43
SARAH MORGAN
’m sitting in one of the many conference rooms within Williamson &I Morgan. Anne scheduled a meeting with D.A. Josh Peters and Matthew has joined me. A stack of boxes covers part of the table—my discovery or, really, lack thereof. It’s there to throw the prosecution off and hopefully, get them to uncover things I was unable to thanks to the Prince William County Sheriff’s Department no longer cooperating. Everything in those boxes has been carefully curated by Matthew, Anne, and me today to get D.A. Peters to do our dirty work. He should be here any minute. This meeting is intended to throw him off. I know he thinks this case is a slam dunk—and it is, but I need him to believe there’s some possibility of the prosecution losing. I need him to think I have something up my sleeve and that he needs to find out what that is.
Matthew takes a seat at the head of the conference table. “Am I playing
bad cop?” He gives a small smirk.
“Always.”
“And are you sure you want to be toying with the prosecution right now?” He raises an eyebrow.
“Are you questioning my strategy again, Matthew?”
“Just checking your judgment.”
There’s a knock on the door. Anne opens it, carrying in a tray full of snacks, soda, and water. “Right this way,” she says to D.A. Peters who is following behind her.
“Who’s this?” He gestures to Matthew. “Discovery is only for council.”
“This is Matthew. He is assisting with this case.”
Matthew stands and holds out his hand. “I’m doing more than assisting.”
“Does he even have a law degree?” D.A. Peters asks me as if Matthew
isn’t in the room.
“Yes, he and I went to Yale together.”
“Which is why I’m a lobbyist now, not some D.A. that went to George Washington night school.” Matthew smirks and takes his seat.
D.A. Peters doesn’t respond to Matthew’s quip. He sits down and directs his attention to me.
“Anyway, thanks for coming down here on such short notice,” I say.
He nods. “Of course. What is it you wanted to discuss? Might I remind you, the plea bargain is off the table.”
Anne gently closes the door behind her as she leaves.
“We wouldn’t take the plea bargain even if it were on the table.”
Matthew gives him a stern look.
“Okay, then what is it you’re looking for?” D.A. Peters clasps his hands together.
I point to the stack of boxes, and then I slide a few more folders toward him. “This is our discovery so far. There will be more.”
He glances at the boxes and then pulls the folders toward him, flipping through them quickly. He closes them back up and looks at me.
“You might want to take a closer look. Not sure they taught you this at night school, but evidence is the most important part of a law case,”
Matthew retorts.
D.A. Peters rolls his eyes, paying no mind to Matthew’s bad cop routine. “You could have sent these over to my office. I didn’t need to come down here.”
“I know that. I just wanted to give you the courtesy.” I smirk.
“The courtesy of what? This case is open and shut.”
“Is it, counselor? Because from what I’ve found, it’s not. That’s where my courtesy to you comes in. You’ve been good to me, and I didn’t want to embarrass you in that courtroom, so I’m giving you nearly all of our discovery early.”
He glances at the boxes again and at the folders in front of him. A look of suspicion begins to creep into his eyes as he tilts his head in either bewilderment or disbelief, I’m not sure which. I fully expected this reaction though: I would have the same. I quickly press on. “Oh, I almost forgot.” I
slide another folder to him. This folder contains the transcript of a conversation between Jesse Hook and Sheriff Stevens. I highlighted areas that I need D.A. Peters to see. I need him to want to talk to this witness. I need him to get more information out of this witness.
He opens the folder up and scans it. “Who’s Jesse Hook?”
“Exactly,” Matthew says. “Not so open and shut, is it?”
“Jesse Hook is—” I say. There’s a scream from outside the conference room.
