“I want to check out the competition.”
“What—”
Without looking back, Leslie waved a hand goodbye and disappeared down the
hall. Forty minutes later she slipped quietly into the back row in a courtroom at
the federal courthouse. She took a seat behind a fairly large gentleman and
made notes on another case while listening to testimony with half an ear,
absently noting that the state’s attorney was knowledgeable and his questions
sharp. She’d been up against him once, and that had not gone so well for him.
She smiled at the memory. The young attorney representing the corporation
accused of venting waste runoff into an unsecured drainage system and
contaminating a nearby river also seemed on top of his game.
Twenty minutes after Leslie arrived, the door opened again and Dev walked in.
Leslie shifted a little so that Dev would not see her as she strode down the
center aisle. She didn’t want to disturb Dev’s concentration. Her own was shot
to hell the second she saw Dev, so she quietly slid her notes into her briefcase
and settled back to watch.
Dev sat two rows behind the plaintiff’s table, and Leslie had a good view of her
in pro? le. Dev had dressed for court in a dark suit and pale shirt. Her chestnut
hair had been trimmed to just above her collar, and it curled very subtly at the
ends. She had that tanned, healthy gleam that women who worked outdoors
often had, but beneath it, she seemed tired. And a little thinner. She was so
damn beautiful, and Leslie drew a long slow breath to calm the butter? ies in her
stomach.
When the state’s attorney called Dev to testify, Leslie positioned herself so that
the gentleman in front of her shielded her enough that Dev was not likely to see
her. Witnesses were usually instructed to look only at the jury or the questioning
attorney during testimony. They rarely scanned the audience. Leslie could hear
Dev, and she did not need to see her to know exactly how she looked as she
answered. Hazel eyes intent, her handsome face honest and passionate.
The state’s attorney had indeed gotten smarter with his questioning, but Dev
was an ideal expert witness and made the attorney look better than he actually
was. Dev reduced dif? cult science to understandable concepts and made
human arguments that were guaranteed to sway the jury. Her personality alone
was a signi? cant added bene? t to her value as an expert defending the river
and its inhabitants. Knowing Dev, Leslie knew that none of her answers were
calculated, but what she truly believed.
When the corporation’s defense attorney began his cross-examination with a
belligerent tone, Leslie shook her head, feeling sorry for him. She edged over
slightly so she could see Dev’s face as Dev countered every vehement challenge
in a calm, reasoned fashion. Then, after a particularly sarcastically phrased
question from the attorney, something in Dev’s face changed. Her eyes glinted,
and the bold planes of her face grew stronger. Leslie held her breath.
Dev leaned forward and regarded the attorney as if he had just made the most
ridiculous statement she’d ever heard. Then she inclined her body toward the
jury and moved the microphone a half inch closer to her face, even though her
voice carried well without it. The jury
clearly hung on her every word at this point, waiting for whatever critical
statement she was about to make.
“What you have to understand,” Dev said, her eyes seeming to meet those of
every juror, “is that ? sh are people too.”
Leslie bit her lip to sti? e her exclamation, grateful that she wasn’t the one going
up against Dev. It was apparent that every single member of the jury believed
every word Dev said. The corporation might as well have been dumping nuclear
waste into their backyards, because that was how they now thought of those
contaminated waters. Dev had made it personal for them with the elegant
strength of her conviction.
Leslie hated when the opposing team used her own strategy against her, and
she’d never seen it done better. The questioning attorney appeared to share her
assessment and hastily concluded his cross-examination.
When Dev ? nished her testimony and stepped down from the witness box, she
hesitated for a second, her head tilted as if she were listening to someone
speaking, although the room was quiet. Then she resumed walking, her gaze
lasering to Leslie.
Leslie nodded hello, waiting anxiously for a response. Then Dev smiled, the
same smile of welcome she had greeted Leslie with a thousand times before. It
had always made Leslie feel beautiful and special, and it still did.
v
Dev checked her watch and tried not to ? dget. It had already been late in the
afternoon when she’d ? nished testifying, so she knew court would adjourn at
any minute. She wanted to verify that she wouldn’t be recalled to testify, and
then she wanted to ? nd Leslie. The ? rst glimpse of her after a month of
thinking about her had nearly stopped Dev in her tracks. At ? rst she’d thought
it was some kind of hallucination brought about by the fact that she’d done
nothing on the three-hour train ride but replay every conversation with Leslie
she’d ever had. Fortunately, she knew the details of the case thoroughly and
hadn’t needed to review them, because the closer she came to New York City,
the more her concentration had waned. Just knowing she was going to be in the
same city as Leslie made her blood hum. She knew it was crazy, but she
couldn’t stop it.
Then to actually see her, sitting in the courtroom so calm and
composed with her perfectly styled hair and subtle makeup and fashionable suit,
had pretty much thrown her off the tracks. She had to talk to her. Just talk to
her. Friends could do that, right? That was normal.
But the churning in her stomach that felt like hunger but wasn’t—that wasn’t
normal. The way her skin tingled, shimmering like the air just before a huge bolt
of lightning dispelled the pent-up electricity in the midst of a storm—that wasn’t
normal.
Dev studied her hands, clasped loosely in her lap. They were trembling.
None of this was normal. She was deluding herself, again. But it didn’t matter,
she still had to see her. Just—see her.
“Great job,” the state’s attorney murmured, jolting Dev back to the present. She
looked around and saw that the jury box was empty and the crowd in the
courtroom dispersing. Turning rapidly she searched the room behind her, but the
aisle was already ? lled with people ? ling out. She couldn’t see Leslie.
“Will you need me again?” Dev asked briskly.
“Shouldn’t. If you can hang around until noon tomorrow, I’ll call you to let you
