Final Verdict by William Bernhardt

Author:William Bernhardt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Babylon Books
Published: 2021-01-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27

When the trial resumed bright and early the next day, Dan found himself struggling to shake off the early-morning cobwebs. He hadn’t slept well, Maria seemed angry, and Garrett hadn’t found any useful leads. The press badgered him constantly. Somehow his cell phone number leaked and reporters phoned more relentlessly than robocallers. Social media was all over the case, and what he read on his phone during breakfast was particularly vile.

Is Pike getting a piece of the porn action? #justiceforstpete

What’s Sweeney’s favorite flavor of ice cream? You. #sweeneyisguilty

Would you testify? Look what happened to the last guy they put on the stand. #lawandordersp

* * *

Dan drove to the courthouse and sat at the defense table beside Maria.

“Is this seat taken?” he asked, smiling.

“Sure you wouldn’t rather sit next to Jazlyn?”

Yup, definitely a chill in the air... “I’m sure.”

“You’re saving her for dinner?”

“Maria.” He tugged at her elbows, trying to get her to face him. “Jazlyn and I only had dinner once. Nothing happened. And that was before you and I were together. In fact, it was before you and I met.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me about it?”

“I thought I did. I guess it never came up. At any rate, it was no big secret.”

“Jazlyn never mentioned it to me either.”

“I doubt the DA yaks much about her dinner with the city’s best-known criminal defense lawyer.”

Maria frowned a few moments, then caught his eye. “And this will never happen again.”

“Of course not. Jazlyn and I are just friends. Will you forgive me?”

A small smile emerged. “I’ll take it under advisement.”

* * *

Jazlyn opened her case with witnesses who were boring but essential. First, the medical examiner, to establish that a death occurred. Then Jake Kakazu, to describe how Andrus’ head was found.

Dan had cross-examined Dr. Zanzibar on many previous occasions. He was competent, prepared, and always wore his white coat, even though it seemed unlikely that he’d be performing an autopsy on the witness stand. Maybe it was his security blanket. Or maybe he thought it lent him an air of authority. Which was probably correct.

Jazlyn established that Zanzibar had received the body parts found in Sweeney’s office and performed an autopsy—or as much of an autopsy as was possible, since he didn’t have a complete corpse. Some of the normal procedures, like the toxicological panel, were either unavailing or impossible given how little of the body he had to scrutinize.

“Could you please describe your conclusion for the jury, doctor?”

“Of course. Cause of death is more difficult to conclude here than in most cases. But there are several conclusions I can reach with certainty. Andrus was struck from behind. I observed a depressed skull fracture that in all likelihood was caused by blunt force trauma.”

“Did you observe anything unusual?”

“That depends on what you mean by ‘unusual.’ What I observed would be unusual for someone walking and talking, but not someone who died as a result of blunt force trauma. His contact lenses had fused to the corneas of his eyes.

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