Read Online Motion to Dismiss by Jonnie Jacobs - Free Book Online

moment, studying me. "Madelaine says that you'll say bad things about me at the trial. That you'll try to make me look like a tramp, like someone who deserves what she got. She says you'll bring up all kinds of embarrassing stuff about me and say that I'm lying."
    "It's my job to discredit your testimony." I didn't tell her that the dirt I could bring in was limited by law. "It's your word against my client's."
    "Aren't you interested in what really happened?"
    Curious as hell, but that wasn't my role as attorney. I shook my head. "Not really."
    She frowned. "You seemed nice in there. Even when you were trying to make it look as though I wasn't really raped. You seemed like a real person, not just a lawyer. Like someone who had feelings. I thought you cared about the truth."
    "Ms. Nichols, you need to remember that we've been assigned roles here. Personal qualities have nothing to do with it." I turned back to the mirror and finished applying my lipstick.
    "Madelaine doesn't care either. She's taken over. She tells me how to dress, how to wear my hair, how to sit, what to say, and what not to say. All she wants is to win. It's like a game for her."
    "Madelaine has got a job to do as well. But ultimately, she wants the same thing you do."
    "All I want is some respect."
    I recapped my lipstick.
    "I'm a person too, you know. Not just something to be used and then discarded."
    "Of course you are," I said, turning so that I was no longer addressing the mirror. I could understand Deirdre's frustration. Legal proceedings were driven by their own rules, which sometimes seemed very far removed from the emotionally charged event that triggered them.
    Deirdre hugged her arms tighter across her chest. "I feel like I've been violated twice. Once by Grady Barrett and once by Madelaine Rivera."
    "Have you tried telling that to Madelaine?"
    Deirdre shook her head. "I know she's trying to help me. The police would never have done a thing if she hadn't given them a push."
    Advising the complaining witness wasn't my role, but I couldn't help myself. "There are victims' advocates, you know. Rape counseling services, support groups. They're available to you without cost."
    "Madelaine told me." She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes for a moment. Her lashes were long and soft, like brushstrokes against her creamy complexion. "The press will be covering the trial, won't they?"
    "Probably. I doubt there will be cameras in the courtroom, if that's what you're worried about."
    Deirdre pursed her lips in thought.
    "Besides," I added, "you talked to news reporters the other day with no problem." It came out with a nastier edge than I'd intended.
    Deirdre brushed at the skirt of her jumper. "I know I shouldn't have. It's just that I was angry."
    Her tone was apologetic, as if Madelaine had chastised her for telling her story before the camera. That surprised me. It wasn't a bad move in terms of strategy. And Madelaine had never been one to shy away from the press.
    "I take it Madelaine wasn't happy about the exposure."
    "No, it was ... something else." Deirdre sighed and tapped her heel against the ceramic tile at the base of the wall. "I don't know whether I want to go ahead with this," she said, her voice thin and thoughtful.
    I held my breath. Looked away. Kept my expression impassive. Never let it be said that I tried to influence a witness. But inside I was delirious at the prospect that she might withdraw her complaint.
    "I've got my daughter to consider," Deirdre said. "Among other things."
    I dropped the lipstick into my purse.
    "There's bound to be talk. Adrianna is smart. She'll pick up on it."
    "You have to do what you think is right," I told her. I hoped the gods were watching, because I figured I'd earned a few bonus points for good conduct in the face of temptation.
    "I don't know what to do," Deirdre lamented.
    I glanced toward heaven and bit my tongue.
    "I don't like to be treated like dirt. I'm a person too." It was the second