FiFty Fifty

Chapter Fourty - Five

KATE

Kate and Bloch read the report from Sylvia Sagrada in five minutes, then flicked through the attached Xeroxed pages. Bloch said nothing. When Kate was about to ask her a question, Bloch simply shook her head. She was processing. Too early for questions. But Kate saw the look in Bloch's eyes. This was the piece of evidence they'd been expecting. She'd told Bloch all about the conversation with Flynn. There was a killer moving amongst them, killing witnesses, manipulating the case, with a surefire piece of evidence planted to get them an acquittal, and their sister a conviction.
Kate explained the report to Alexandra, and watched the light come on in Alexandra's eyes.
'I knew it. I knew this would happen. Oh, thank you, God,' said Alexandra, her fingers laced together, her head tilted back and eyes to the ceiling. This new evidence would put Sofia away for murder. Alexandra knew it.
'This is your get-out-of-jail-free card,' said Kate.
'It's the truth,' said Alexandra. 'Finally, the court will hear the truth.'
Bloch shook her head.
They went back into the courtroom, Alexandra almost bouncing along in her
heels, a new hope alive in her face. Kate felt like she wanted to be sick. There was a tightness in her stomach that spread to her throat. She'd called it all wrong. She was representing the killer. Kate swallowed down the bile building in her throat. She told herself she should have known it was her who was representing the killer. Eddie Flynn was too experienced to let himself get played by a client. They took their places at the defense table and waited. The judge returned, and Dreyer said he was calling a new witness. Sylvia Sagrada. Eddie got up and objected, but Stone waved it away, dismissively. He would allow the new witness and assess the evidence for admissibility.
Kate felt like she was strapped into a fast-moving car. Her arms pinned, the steering spinning left and right, out of control, her foot flat on the gas pedal as the car veered toward a solid brick wall. She opened her eyes, took a breath.
She'd talked to Flynn about what they would do. Kate couldn't be a part of framing an innocent woman and letting a murderer go free. When she'd made that deal with Flynn, she never thought it would be Alexandra who was the killer
 
moving the pieces on the board. Kate couldn't be a part of that. She would no longer do anything to assist her client in getting off. If she tried to fire the client, then she would only make things more difficult. The judge probably wouldn't let her walk away from a live murder trial. Even if the judge did allow her to exit the trial, that didn't solve the problem. All she could do was make sure she didn't become part of the weapon used to beat an innocent Sofia Avellino into a murder conviction.
The courtroom was silent. She felt Bloch nudge her in the ribs. She looked up, and Bloch pointed at the judge.
'Miss Brooks,' said Judge Stone, 'I hope you're still with us. Tell me, have you taken your client's instructions on this matter? I take it you have no objection to this witness?'
She didn't even have to turn her head. In her peripheral vision, Kate could just see Alexandra shaking her head, whispering 'No, not at all,' under her breath.
'No, Your Honor. My client does not object at this time,' said Kate.
'Good, then proceed, Mr. Dreyer,' said Stone.
'Thank you, Your Honor. The People call Doctor Sylvia Sagrada.'
A petite woman in a gray pantsuit came forward. Her heels thocked on the
floor, her long hair was so dark it shone under the ceiling lights. When she took the oath, Kate saw that she was younger than Kate had expected, and had an aura about her. There was something authoritative in her speech. Firm. When Doc Sagrada said something, you believed it.
'Doctor, that title, let's just clear this up for the jury – you're not a medical doctor, is that correct?'
'I have a doctorate in Forensic Document Examination and Comparison, from the University of Mexico. I'm currently based at NYU.'
'You were sent a brief by my office. Please tell the jury what that brief contained.'
'A memo, a toxicology report on Frank Avellino, several pieces of contemporary correspondence we know to have come from Frank Avellino, and this,' she said, holding something aloft.
Kate saw a small black book in Sagrada's hand.
'It's a journal, kept by Frank Avellino in the last months of his life,' said Sagrada.
A murmur rippled over the masses in court. This was new. This was very crucial new evidence.
'This journal came into the possession of the District Attorney's office a few days ago. It was provided by Hal Cohen, who found it during a search of the victim's personal papers. He did not get the opportunity to comment, for the

record, or appear in this trial, to give his opinion on the authenticity or otherwise of this journal. But are you able to tell us if this is indeed Frank Avellino's journal?'
'In my opinion, yes, this is Frank Avellino's journal.'
People shifted in their seats, moving forward, eager to hear this testimony. It sounded like an army getting ready to march. It began behind Kate, from the gallery, and spread like a brush fire.
'Silence in court,' said Judge Stone.
'And with the materials provided, which you mentioned, what did you do to examine the journal, Doctor?'
'I carried out a forensic examination of the control samples, the known examples of Frank Avellino's handwriting, and I compared it with the handwriting in this journal.'
'And what were your findings?'
Before answering, Sagrada picked up the water jug in the witness box, poured some into a plastic cup and took a drink. She set the cup down and angled her gaze to the jury.
'The control samples were all good. Some letters, some signatures. This gave me a good base of comparison for the victim's handwriting. I then took into account known factors. From reading the toxicology report, I knew the victim had Haloperidol in his system, and this accorded with some of my observations of the handwriting in the journal. There were passages in the journal that very clearly correlated with the victim's handwriting, and some, which did not. These passages looked like the author was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, although the style was the same, the hand was clearly loose and difficult to control. But, in my view, the same.'
'Just to be clear, Doctor, what was your conclusion regarding the identity of the author of the journal?'
'In my professional opinion, Frank Avellino wrote this journal,' she said. 'How certain can you be?'
'In this case, because of the influence of drugs, I can only say that in my
professional judgment, authorship lies with Frank Avellino. There is enough consistency in the formation, construction and pattern of letter formation, syntax and sentence construction to lead me to that belief.'
'Thank you. Would you read the last entry in the journal please? October second, I believe. Two days before the murder.'
Kate fixed her view on the jury. She'd already read the entry. She wanted to see how the jury would react.
'October second,' began Sagrada. 'I know what's been going on. She's been

poisoning my food. I saw her tonight. She poured something into the soup from a white bottle. Then hid it in her purse. She thought I didn't see. I bet she's been putting it in my smoothies too. I'm going to change my will, then I'm going to call the cops. I'm not crazy. I'm not sick. It's her. I asked her what she put in my soup. She said I was imagining things. I need to act fast, so I didn't push the issue. My God, I never thought it would have been her who betrayed me ...'
Sagrada looked up from the notebook; she didn't need to read along with the last sentence. She knew it by heart.
'It was Sofia.'
A wail erupted. Kate turned and saw Sofia on her feet, Eddie holding her back. She was screaming, her face red, hair stuck to her skin as she pointed at the witness, then shouted again and pointed at Alexandra.
'No, it's all lies. It's Alexandra. She's the murderer! I'm innocent!'
Alexandra sat passively beside Kate, ignoring Sofia. For the first time in the history of this trial, Kate saw her client sitting in a relaxed, almost calm state. Kate knew then, without question, that this journal was what Eddie had predicted. This was the get-out-of-jail-free card for Alexandra. A piece of evidence that frames an innocent woman. Kate would have no part in it. She couldn't directly challenge her own client in court. She had to trust Eddie to do something and the best Kate could do would be not to get in his way. Her first case as lead counsel. Her very first murder trial, and all Kate could think was that she hoped she would lose.