sense of dread run through him. Outside of a few agents he'd known, this guy had the deadest eyes he'd ever seen. Black and shark-like, magnified by those thick, coke-bottle lenses.
He quickly looked away, and a moment later the guy was finished and gone.
It was only then that Hutch realized he'd been holding his breath.
'You're right,' Tom said, 'He
Hutch was back in the booth now and it seemed that Matt and Andy had kissed and made up. Maybe the good news had done the trick.
The man with the black glasses was sitting alone at a table across the room, nursing a Pepsi and half a club sandwich as he lost himself in the pages of his book.
Hutch shrugged. 'I'm not really thinking anything. Just making an observation.'
'Maybe we should be putting him on our list of suspects,' Monica said. 'Along with Andy, of course.'
Matt winced and Andy flicked a middle finger at her. 'Nice try, thunder tits, but I'm bulletproof right now.'
'You point that thing at me, McKenna, you better know how to use it.'
'You had your chance back in college. You shoulda let me join one of your little web chats.'
She cupped her breasts and jiggled them at him. 'Dream on, buster.'
It was a move Monica was famous for and everyone laughed. Hutch was glad to see that the old college camaraderie had returned, something he doubted the guy with the black glasses had ever experienced. Which, in a way, made Hutch feel sorry for him.
But then he'd always had a bit of a soft spot for people he saw eating alone. He knew it happened every day-hell, he'd done it enough himself-but there was a kind of inherent loneliness in the act that couldn't be denied.
That said, the creep didn't seem to be having a problem with it. Looked quite content with his book for company.
Hutch thought about those dead shark eyes and somewhere in the back of his mind he did exactly what Monica had suggested. Put him on the list with the Businessman, the Battle-Axe, Two-day Stubble, and just about everyone else who sat in that gallery every day.
He was thinking about this when he realized that the others had moved on with the conversation, and were now talking about Nadine, who remained the only hold out. The one person in the group who still thought Ronnie was guilty.
'So where is she?' he asked. 'She promised me she'd be in the courtroom once the trial started.'
'Busy getting rich,' Tom said. 'Some big real estate development she's been working on for months. Plus, she couldn't watch the trial even if she wanted to.'
Andy frowned. 'Why not?'
'Because she's a witness for the prosecution.'
— 24 -
'Witness?' Hutch said. 'What the hell did she witness?'
Tom picked at the crumbs on his plate. 'You remember that call she told us about? The one from Ronnie?'
It took Hutch a moment to retrieve the memory. Then he saw himself huddled with Tom and Nadine in the police station lobby, Nadine telling them about Ronnie's nearly incoherent phone call the day after she ran into Jenny at the Godwyn Theater.
'They want her to testify about
Tom nodded. 'I guess they think it's relevant. A way of demonstrating Ronnie's frame of mind.'
'Frame of mind? The way Nadine described it, it sounded more like a classic drunk-dialing mishap than anything significant. How did they even find out about it?'
'How else?' Tom said. 'Nadine contacted the detective in charge.'
Matt shook his head in disgust. 'What the hell is wrong with her?'
'She and Jenny were still pretty close,' Tom said. 'Not like the old days, but I think Jenny was doing some legal work on that big real estate deal. Nadine puts up a good front, but she was pretty busted up by the murder.'
Monica huffed. 'Like that's exclusive territory.'
'Look,' Hutch said, feeling the mood shifting. 'Let's not forget that Nadine's a friend, too, and she's gonna believe what she wants to believe. I'm not the only one here who knows what that feels like.'
Tom and Monica nodded.
'But I'll see if I can get hold of her tonight. Try to talk some sense into her.'
'Appeal to her insecurity,' Andy said. 'She never did like being the odd man out.'
Hutch doubted such an appeal would make much difference. During all those years at college, Nadine had always been very protective of Jenny, played big sister to her-even though Jenny was six months older. When Ronnie and Jenny got into it back then, Nadine would always side with her best friend. So it wasn't much of a surprise that the tradition had carried through to the present.
Hutch knew that once Nadine took the stand she'd be talking about the volatile history her two friends had shared. But there wasn't really anything to it. Occasional eruptions that had never amounted to much. Nothing more than what they'd just witnessed between Matt and Andy.
Like most friends, Ronnie and Jenny had fought sometimes. Maybe a little more than usual, but Hutch had never sensed any real animosity between them. And when he and Jenny were alone together, she had never once complained about it.
To Hutch's mind, Nadine was letting grief distort her memory, and he'd have to do his best to get her thinking straight. Just as Matt had done with him.
'You think she'll come around?' Monica asked.
Hutch didn't have an answer.
The second half of the day was more of the same. Abernathy and Meyer picking up pretty much where they left off, letting everyone know what an efficient and hard-working cop Meyer was.
The next three and a half hours were a flurry of testimony, objections and sidebars-not as dramatic as what you'd see on a television crime show, but just as compelling in its own way.
Anyone used to watching those shows would be amazed that a single witness could be on the stand for such a long time. Yet, for Hutch, those three hours rocketed by, playing like some of the most fascinating theater he had ever seen. Maybe he felt this way because there was so much at stake, but whenever he looked at the jurors, he saw that he wasn't alone.
It was impossible to know, however, how much of what Meyer had to say rang true to these people. Was his arrogance as obvious to them as it was to Hutch?
It was a trait that he hoped Waverly would exploit during cross-examination-which he didn't expect to happen anytime soon, since Abernathy seemed reluctant to relinquish the stage.
Watching them, Hutch got the notion that they'd done this dance many times before, and their timing was impeccable.
'All right,' the ADA said to Meyer as the end of the day approached. 'Let's circle back to the defendant. You've said that despite the phone records and the statement of Ms. Keating's secretary, you weren't immediately convinced that Ms. Baldacci was the perpetrator.'
'That's right,' Meyer said.
'Why is that?'
