Trial Junkies

'Honestly? It's probably better than most of the scripts I've read.'

'You gotta be shittin' me.'

Hutch shook his head. 'Your old buddy actually has some talent. He's got the structure down, snappy dialogue, good visuals, and a pretty good little story. Better than the novel I'm working on, that's for sure.'

Matt looked at him. 'You're writing a novel?'

'Probably more of a memoir than anything else-and not a very interesting one.'

'Never really been a book man myself. I like stories I can read in one sitting. I like writing 'em, too. Unfortunately nobody's interested in newspapers anymore.'

'Maybe you should start a blog.'

Matt chuckled. 'Might have to, if things keep going the way they're going. Whoever thought trees would become obsolete?'

'It's not just trees. I haven't bought a CD or a DVD in years.'

'It's all about streaming and downloads now,' Matt said. 'You can't go into the crapper these days without a charged battery and a wireless connection.'

They both laughed and the waitress brought their drinks, smiling politely as she set them on the table.

It felt good to laugh.

'Can I get you boys anything else?'

'That'll do it for now,' Hutch said, and when she was gone, he sobered, took a sip of his root beer and looked again at Matt. 'I don't think you called me here to gripe about emerging technology and the erosion of traditional business models.'

Matt shook his head, then stared at the beer in front of him for a moment without touching it. 'I want to apologize, Hutch. That night at the station house, I got pretty hot when I realized you were thinking Ronnie did this thing.'

'That was mostly Nadine and Tom. They're the ones got me started in the first place. But, as we soon discovered, they did have a point.'

He nodded. 'Now that I've had some distance and a little time to consider it-'

'You think Ronnie's guilty.'

He hesitated. 'I'm not ready to go that far. But I can see why people would think that. And the prosecution has a pretty damn good case against her.'

'You mean the sweatshirt?'

'That's just the start of it,' Matt said. 'We're getting all kinds of leaks.'

'Do you think they're accurate?'

'I know some of them are. For a while it was enough to make me wonder if my instincts about Ronnie were completely wrong. That maybe she isn't the sweet little girl we once loved.'

His words reflected the very same thoughts Hutch had been struggling with for months now. He understood the pain Matt had to be going through.

'Is that why you've been scarce, lately?'

Matt shook his head again. 'Like I told you, I've been out of town on assignment. Our foreign guy quit and my editor didn't want to use a stringer. So he tagged me to fill in. Spent a month in Somalia and three weeks in Tehran.'

'Jesus.'

'Tell me about it. That blog is sounding pretty good right now.' He paused. 'Anyway, I just got back and when I talked to our crime guy about the trial, it was pretty depressing.'

'The new leaks?'

He nodded. 'Some we haven't been able to corroborate and some we have.'

'Like what?'

'Did you know that Ronnie was arrested before?'

Hutch was surprised. 'When?'

'Few years back. When she was living in Arizona.'

'Arizona?'

Matt smiled. 'See what happens when you disappear for nearly a decade? She married some biker yahoo she met in a bar here. Can't remember his name. Anyway, they moved to his home town, and three years into the marriage, Sedona police arrested her for spousal battery. You'll read all about it in tomorrow's Post.'

Hutch's surprise deepened. 'You're sure about this?'

Matt nodded. 'Saw the police report myself. She divorced the guy two months later and Chicago PD didn't catch it until they ran a search for priors under her married name.'

'Wouldn't they have done that right up front?'

'Apparently some bureaucrat fucked up and they missed it the first time out. Turns out she caught her ex in bed with another woman and went after him with a butcher knife. He got it away from her, but she smacked him pretty good a couple times before the girlfriend pulled her off him.'

Hutch said nothing. The kernel of doubt he'd carried with him since Ronnie's little show and tell was starting to waver and fade. Quickly.

He took another sip of his root beer. 'What else do they have?'

'A custody battle, that's what. Ronnie has a five-year-old kid and the ex wants him back. Claims she's too unstable to raise him.'

Hutch nodded. 'I've seen the kid. He's with his grandmother. Ronnie tried to use him to pull me to the dark side.' He paused. 'But what does any of this have to do with killing Jenny?'

'The assault against her husband doesn't, but the police and DA's office think it demonstrates Ronnie's propensity for violence. Even so, it won't be used in court.'

'Why not?'

'It's what they call a prior bad act-just like the thing with her mother. In the state of Illinois, the prosecution can't use it unless the defense opens the door during testimony-and that isn't likely to happen.' He paused. 'But it doesn't matter. They won't need it.'

'Why not?'

'Because they can still use the custody battle. That's where motivation comes in.'

'I don't understand,' Hutch said.

Was this the why that he had been waiting for?

Matt finally picked up his beer and took a long sip. Then he set the glass down, wiped a trace of foam from a corner of his mouth and said, 'Jenny's law firm was representing Ronnie's ex.'

— 19 -

'That doesn't make any sense,' Hutch said. 'Jenny knew Ronnie. Isn't that a conflict of interest?'

Matt shook his head. 'Not really. Jenny worked for Treacher and Pine, one of the oldest and largest law firms in Chicago. She was a senior associate in the corporate law division. Handled fraud cases, real estate, things like 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