I couldn’t fully suppress a small grin as we exchanged a glance, almost as if sharing a private joke.
"Are we ready to get started?" Mr. Mahoney asked, standing at the head of the table.
Ms. Klein sat down at the far end of the table. She was a trim stern woman who wore her hair in a low bun. I admired the way she carried herself being the only woman on the board and secretly hoped that she would mentor me once the job was awarded.
"We are ready, sir,” I answered as he laid out the folders and evidence files.
"What we will be doing today is as follows,” Mahoney began. "I'm going to let the two of you take over the case for the most part after our brief recap. You two will work independently. If you have any questions, Ms. Klein or I will be available to guide you as you work. I will be heading up the case once we reach the courtroom. Do either of you have any questions so far?"
"Has there been any progress on whether or not we get to meet Mr. Shaw?" I asked, eying the large pile of papers that were being laid on the table.
"Later this week,” Ms. Klein spoke from the other end of the table. "We can go over to the prison. We have a meeting with him already planned. Perhaps we can arrange for the two of you to join us."
It didn’t go unnoticed by myself or Aiden that Mahoney gave her an imposing glare the entire time she spoke. I also noticed that she responded with a calm glance and a smile after she had finished speaking.
"I'll look forward to it,” I said.
"Our goal is a simple one," Klein continued. "Our job is not necessarily to prove our client innocent. Our job is to place a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jurors. Enough that they would not be willing to find him guilty based on the evidence presented. It is an often misunderstood difference."
"That confirms my theory," Aiden said. "That his innocence is largely arbitrary."
"For the most part, yes,” Mahoney said.
"I’m sure," I interjected. "That the difference means much more to Mr. Shaw himself."
"Let's begin," said Ms. Klein.
Aiden and I jumped in, beginning by combing through the evidence, laying out a pattern depending on how certain items related to one another providing a brief time line of the events.
The two senior partners seemed pleased with our momentum and excused themselves after a while. Mahoney stated that they would return in an hour to check our progress.
The evidence set before us was varied, consisting of transcripts of depositions with eye witnesses, grisly photographs of the crime scene, and lab results of DNA matches and codes.
When we had been told that we would be working on a murder trial, I had steeled myself for having to face bloody images, but the collection of information turned out to be much gorier and stranger than anything I had ever worked before. All of the evidence confirmed that Shaw was present at the scene or had arrived shortly after the murder. The transcripts of his deposition indicated that he maintained his innocence regardless of the evidence. The murder weapon, a kitchen knife from Mrs. Shaw's home, had our client's fingerprints on the handle, but he had claimed that he grabbed the weapon in a moment of panic upon arriving to find her bloody body.
"Look at this," I said pointing to a page.
"What did you find?" Aiden asked leaning over the table.
"It says here that the anonymous call came at 9:07pm. According to the transcript, Mr. Shaw arrived around 9:15, just before the police arrived at 9:17."
"What are you getting at, Blair?" Aiden asked but I could see the wheels turning behind his eyes. He was seeing the same thing I had seen.
"Shaw didn’t have his cell phone on him at the time of his arrest,” I said. "There is no way he could have made that call. Also his fingerprints didn’t show up on the phone itself at the Shaw residence."
"Blair, that's true,” he said, scribbling down some notes and grinning up at me. "We can use that. That's brilliant."
Aiden and I fell into a natural comfortable rhythm as we worked. Despite the surreal nature of the case, I almost felt a reminiscence of when we worked together back in high school. We shared class projects sometimes if not simply helping each other with an assignment.
This felt very much like that only, this time with more adult subject matter and the fate of a man's life in the balance.
The only read difference aside from that was Aiden himself.
He had changed so drastically that I sometimes had to remind myself I was dealing with the same person. Though the change was largely physical, his easy demeanor reminded me of how we used to be.
I couldn’t help but notice, when he took off his jacket half way through the morning. He left his sleeves buttoned, which didn’t surprise me, but it did lead me to realize that he was competing too and wanted to maintain a professional image by keeping his tattoos covered.
Well played.
He hadn’t changed all that much personality-wise. I would have to keep on my toes.
That much was certain.
By the end of the day I felt as if my eyes were bulging out of my head from staring at so much evidence so closely. We had gathered a few more inconsistencies between the accusations and the client statements by the end of the day.
Mahoney and Klein had checked in after our first hour but after that they never did. They finally returned towards the end of the day for our debrief. Aiden showed them the details that we had found.
"This is excellent work," Ms. Klein said peering over the outline.
"I can only take credit for some of it,” Aiden insisted. "Blair is the one who found the discrepancy in the phone call time line."
Ms. Klein turned towards me and smiled. "Good job,” she said in her curt tone.
I felt as if I had won the lottery.
But why hell would he just tell them I found the cell phone discrepancy?
Shit.
Maybe I was overthinking it.
"I think that's it for today," Mr. Mahoney said. "You’re both doing quite well. Why don't we call it a day?"
Stepping out into the cool evening air and seeing the sky light up with a glorious orange and pink sunset helped diminish the stress that had built up in my shoulders.
I stopped, closed my eyes and took a deep breath, catching a hint of the salty air wafting in from the coast.
The sound of my mother's voice echoed in my mind. Take time to play, she had said.
How was that possible?
Play was for when the work was done, and it seemed that the work was never done.
"It's gorgeous isn't it?” Aiden's voice interrupted my thoughts.
When I opened my eyes I saw him watching me.
"Yes, it is,” I said turning my gaze back to the sunset setting the sky on fire in swirls of orange, pink and lavender. "Too bad it is because of the severe pollution in the area."
"That's one way of looking at it," he said with a small smile. "I've lived here for nearly eight years and I don't think I will ever get used to the weather here. I love living this close to the beach."
"Yeah?" I said, amused by the way his face lit up as he spoke about it.
Maybe I did need to find a way to appreciate the local scenery.
"Yeah," he echoed turning to face me again. "Have dinner with me,” he said suddenly.
"Aiden," I began. "I would like to. Honestly I would, but I'm not sure it is a good idea for us to see each other outside of work. We are competing with each other, remember?"