Page 95 of One of Us Is Guilty

Fighting that fight every damn day takes a toll.

I was tired and disappointed and pissed as all hell.

‘You’ve got to watch Flynn. That’s what I was told,’ said Judge Tanner. ‘I just didn’t think for one second you’d try to sabotage this trial so early.’

I said, ‘No need to apologize, Your Honor. Clearly you underestimated me.’

She stared back at me, open-mouthed.

Riley took one step to the side, putting more distance between me and him. He blew out his cheeks in a false demonstration of incredulity.

‘I can’t believe you said that,’ she said, shaking her head.

‘I get that a lot.’

‘Theaudacity,’ she whispered.

‘Tell me about it. I don’t blame you for being pissed at me. Here I am, having theaudacityto put up a defense for my client who has been framed for a murder she didn’t commit. I mean, it’s outrageous. If I were you, I would report that kind of behavior to the New York Bar Association.’

Her back straightened, her neck arched and the anger fed some iron into her words.

‘Oh, don’t you worry, Mr. Flynn. I will be making a complaint to the Bar Association about your behavior. In the meantime, I’m fining you a thousand dollars for contempt of court.’

At the mention of a fine, her eyes narrowed.

Riley looked serious, and nodded in agreement.

‘I will instruct the jury, again, to disregard that last exchange between you and Miss Karim. I’m tempted to have your entire cross-examination excluded. If you test me again, I will have no hesitation in doing so.’

‘You know, there’s a seat free beside Mr. Riley if you’d prefer just to sit at the prosecution table. It might make things clearer for the jury.’

‘Are you seriously alleging that I am biased?’ she shrieked.

‘Are you seriously alleging that you’re not?’ I asked.

‘If you wish to file a motion for my recusal then do so. But this disrespect stops right now. And to make sure you don’t forget, let’s make that finetwothousand dollars.’

I heard Riley whisper, ‘Wow. Two grand.’

He was trying to make me blow up.

I glanced at him, shook my head. Then forced all of my rage down, down, down, into my shoes and through the floor. I needed a clear head if I was going to defend Vanessa.

Reaching into my pants pocket, I took out my thick billfold, removed my silver money clip and counted out hundred-dollar bills.

‘What on earth are you doing?’ asked Judge Tanner.

I threw a stack of hundreds on her desk.

‘This trial is going to last at least a week. Here’sfivegrand. It’ll be easier if I just opened a tab.’

37

Eddie

‘How did that go?’ asked Harry.

‘Not one of my finer moments,’ I said.