The Reversal

“That that man killed three people that day. My sister, then my mother… and then me. None of us got away.”

There was a long moment of silence. McPherson slowly reached out and put her hand on Gleason’s arm, a gesture of comfort where no comfort could exist.

“I’m sorry, Sarah,” McPherson whispered.

“Okay,” Gleason said. “I’ll tell you everything.”

Thirteen

Thursday, February 18, 8:15 P.M.

My daughter was already missing her mother’s cooking-and she’d only been gone one day. I was dropping her half-eaten sandwich into the garbage and wondering how the hell I could’ve messed up a grilled cheese when my cell phone’s ring interrupted. It was Maggie checking in from the road.

“Tell me something good,” I said by way of greeting.

“You get to spend the evening with our beautiful daughter.”

“Yes, that’s something good. Except she doesn’t like my cooking. Now tell me something else that’s good.”

“Our primary witness is good to go. She’ll testify.”

“She made the ID?”

“She did.”

“She told you about the DNA and it fits with our theory?”

“She did and it does.”

“And she’ll come down here and testify to all of it at the trial?”

“She will.”

I felt a twelve-volt charge go through my body.

“That’s actually a lot of good things, Maggie. Is there any downside?”

“Well…”

I felt the wind go out of the sails. I was about to learn that Sarah was still a drug addict or there was some other issue that would prevent me from using her at trial.

“Well, what?”

“Well, there are going to be challenges to her testimony, of course, but she’s pretty solid. She’s a survivor and it shows. There’s really only one thing missing: emotions. She’s been through a lot in her life and she basically seems to be a bit burned out-emotionally. No tears, no laughter, just straight down the middle.”

“We can work on that. We can coach her.”

“Yeah, well, we just have to be careful with that. I am not saying she isn’t fine the way she is. I’m just saying that she’s sort of a flat line. Everything else is good. I think you’re going to like her and I think she’ll help us put Jessup back in prison.”

“That’s fantastic, Maggie. Really. And you’re still all right handling her at trial, right?”

“I’ve got her.”

“Royce will attack her on the meth-memory loss and all of that. Her lifestyle… you’ll have to be ready for anything and everything.”

“I will be. That leaves you with Bosch and Jessup. You still think he’ll testify?”

“Jessup? Yes, he’s got to. Clive knows he can’t do that to a jury, not after twenty-four years. So, yes, I’ve got him and I’ve got Bosch.”

“At least with Harry you don’t have to worry about any baggage.”

“That Clive knows about yet.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means don’t underestimate Clever Clive Royce. See, that’s what you prosecutors always do. You get overconfident and it makes you vulnerable.”

“Thank you, F. Lee Bailey. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“How was Bosch today?”

“He was Bosch. What happened on your end?”

I checked through the door of the kitchen. Hayley was sitting on the couch with her homework spread out on the coffee table.

“Well, for one thing, we’ve got a judge. Breitman, Department one-twelve.”

Maggie considered the case assignment for a moment before responding.

“I would call that a no-win for either side. She’s straight down the middle. Never a prosecutor, never a defense attorney. Just a good, solid civil trial lawyer. I think neither side gets an advantage with her.”

“Wow, a judge who’s going to be impartial and fair. Imagine that.”

She didn’t respond.

“She set the first status conference in chambers. Wednesday morning at eight before court starts. You read anything into that?”

This meant the judge wanted to meet the lawyers and discuss the case in chambers, starting things off informally and away from the lens of the media.

“I think that’s good. She’s probably going to set the rules with media and procedure. It sounds to me like she’s going to run a tight ship.”

“That was what I was thinking. You’re free Wednesday to be there?”

“I’ll have to check my calendar but I think so. I’m trying to clear everything except for this.”

“I gave Royce the first bit of discovery today. It was mostly composed of material from the first trial.”

“You know you could have held off on that until the thirty-day marker.”

“Yeah, but what’s the point?”

“The point is strategy. The earlier you give it to him, the more time he has to be ready for it. He’s trying to put the squeeze on us by not waiving speedy trial. You should put the squeeze right back on him by not showing our hand until we have to. Thirty days before trial.”

“I’ll remember that with the next round. But this was pretty basic stuff.”

“Was Sarah Gleason on the witness list?”

“Yes, but under the name Sarah Landy-as it was in ’eighty-six. And I gave the office as the address. Clive doesn’t know we found her.”

“We need to keep it that way until we have to reveal it. I don’t want her harassed or feeling threatened.”

“What did you tell her about coming down for the trial?”