Love's Verdict

by Carsen Taite

  The elevator doors opened and Carly, thankful the press had been restricted to the lower floors of the building, led their group to the lobby of the eleventh floor of the Frank Crowley Courts Building. Shelby hung back, walking beside Landon, but Trevor stayed close, whispering last-minute questions in her ear. She wanted to tell him to shut up because his nervous tone on top of her persistent internal voice whispering that this was a big mistake was threatening to make her head explode. But it was her job to handhold, to guide, to reassure, and she wasn’t going to fall down on the job today. Big risk, big reward. She silently chanted the words as she pulled Trevor off to the side, out of the earshot of any of the people wandering the halls of the courthouse.

  “Listen to me. You’ve got this. All you have to do is go in there and be yourself. You know, the self that walks out onto the football field in that insanely large stadium and keeps his cool while tens of thousands of people, not to mention millions more watching from home, cheer you to victory. They don’t just do that because they love the game, they do it because they love you. You’re personable, authentic, and likable. Everyone either wants to be you or be with you. Remember all this when you go in there, and use all those superpowers to get them to hear the honesty in your account.”

  He nodded and stood a bit straighter. “Got it. You know, you should be a coach.”

  She smiled, pleased her lack of football knowledge hadn’t gotten in the way of the pep talk she’d rehearsed that morning. “I’ll take that as a compliment. Now, let’s review the main points.”

  “Listen to the questions, and make sure I understand them before answering,” he said, ticking off the point on his fingers. “No offense, no defense—just the facts. The only emotion I should show is the sorrow I feel at the loss of someone I cared about. If I’m in a jam, I can call a time-out, but I only get one, so try not to use it.”

  “Good,” Carly said. And it was pretty good for a layperson, despite all the sports analogies. Truth was, he could call all the time-outs he needed, but once he used one to talk to his lawyers, the chances he was getting indicted went up sharply, so she’d cautioned him not to ask for a recess unless things were going way south.

  “Maybe when all this is over, we can have dinner and, you know, talk about something besides indictments.”

  Carly stared at Trevor’s hopeful expression, hesitant to dash his expectations so close in time to his looming testimony. Thankfully, Landon chose that moment to walk up with Shelby tagging close behind.

  “Are you ready?” Landon asked.

  “I am,” Trevor said with a lot more confidence than he’d displayed moments earlier. Carly took in the trademark smile he usually saved for the cameras and decided maybe she’d read too much into his dinner offer. “He’s good,” she said. “I’ll check with the clerk to see where we are on the docket.”

  Carly walked up to the counter and got in line. The lawyer in front of her was asking to see a copy of a police report for a case that was set the following week that hadn’t been assigned to a prosecutor yet. The clerk sighed and yelled back to one of her coworkers, asking for the file. Figuring she was going to be waiting for a bit, Carly looked back over at where Trevor, Shelby, and Landon were waiting. Shelby was standing between them, but much closer to Landon than Trevor. Like super close. Oh, and then she laughed and reached out and picked a piece of lint off Landon’s suit. Like an orangutan. And then Shelby straightened Landon’s collar. Was it her imagination or did Shelby’s fingers linger on Landon’s lapel? Was she looking into Landon’s eyes? Like a girlfriend?

  Stop it. Shelby was just one of those women who thought she had to suck up to everyone in the room to get what she wanted. Except she’s never sucked up to you. Not even close. Before she could dig further into what might or might not be going on between Landon and Shelby, and why she cared so much, Carly saw Skye Keaton run up to Landon and press a file into her hand. Skye gestured in Carly’s direction, and then leaned in close to whisper something in Landon’s ear. Damn, were all the good-looking women at the courthouse going to flirt with Landon right in front of her?

  “Can I help you?”

  Carly pulled her gaze away from Landon and turned to the clerk beckoning her to approach the counter. She started to walk toward her, but then she heard someone calling her name. She looked back and practically ran into Landon, who’d apparently snuck up behind her. Landon held up a hand to the clerk. “Sorry,” she said. “We’ll be back in a minute.”

  “What are you doing?” Carly asked as Landon tugged her out of line and back across the foyer.

  “Trust me, you’re going to want to hear this. Come on.”

  Landon led her over to Skye, who was waiting near the windows that overlooked downtown Dallas. They were about ten feet from Trevor and Shelby, who were both staring at them with puzzled expressions. Carly looked at her watch. “I was checking in. Donna’s going to be ready for us any minute now.”

  “Damn right, she’s ready,” Landon said. She punched Skye in the arm. “Tell her. Better yet, show her.”

  Skye handed her a folder. “I’m sorry I didn’t find this before today, but it required a helluva lot of digging. My guess is that Donna wanted to keep this under wraps, but I have a friend in the Houston DA’s office who helped me get my hands on this report.”

  Carly opened the folder and skimmed the contents. Body found. Evidence of strangulation. Identified as Jocelyn Aubrey. Carly racked her brain. The name. It sounded so familiar.

  Holy shit. She jabbed her finger on the page. “This is one of Trevor’s old girlfriends. From when he lived in Houston.” She took her whisper down a few notches. “What’s going on?”

  “Apparently, Jocelyn went missing last week. She lives by herself, and because she’s a flight attendant who travels all the time, no one noticed right away until Houston PD showed up yesterday to serve her with a grand jury subpoena for Trevor’s case.”

  “Why are we just now hearing about her death?” Carly asked, still trying to process what it all meant.

  “My guess is Donna was planning to question Trevor about it when he was in there all by himself,” Skye replied.

  Carly nearly dropped the folder. This was her fault. She’d been mere minutes away from sending Trevor into an ambush. Her strategy had almost doomed his case. She glanced over at where Trevor and Shelby were waiting. How was she ever going to face him, and how was he supposed to trust her counsel from here on out?

  “Carly, are you okay?”

  She looked at Skye, but then she felt someone take her arm, gently this time.

  “She’s fine,” Landon said, her voice injected with a confidence Carly didn’t think she’d ever feel again. “We just need a minute to talk. Do you mind going over there and keeping them calm while we regroup?”

  “On it.” Skye walked off. Landon said, “Let’s start with breathing. We caught this in time. No harm done.”

  Carly stared at her dumbstruck. “No harm done?” She heard the edge in her own voice and took a breath to stay calm. “He was about go in there. With my blessing. He would’ve been sacked or whatever you call it, and there is nothing we could have done about it.”

  “We’ll figure this out. Right now, we just need to get out of here with as little fuss as possible.”

  Carly shuddered. The press would still be waiting downstairs. A few local stations had followed them into the building, and more were set up outside on the front steps, ESPN and all the major networks among them. Summoning her reserves, she motioned to Skye, and when she rejoined them, Carly asked, “You know a lot of the sheriff’s deputies. Any chance some of them are football fans and would be willing to help us smuggle Trevor out of here?”

  “I think I can make that happen,” Skye said. “But you need to get off this floor before Donna comes out. If she sees you here with Trevor, she’s going to make a big deal of it with the press, saying that he showed up but didn’t have the guts to testify.”

  Carly started to pro
test at the characterization, but she knew the truth didn’t matter, only how the facts were spun. Landon appeared at her side.

  “You go with Skye and Trevor,” Landon said. “I’ll stay here and be the bad guy.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’ll think of something. Now go.”

  Carly hesitated. This was her mess, but she couldn’t be in two places at once. She looked over at her client, who’d placed his trust in her plan, and realized she had to stick with him and trust that Landon would take care of handling the fallout. Funny, trusting Landon didn’t seem like such a big leap, and she wondered when that had happened.

  * * *

  Landon watched Skye escort Carly and Trevor down a back hallway, wishing she could go with them and avoid the confrontation that was about to occur.

  “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Shelby asked.

  “Yes,” Landon lied. Shelby’s tone wasn’t harsh; she sounded like she was genuinely curious, and Landon figured it was better to fake confidence than spread the uncertainty coursing through her. She had gambled by having Shelby stick around, but since she wouldn’t have Trevor to parade in front of the cameras, his agent would be the next best thing. “I’m going to need you to do exactly what I say. First rule, I do all the talking. You don’t say anything to the press, to the prosecutor, to anyone. Understood?”

  Shelby nodded slowly, and Landon could tell by her frown she was reluctant to agree. She’d have to trust that Shelby would keep her word. She looked over at the counter where Carly had been standing earlier. No one was waiting, and she hoped she could do what she planned and get out of here before Donna came looking for them. “Come with me.”

  When the clerk appeared at the counter, she stuck out her hand. “Hi, I’m Landon Holt. I have a client with a case set on the docket today, and I just wanted to make sure you received the materials we sent over earlier this week.” She knew they’d received the packets filled with letters from Dallas bigwigs in support of Trevor’s innocence since she had a receipt from the courier, but since this was all for show, she played it up as best she could, complete with what she hoped was a friendly, “I just want to help” expression.

  Before the clerk could respond, Landon heard a voice behind her say, “Oh, we got your packet.”

  She stifled a grimace and turned to face Donna Wilhelm. “Hi, Donna. I don’t know if you remember me. I work with Carly Pachett. Sturges and Lloyd?”

  “Oh, I remember. Is your client ready to testify?” Donna made a show of looking around. “Where is he?”

  “I’m not sure where he is, but he’s not here. Mr. Kincade is confident the grand jurors are smart enough to know you don’t have a case. Are you?”

  “I know exactly what I’ve got.” Donna narrowed her eyes. “And I have a feeling you do too or we’d be having a completely different conversation right now.” She looked at Shelby. “Who’s this?”

  “Shelby Cross, meet Donna Wilhelm, the prosecutor handling Mr. Kincade’s case. Ms. Cross is Mr. Kincade’s agent.”

  “Hope she has some other high-profile clients to get her through the lean times ahead because Trevor Kincade is going to prison.”

  Landon felt Shelby shuffle beside her, and she shot her a hard look, rushing to speak first. “We can trust you to share the contents of the packet with the grand jurors, right?”

  “Sure,” Donna said. “For all the good it will do. I have plenty of other information to share with them.”

  “Have a great day.” Landon grabbed Shelby’s arm and led her toward the stairs. Once they were in the stairwell, Shelby let loose.

  “What is up with that bitch?”

  “Whoa there,” Landon said, taken aback by the vitriol. “Look, we’re both on Trevor’s side here, but if you think that was bad, you need to brace yourself for what’s coming. When the grand jury reports out with an indictment, every sportscaster across the country will go all Apostle Peter on Trevor, and if you’re not in a position to prop him up when the going gets rough, then he’s not going to make it through this.”

  “I don’t get why you can’t go in there and tell those people how the evidence is circumstantial, that he didn’t do it.”

  “It doesn’t work that way.” Landon looked back over her shoulder. The stairwell at the courthouse wasn’t the ideal place to be having this conversation, but she needed Shelby to get her head together before they walked outside. Chances were decent no one from the press would recognize her, but they all knew Shelby, and reporters were used to her reputation for always having something to say. “Trevor’s lawyers only get to go into the grand jury room if they’re invited, and we weren’t.” She didn’t bother pointing out that circumstantial evidence was the norm for most criminal cases since it was rare for defendants to be caught with a smoking gun. “Let’s see if we can get out of here with as little fuss as possible. Remember what I said about talking to reporters?”

  “I have no comment and don’t even say no comment. Got it.”

  They walked down the eleven flights in silence, only running into a couple of other people on the way. When they reached the doors that led out into the lobby, Landon paused. “Walk at a normal pace. If they accost us when we get out the door, I’ll make a short statement and then we go. Don’t say anything. Understood?”

  Shelby nodded, but when Landon started toward the door, Shelby grabbed her by the arm. “Promise me something.”

  “What?”

  “I want Carly Pachett off this case. This whole grand jury thing was her idea, right?”

  “Why do you think that?” Landon said, mostly to stall and partly because she was genuinely curious. Jane had presented the idea like it was groupthink, not the brainchild of any one in particular.

  “Trevor told me. He said she told him so.”

  Landon struggled to process the information. Had Carly told Trevor it was her idea to ingratiate herself with the client? If so, that idea had backfired horribly. Now Shelby was handing her a way to clear her path toward partnership by getting Carly kicked off the case. So why did it make her feel nauseous to think about throwing Carly under the bus? “Let’s get through the next few minutes. If you and Trevor have a problem with how the case is being managed, tell Jane. She makes the calls.” She placed a hand on the door. “Let’s do this.”

  They made it two steps into the lobby without drawing any attention, but within seconds, reporters crowded around them. Jane would’ve loved this, Landon thought, remembering her penchant for talking to the press. Rumors at the firm reported that sometimes she even tipped them off herself when she was going to have the opportunity to share some breaking news. But not today. Today was all about saying as little as possible and escaping the spotlight.

  “Shelby, where’s Trevor? Is he upstairs testifying?”

  “Do you think the NFL is going to impose another suspension?”

  “Did he kill Vanessa Meyers?”

  Landon stepped in front of Shelby and held up a hand. “Good afternoon, my name is Landon Holt and I’m one of Mr. Kincade’s attorneys. Ms. Cross and I just spoke with the grand jury clerk to confirm they have received a packet we submitted in support of Mr. Kincade’s innocence. Now it’s up to the good citizens of Dallas County to say what we already know. There is no credible evidence to support the prosecution of Trevor Kincade, and he should be allowed to resume his normal life so everyone can put this tragedy behind them. Thank you.”

  She smiled and waved, and then began to edge away, ignoring the shouted questions that continued behind her as they took the escalator down to the underground tunnel to the parking garage. She walked Shelby to her car. “What I said about talking to the press still holds.”

  “Got it. And I meant what I said about Carly Pachett. You can talk to Jane or I can, but either way, she’s off this case.”

  Landon didn’t answer, but Shelby wasn’t the kind of person who cared about other people’s responses as long as she got to say her piece.
Once Shelby drove away, Landon walked to her car and drove back to the office, conflicted about what to do next. It could have just as easily been her who came up with some risky strategy. After all, Jane had encouraged them to think outside the box and do whatever it took to defend the firm’s high profile client. Risks were the name of the game. So why was she so relieved that the idea for Trevor to testify before the grand jury hadn’t been hers in the first place? Either way, she dreaded the fallout even if she wasn’t the one who was about to get axed from the case. At the next stoplight, she reached for her phone and thumbed through her favorites, unsure who to call—Jane to give her a heads-up about Shelby being on the warpath, or Carly to warn her about the fallout of today’s misadventure? Conflicted, she tossed the phone on the passenger seat and drove to the office. Whatever bad news she had to report was better delivered in person, but she couldn’t help hoping that Carly wouldn’t hate the messenger.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Carly heard Mr. Jasper calling out to her, but she pointed to her ear in the universal “I’m on the phone” motion, unlocked her apartment door, and pushed her way inside. She wasn’t on the phone, but she had no desire to talk to anyone. Ever again.

  The adventure of getting out of the courthouse had been an ordeal, with Trevor asking a million questions, and Skye trying to get them both to shut up and follow her. After they’d delivered Trevor safely home, Skye dropped Carly at her apartment and she sent Jane a text saying she’d report in later, later being very loosely defined. Right now, later felt like never.

  Once inside, Carly kicked off her shoes, tossed her briefcase on the floor, and walked into the kitchen. She poured a tall glass of water from the filtered pitcher in the fridge, wishing it were something stronger. Further inspection of the fridge told her what she already knew. Unless she wanted to drown her sorrows in Greek yogurt, salad mix, or grapes, she was out of luck. Healthy living was going to be the death of her. The thought rousted memories of sharing a big, juicy burger or steaming chile rellenos with Landon. If Landon were here, there would probably already be a pizza on the way, and there wouldn’t be any vegetables marring the surface.