How much do you know about his attorney?”

  “Ashley Murphy has quite a reputation with my side of the bar.”

  “How so?”

  “She’s open about the fact that she wants to be a famous criminal defense lawyer. She wants to represent a celebrity and hit it big. She hopes to be the new face of high-profile criminal defense lawyers—showing up on all the TV shows.”

  “Maybe I should do some digging into her background.”

  “It wouldn’t matter. She’s not the type to be rattled by anything, as far as I can tell.”

  “If you change your mind, just let me know. And if you need anything in the meantime, just call one of us.”

  “I should be fine. Focus your efforts on Sophie. If something happens to her, my case is toast. And we can’t have Ricky walking out of that courthouse as a free man.”

  Patrick planned to do everything in his power to hear the jury say one word: guilty.

  Chapter

  Fourteen

  I don’t like this.” Cooper looked over at Sophie as she sat in the passenger seat of his SUV.

  “It’s going to be fine,” she said. “You have Noah as your backup, and we’re going to the courthouse, where there is plenty of security. There is nothing to worry about.”

  Leland had filed an aggressive pretrial motion to suppress evidence in the Shelton case, and she refused to let Harrison argue it, even though he had made a pitch for it.

  She’d finally worn down the guys and convinced them to take her to the courthouse. It was too important to outsource. Besides, she certainly wasn’t going to relinquish control to Harrison, and Monica wasn’t experienced enough to handle it.

  “Remember the plan we discussed.” Cooper’s hands gripped the steering wheel.

  “Yes. You’ll be by my side the entire time. I do the argument, and then we leave. No hanging out. I get all of that.” She thought Cooper was a bit too on edge, but when she replayed the night when they were shot at in her mind, it all came flooding back to her. “I promise I won’t take any chances.”

  He gave her a rare smile and then turned his attention back to the road. When they arrived at the courthouse, she saw Landon and Noah standing at the curb. Landon was going to hand
le parking Cooper’s SUV so Cooper and Noah could escort her directly into the courthouse.

  “You ready?” Cooper asked.

  “Most definitely.” She was actually happier than she’d been in days, because she was going to be in the courtroom again as a prosecutor instead of someone else’s witness.

  “I’ll come around to your side and let you out,” Cooper said.

  He exited the car and paused when Landon and Noah stepped over to meet him. She waited patiently while they talked. No doubt reiterating their plan. Cooper walked around the vehicle a moment later and opened the passenger door. She grabbed her laptop bag and placed it over her shoulder.

  “Stick close.”

  She did as instructed and noticed that Noah stayed a few feet behind them. They walked up the steps and into the courthouse, where they’d have to go through metal detectors. She would be able to bring in her electronics because of her bar card. She also knew almost all the security officers who worked in the courthouse, but they still always did their jobs and checked her credentials each time.

  Cooper started a side conversation with one of the officers, and she realized they knew each other. Despite this, she knew Cooper couldn’t carry a weapon into the Fulton County Courthouse. Pretty much no one got a weapon into the courthouse these days unless they were active duty.

  After getting through security, she made her way down the long corridor toward the elevator bank. “See? Everything is fine here.”

  “Just focus on your argument. I don’t want you preoccupied with the security stuff.” He placed his hand on her back as she walked into the elevator.

  Right before the elevator door closed, Leland stepped his black designer shoe through the door.

  “Ah, counselor, good morning. You ready for this?” he asked. He had gone a little overboard on his hair product today. His thick blond hair wasn’t going anywhere, even in the event of a windstorm.

  She glanced over at Cooper, who wore a noticeable scowl. “I doubt the judge is going to be too excited to hear your motion, Leland.”