Molly double-clicked on the drive and file folders populated the screen. Her finger tracked down the screen and stopped. “Van Solis.” One double click to open the folder and she read out loud, “Witness statement.”
Drew leaned in and studied the screen. The disappointment felt overwhelming. His hope crushed. “These are just files from the trial.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe there were files you weren’t given access to.” Molly opened the witness statement folder and once again used her finger to track the list of document titles.
Drew touched his stomach and convinced himself a late-night snack would relieve his sudden indigestion. What if seeing Gina Hahn yesterday had somehow put her in jeopardy too?
Molly rose, walked over to the dry-erase board, then examined something on her legal pad. She returned to the laptop, cross-checked something on the screen to the legal pad. Triumph widened her gaze. “Look at the date of the witness statement file at the bottom of the list.”
Drew read the date twice, then rubbed his hand over his jaw. His pulse picked back up. A new kind of energy—the kind that claimed him when he knew he’d persuaded a jury to the side of justice—recharged him. “That’s not the date of the witness interview I have on my calendar. That’s ten days earlier.”
“Exactly.” Molly sat on the couch and clicked the relevant file open.
Her movie player window launched, and the video filled her computer screen. An older gentleman, his head covered by a Bay Area Angel’s baseball cap and a matching windbreaker bunched around his lean frame, gripped a soda can in one hand. He ran his other fingers over the conference table as if tracing a scratch. Reuben Cote—the only eyewitness for the Van Solis murder trial.
Drew had spent hours with Reuben during discovery, preparing him for the witness stand. Reuben had always requested orange soda and only ever drank two sodas no matter how long their pretrial sessions had lasted. Reuben had been instantly likeable, humble and believable. His dry wit and down-to-earth manner had endeared him to everyone on the case from the paralegals to the court reporters to the entire jury.
Reuben Cote had recently recanted his testimony from the Van Solis case, so Van had hired one of the top appeals attorneys to get his verdict quashed. Reuben’s claim, that he didn’t see Van, was responsible for the witness-tampering charges that Drew now faced. Drew tucked away his emotions and focused on the computer screen.
Another man sat across from Reuben, but only his left arm was visible in the video frame. He gripped a pen that he pressed into a legal pad, but said nothing. Reuben went on to describe exactly what he saw on the night of March 17, detailing the crime scene and the victim’s body. Yet he never provided a description or any specific information about the shooter. He offered nothing that matched the description of Van Solis. He offered no real proof that Van had shot and killed a local store owner in an apparent robbery gone wrong.
Thirty minutes into Reuben’s account, Molly pressed pause on the video. She waited another beat, then spoke softly into the silence. “I very much want to assume that’s not the same testimony the witness gave on the stand, under oath, during the trial.”
“Not even close.” Drew’s own voice was hazy, as if he spoke through the smoke of that smoking gun. “Nor was it the statement Reuben gave to me.”
“Your witness falsified his testimony.” Molly closed the video. “You know what this means?”
Drew’s head fell forward. A numbness overtook him. “I knew I was innocent.”
“We have exactly what we need to win your hearing.” Molly clicked open another folder on the screen. Her disbelief and curiosity framed her next words. “Look at this. There’s information about other prior cases in here as well, Drew.”
Drew set his hand over hers and stopped her from scrolling through the other folders. “First, let’s concentrate on Van. Once the DA is exposed, then we’ll determine if there were other wrongful convictions.”
“We need the last known address of your witness.” Molly grabbed her legal pad. “We need Reuben Cote to testify at your hearing. We need his verification that the other man in the video is Cory Vinson. As it stands, the other man could be anyone. His voice is too quiet to hear on the recording and he never reveals more than his arm.”
Drew and Molly remained on the couch, hip to hip, for another two hours. They checked Reuben’s statement changing his original testimony to the statement supplied by the appeals attorney who was now leading Van’s attempt to overturn his conviction. Without success, they dug into Reuben’s past, trying to find possible reasons for his lying under oath. Then finally they opened another bottle of wine and the container with the last of the brownies.
Molly finished her brownie, brushed her hands together and reached for Drew’s Best Uncle mug that she’d set on the coffee table earlier. “There’s something inside here.”
“More candy wrappers most likely.” Drew stuffed the last bite of his brownie into his mouth, savored the chocolate and the welcome release of so much stress from his shoulders. It felt like the weight had been lifted.
“A picture.” Molly unrolled the photo and pressed a hand over her mouth. Her smile reached her eyes. “I cannot believe you kept this after all these years.”
Drew snatched the photograph from Molly and shook his head. Two college kids, each perched on one of Santa’s knees, laughed into the camera. Actually, the photographer had instructed them to shout, Candy canes rock. They’d been young, full of dreams, wishes and absolute certainties about their futures. Two friends who’d discovered a connection and shared a moment. He’d been grateful to spend that Thanksgiving week with Molly all those years ago. He was more than grateful now to
