Black Rainbow (Rainbows 1)

“You said in class that the best way to get one suspect to walk, is by giving the jury another suspect capable of the crime.”

“That’s true.”

“Then how come my verdict is ‘guilty’?”

“Because you’re throwing softballs,” I sighed, closing my eyes to listen to the music. “Your thought process is right, but your approach is weak. Mr. Nash’s daughter was cut off. Why? Go for the jugular.”

“Isn’t that badgering the witness?”

“Not if you do it right. You might hurt her feelings, others will think you’re a bitch, but who gives a damn? At the end of the day it’s the win that counts. So don’t hold back. Lead her into the questions. Let her hang herself. Approach me as if I were her on the stand.”

She nodded, and I placed the guitar down, and straightened my posture as I awaited her questions.

“Ms. Nash, was it true that you left your family home a year ago?”

“Yes, I wanted to see the world.”

“It wasn’t because your father was furious about your drug abuse?”

“No—”

“No, that he was furious? Or no that you don’t have a drug addiction?”

I wanted to grin. She was getting it.

“Yes, I had a drug problem, but I was getting better. My dad was helping me over my sickness.”

“If someone was helping you, why would you leave?”

Good question.

“I—”

“And if your father was helping you, why would you need to steal over two hundred thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry?”

“I never—”

“I will remind you that you are under oath, Ms. Nash, and that lying on the stand is a criminal offence. Did you know that your father called the police to report that the jewelry had been stolen, however he dropped charges when he realized that it was you?”

I stopped for a moment, in awe of her, and slightly turned on, before remembering something much more important at the moment.

“Wait, do we have proof of that?” I asked, breaking character.

“Not necessarily.”

“What does that mean?”

“Mr. Nash kept an inventory of all their jewelry. When I was looking through it, I saw that almost two hundred thousand dollars’ worth of it went missing the same time his daughter did. So I called the police department, stating that I was one of Mrs. Nash’s lawyers, and I asked if there was a report filed for the missing jewelry, they said that an initial call had been placed, but a couple hours later, Mr. Nash called them back and informed them that he had found it. However, according to his records, there was no further indication that it was ever found.”

“And you’re saying this now?” it didn’t solve the case, but it did make our case stronger.

“There was no paper trail—”

“It doesn’t matter. If we can use it to rattle the defense and the witness, it might as well be written in stone.”

“Oh.”

It was things like this that reminded me that she was still a student, and she had a lot to learn. But once she graduated, she was going to be a force to be reckoned with.