Trial Junkies (A Thriller) by Robert Gregory Browne

that."
    "And?"
    "Family court matters are handled by an entirely different set of lawyers over there. They're not even on the same floor, and they don't cross-pollinate."
    "So no conflict," Hutch said.
    "Not in the court's eyes. But according to the prosecution's theory of events, that didn't keep Ronnie from thinking Jenny had some kind of pull."
    Hutch waited as Matt took another sip of his beer.  
    "You remember she told us about bumping into Jenny at the Godwyn Theater? Talked about Andy trying to get that screenplay to you?"
    Hutch nodded.
    "Well, turns out that's not the only thing they talked about. Ronnie brought up the custody case, and apparently Jenny wasn't even aware it existed until Ronnie confronted her."
    "Confronted?"
    "That's how Jenny's boss characterized it in his witness statement. He says Jenny called him right after the encounter to let him know about it. Wanted everything above board."
    "That's our Jenny," Hutch said.
    "The boss says he wasn't concerned about it until things started getting a little hairy."
    "In what way?"
    "Those phone calls you heard about? The ADA says that was Ronnie calling Jenny's office, demanding that she use her influence to get her ex to back off. Most of the calls were fielded by a secretary, who tried to explain that Jenny had nothing to do with the case, but apparently it got pretty nasty. Ronnie didn't take kindly to being ignored."
    "She told me she didn't make those calls."
    "Well they're saying she did, and they're claiming it's enough to show frame of mind. Their theory is that Ronnie was so afraid of losing her kid, she must have cracked—and Jenny got the brunt of it."
    Hutch couldn't help seeing the irony here. The very thing Ronnie claimed was her reason for not killing Jenny was the prosecutor's idea of a perfectly plausible motive.
    And Hutch didn't disagree. Yet even with all this evidence, Matt still seemed to be leaning toward Ronnie's innocence.
    "I don't get it," Hutch said. "You tell me you're not willing to go as far as saying Ronnie's guilty, but this all sounds pretty convincing to me."
    "Because I still can't believe it. I can't believe Ronnie would do something so drastic."
    "Maybe you need to readjust your thinking."
    Matt shook his head. "You haven't been around her in years. But I have. Seen her several times—even had a little thing with her after her divorce."
    "Seriously?"
    He shrugged. "Didn't last long. I was on the tail end of my first marriage and things happened. But we both quickly realized it was a mistake. We're better friends than lovers." He paused. "But you get that close to someone, you start to know how her mind works. What she's capable of."
    Hutch had to admit this was true. Despite the distance between he and Jenny he'd felt the same way about her.
    "And I have to tell you," Matt continued, "I meant what I said outside the station house. Ronnie isn't capable of hurting anyone ."
    "I think her ex-husband would disagree."
    "That was an anomaly. And her ex is a scumbag, so who knows how much of what he told the cops was the truth? Ronnie says it's mostly bullshit."
    Hutch had been staring at his half-empty glass and looked up sharply. "You spoke to her about this?"
    Matt nodded.
    "When?"
    Matt seemed uncomfortable under Hutch's gaze. "I went out to the jail a couple days back, but in the interests of full disclosure, I've gotta tell you we've been in contact ever since she was arrested."
    Full disclosure? What was going on here?
    It took Hutch all of about fifteen seconds to put it together.
    "Jesus Christ," he said. "You guys have been tag teaming me from the start."
    "She didn't do it, Hutch. I know in my gut she didn't do it. I only told you all this stuff because Ronnie wants you to know exactly where things stand."
    "Oh, really?"  Hutch was incensed. "So I sat in that interview room, Ronnie crying about wanting somebody to believe in her—and there you were all the time. Talk about bullshit ."
    "No," Matt told him. "She