Read Online Unlucky in Law by Perri O'Shaughnessy - Free Book Online

apparently come up, her job as second chair demanded that she leap in and support Klaus, so she said to Jaime, “You know he won't be brought in by the bailiffs until the stroke of nine-thirty, and the jury will be in at nine-thirty-one. We just need a couple of minutes.”
    “Then ask Judge Salas,” Jaime said, staring straight ahead at the door.
    “He'll do it if you agree, Jaime. You'll need a lot of accommodations, too, over the next few weeks. Is this how you want it to be? No mutual courtesy?” she asked.
    “Of course not. But Mr. Pohlmann never lets a deadline go by without challenging it. This is the start of a murder trial. He's had months to talk to his client. Salas is not going to hold things up unless he hears a damn good reason. I haven't heard one.”
    They stepped out into a milling crowd of lawyers, reporters, and spectators, the doors to Courtroom 2 still locked, Klaus gesticulating and excited, saying something about how he didn't have to give a reason, but Jaime shouldered his way over to the clerk's office and disappeared from view.
    “Mr. Pohlmann, Mr. Pohlmann.” Annie Gee from the
Salinas Californian
appeared in front of them just as Nina took Klaus's arm, intending to steer him toward a conference room. “Any comment this morning? Any change in your strategy?”
    Nina held on, steering him through the crowd. Over his shoulder, Klaus said grandly, “My client is innocent. He will be acquitted.”
    “Come on,” Nina said, and Klaus let himself be led into a quiet waiting room.
    As soon as the door closed Klaus sat down, grinning at her. With his tiny beard and ruddy cheeks he appeared as rested and bright as a little old elf. “We have him on the run already,” he said.
    “Jaime?”
    “He's off balance.” He chuckled at the thought.
    “What do you need to talk to Stefan about?”
    Klaus's white eyebrows raised, as if her question came out of nowhere. “Why, nothing. But it's all Mr. Sandoval can think about right now. We won't really ask for extra time.”
    “That doesn't seem very—”
    “He told me in the last trial I had with him that he thinks I should retire. He thinks I'm a terror. Unpredictable. Why not encourage that kind of thinking? He makes a weaker opponent when he expects weakness.”
    “O-kay.” Nina set her case against the door, looked at her watch, and sat down opposite the old man. Their styles were different, she reminded herself, and this wasn't her case. “We have five minutes,” she said. “You were going to show me your opening statement.”
    Klaus pulled out a sheaf of papers and handed them over. Scanning them, Nina said, “Summarize it for me.”
    “Well, I greet the judge and jury. Then I talk about what we're going to prove. Yes. Mr. Wyatt's alibi. The fact that he is just a patsy for the interests of the Russians. Then we show how Alex Zhukovsky lies. He probably killed his sister, Christina, not Mr. Wyatt.”
    Through suddenly parched lips, Nina said, “But we agreed on Friday that we can't use a third-party defense. Zhukovsky denies he ever talked to Stefan, and Paul hasn't been able to prove he did at this point. If we tell the jury we're going to prove something and then can't do it, they'll remember. We'll get into trouble with the judge. It will hurt Stefan.”
    “Alex Zhukovsky is lying, that's a definite fact. You will prove that.”
    “Klaus, we're going to cast some suspicion onto Alex Zhukovsky during the trial, but we're in no position to do anything more than establish doubt. It's Stefan's word against Zhukovsky's, and we're not going to let Stefan testify. We've talked about this a dozen times.” Panic leaked around the edges of her carefully built composure. “You can't do this,” she said.
    “You are telling me what I can and can't do?”
    Nina tried to keep her tone soft. “But we agreed . . .”
    “You are so smart, Miss Reilly,” Klaus said, “I think you should make the opening statement.” He tapped a finger on the