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During the break, in chambers and with a court reporter present, Judge Hayes revisited the motions and objections Dan raised regarding the video. Jazlyn claimed she knew nothing about any editing of the video. Her tech people said there was no way to reconstruct or recover the edited portion. Even phone whiz Bret McCoy had been unable to find it online or on a phone or cell tower or cloud. As far as anyone knew, it was gone.
“I can’t exclude evidence based on it being incomplete,” the judge explained.
“You can if what remains presents a prejudicial portrait.”
“But I don’t know that is the case. I can’t make that judgment without the missing piece. There’s no one around to explain what was in it. Except, of course, your client.”
“Who has a constitutional right not to testify.”
“But if she chooses not to testify, and there are unanswered questions, she has no one to blame but herself.”
“Are you trying to pressure me into putting her on the stand?”
“Far from it. Here’s the reality, Mr. Pike. Most evidence is imperfect. We never have as much as we’d like. If the defendant wants to help clear things up, great. She’s under no obligation, but she also can’t whine that the jury didn’t get right what she chose not to explain. When the jury deliberates, it has to make the best of what portion of the big puzzle they got. So I’m not going to instruct the jury to disregard. But when I release the jury to deliberate, I will include an instruction explaining that a portion of the video is missing and we do not know what was contained in the missing portion. And that they may consider that fact in their deliberations.”
It wasn’t ideal, but under the circumstances, it was probably the best he could hope for.
Jazlyn didn’t say much. Did she think it was best to remain quiet when she was winning? Probably she was just grateful the judge didn’t call her “little lady” again.
* * *
Outside in the hallway, he stopped Jazlyn before she disappeared. He reached for her arm, but she shrugged him off.
“Hey, look. If I was out of line in court, I apologize.”
She gave him a harsh look. “If?”
“I was just trying to discredit the witness. It would be malpractice if I didn’t.”
“Excuses, excuses.”
“I never at any time meant to suggest that you would be a part of anything crooked. I know you better than that. But this is a tough case. Careers are on the line.”
“Mine is. Your client’s is. But yours isn’t. You’ll sail on from this case to the next, gliding along like the superstar you are. You’re the Teflon lawyer. Nothing sticks to you.”
“That’s not fair. I know how hard you’ve had to work to get where you are.”
“Because I’m a woman?”
“That’s not what I was saying.”
“But that’s what you meant. You knew how hard it was for me to rise in the department because I’m female and the world is still ruled by sexist pigs like you and that despicable judge I have to suck up to.” Her eyes widened. “And I’m sick of it!”
“Hey, hey, easy.” He wanted to reach out, but he knew that would be a mistake. “You don’t hear me calling you ‘little lady.’ Or making reference to your panties.”
“The first thing you notice is how a woman looks. Then you check for a ring to see if she’s married. If she passes the first two tests, you try to get her back to your boat.”
“That’s...not...”
“It’s what you did to me.”
He couldn’t very well deny it. “I also appreciate that you are extremely smart. And honest. And talented. I treat you like an equal. Just as I do Maria.”
“Maria is useful to you. As I am, at times. It’s not the same thing.”
“I’m working day and night to keep Camila off death row.”
“Because you’ve got the feels.”
“Because I was assigned her case.”
“Maybe. But you’re taking it so hard because you’ve got the feels.”
Wait a minute. Is that what all this was about? “I can assure you nothing is going on between Cam—”
“Yet.”
He sighed. “Could we at least remain civil? There’s still a lot of trial to get through.”
She pursed her lips. “I might be able to manage civil.”
“Friendly?”
She showed him the back of her neck. “Don’t push your luck.”
* * *
He met the rest of the team for a quick lunch before the trial resumed. Since they didn’t trust the courtroom consultation rooms or anyplace that could be bugged, they sat at a stone picnic bench not far from the courthouse. Jazlyn had indicated that she had one more witness and then she was done. Which could mean that some of her witnesses didn’t turn out to be as strong as she had thought. Or it could mean that she believed she had the case in the bag, so she didn’t need them. He hoped it was the former.
Garrett spoke. “As you know, we hired a hacker and I’ve been working with him, trying to find the source of the fake news barrage targeting Camila.”
“And the results?”
“Varied. Some of it is just ugly people being ugly. But the vast majority of it, including the round that initiated it, came from a single source. After threading a backward path through about a hundred different servers all over the world, we were able to trace it to a single account.”
Was the man deliberately trying to build suspense? “And the owner of that account?”
He pointed across the table. “Camila Pérez.”
Camila’s eyes widened. “You think I posted that bull about myself?”
He shrugged. “Could possibly be someone hijacking your phone or laptop. Using your IP address. Perhaps someone in your office.”
“I haven’t been to the office.” She leaned across the table. “You think I did this myself, don’t you? Conservatives are always cynical. They think it means they’re smart. Even though it doesn’t.”
“Frankly, I don’t know what to think. I’m just reporting my findings.”
She turned toward Dan. “Your friend wants me out of office. Just like Sweeney.”
Garrett shook his head. “This has nothing to do with politics.”
“Everything has to do with politics. I should never have allowed you to work on my defense team. Dan, I want him gone.”
“Wait a minute,” he said, raising his hands. “I know you and Garrett are on the opposite sides of the political spectrum, but I also know he would never throw a case for political reasons. Or any other reasons. We are your lawyers and we are all backing you one hundred percent.”
Camila looked furious. “Does not look that way to me.”
He turned back to Garrett. “Why would Camila post trash about herself?”
“You know what they say. There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
“This stuff was pretty damn bad.”
“Maybe she hoped to turn herself into a martyr. A victim. An object of pity. ‘Though targeted by arch-Republicans, she overcomes the lies and triumphs, catapulting herself into the national spotlight.’ Something like that.”
“I would never do that,” Camila said. “Never! Dan—?”
He tried to intervene. “Are there any other possibilities? You understand this tech stuff much better than I do. Could someone disguise their posts to look as if they were coming from Camila?”
Garrett thought a few moments before answering. “Do I recall you telling me that Sweeney gave you a thumb drive?”
“Yeah. It was just documents.”
“Did you attach that drive to your computer, Camila?”
She nodded. “I wanted copies.”
Garrett spread wide his hands. “There’s your alternative answer. Malware.”
He shook his head. “I checked the file. There was nothing on it but documents.”
“Nothing you could see. But malware apps are usually invisible. No one would deliberately infect their computers. Theoretically, that thumb drive could’ve contained an invasive viral program that spread through your computers and allowed Sweeney’s hacker to cut through the firewall. That would explain a great deal. How he seems to know all our secrets. And it might explain these posts. They were in fact posted from Camila’s computer—just not by Camila. By someone else accessing the computer through a back door.”
Camila fell into her chair, the wheels behind her eyes obviously turning. “My office computer is networked to all the other computers in my office.”
“Does that include your home computer?”
“Of course.”
“Your phone?”
“And my tablet.”
“If this is true, there would be no secrets from Sweeney.”
Jimmy threw down his pen. “That’s it. Last straw. I am officially turning off all my devices. This world is getting too scary.”
“How would you access the court clerk’s office? How would you transmit documents out of the office?”
“I can live without all that.”
“How would you read the Dungeons & Dragons subReddit?”
Long pause. “You’re right. Big Brother owns me.”
“I think what we’re learning is that we’re vulnerable. And we shouldn’t be. We can’t afford to be. Especially not in a case like this. Garrett, is there any way you can investigate this possibility?”
“I’ll talk to our hacker. But I think we’ll have to hire someone else, someone even more expensive.”
“Do it. I’m confident Mr. K will pay the bill.”
“On it.”
“Technology is convenient, but I don’t want to lose a client over it.” He glanced over at Camila. “Especially not this one.”