The Diamond Syndicate

The judge said to Kendall, “Counselor, your witness.”

Kendall stood and looked over at Diamond, who was looking at him like he was crazy.

At that moment, Diamond found out that the brothers were now representing each of them separately.

Kyle, Kendall, and Prosecutor Swartz had had a private meeting with Judge Fritz about Kyle and Kendall representing the defendants separately. Prosecutor Swartz and her team didn’t have a problem with the change, nor did Judge Fritz.

Kyle had told Kendall he was going to tell Diamond about the change, but by the look on Diamond’s face now, it didn’t appear as if Kyle had told her yet.

“What the hell is he doing?” Diamond asked Kyle.

“I’ll tell you about it later,” Kyle whispered.

“How are you doing, Ms. Odums?” Kendall asked.

“I’m OK.”

“Good. I’m not here to make you feel uncomfortable. I just have a few questions. I’m representing Dante Reed. He is Diamond Reed’s son. My questions will only pertain to Dante Reed, OK?”

“OK.” She sniffled.

“Do you know the reason Dante would come to the office?”

“Yes. He would

usually come to talk to Diamond.”

“Do you have any idea what they talked about?”

“Well, the few times I saw him there, he would wait in the waiting room, and then she would go into the waiting room to talk to him.”

“So he’s never been inside the office, to your knowledge?”

“Not to my knowledge. I’ve never seen him come past the waiting room.”

“How long would you say their conversations lasted?”

“Not long. Usually about ten minutes.” Karen began to feel comfortable talking with Kendall. Although she thought Kyle was the cuter of the two, she was intimidated by him, but Kendall made her relax.

“OK, Ms. Odums, so you say you never saw Dante Reed enter the office past the waiting room, and defendant Diamond Reed would only talk to him for ten minutes or so the few times that you know he came by the office, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Has Diamond Reed ever discussed anything about her son Dante with you?”

“No. Well, one time she complained that if she hadn’t had Dante her life would have been different. ”

“Did it seem as if she was angry when she made that statement?”

“No. I guess she was just venting.”

“Was that all she said?”

“I mean, she talked about him, but most times I wasn’t listening, so I really couldn’t give you examples of complete conversations.”

“Ms. Odums, from what you recall, did it seem like Diamond was very possessive of her son?”

“Well, I’m not sure. Like I said, I rarely listened to her when she talked.”