Trial Junkies (A Thriller) by Robert Gregory Browne Page A

meant what she said. Sure, she's got me—and Andy, too—but neither one of us has the resources she needs to—"
    "Are you fucking kidding me? Is that really what this is about? Money?"  Hutch scraped his chair back and shot to his feet. "I mean, I had my suspicions, but—"
    "Don't make it sound so goddamn crass."
    "How the hell else does it sound?"
    "Look," Matt said, "Waverly's bosses have her on a short leash. They're only riding this thing for the publicity and don't give a damn about Ronnie. They'll do the minimum required to look good for the cameras, but won't spend a dime on her defense." He sighed. "Ronnie was making fifteen bucks an hour, for chrissakes—half of which went to that idiot she hired to handle the custody case. I've chipped in a little, and so has Andy, but we both have pretty hefty debts—"
    "—And I'm the millionaire movie star, right?"
    "This is isn't just about money, Hutch. It's about support."
    "Support? You want me to support a killer?"
    "I'm telling you, she didn't do it. I saw the crime photos. The condition Jenny was in—there's no way Ronnie did that."
    "That's just wishful thinking. They've got Jenny's blood on her sweatshirt, Matt. D-N-fucking-A evidence. How do you get around that?"
    "That's one of the reasons we need an expert to—"
    "They found her hair in Jenny's car," Hutch said. "The proof is irrefutable."
    Matt's jaw tightened. "Don't believe everything you read."
    "So you're telling me that's bullshit, too?"
    "Yes and no. It's not what you think."
    Hutch shook his head in disgust. "I'm not gonna stand here and listen to this."
    Turning, he moved away from their table and headed for the door, angrily shoving it open, fishing for a cigarette as he stepped outside. He'd never needed a smoke so badly.
    He barely had it to his lips when Matt filled the doorway behind him, saying, "It was dog hair, Hutch. They're gonna try to convict her with goddamn dog hair."
    Hutch pulled the cigarette from his mouth and turned. "What?"
    "They conveniently didn't leak that part. Tried to make it sound like they had something substantial. Get a city full of potential jurors thinking Ronnie's toast before she even walks into the courtroom."
    "That's ridiculous," Hutch said.
    "It worked on you , didn't it?"
    "You're sure about this?"
    Matt let the door swing shut behind him and moved toward Hutch. "Ronnie got the police report when they turned over discovery. I saw it myself. The hair they found in Jenny's car belonged to a canis lupus familiaris . A goddamn domesticated dog. That's the only thing they have that ties her directly to Jenny's car. They're gonna make the claim that because she was a dog groomer, the hairs must've come from her clothes."
    "I've gotta admit that's pretty thin," Hutch said, "but they still have her sweatshirt. The blood."
    But he himself had questioned the careless disposal of that sweatshirt, and had attributed it to Ronnie's panic.
    Was he wrong to have judged her so quickly?
    "What if it was planted by some overzealous cop?" Matt asked. "Ronnie says the hoodie looks like one she used to wear, but insists it can't be hers. And they found it in a trash can in the alley behind her house. Anyone could have dropped it there. That's why we need an expert. To confirm that there's no trace of Ronnie's DNA on the shirt. No sweat, no skin, nothing."
    "Can't you get that from the prosecution's expert?"
    "Waverly says she can try on cross, but putting our own guy on the stand only reinforces the message. Most jurors go into a case thinking like Nadine. If the police arrested the defendant, she must be guilty. So the prosecution always has an advantage. And the only way to counter that is to put our own expert on the stand."
    Hutch said nothing, feeling as if he were on an emotional seesaw. Up, down, up, down—one minute he wanted to throttle Ronnie, the next he was leaning toward believing her.
    She had been right about his initial instincts. The girl of their college days may