Trial Junkies

Then he said, 'Ms. Harding, when was the first time you heard the name Veronica Baldacci?'

'About a month before Jenny was killed.'

'And in what context did you hear it?'

'Jenny came into the office and said she'd run into an old college roommate the night before. I asked her if it was one of the friends in the photo that she kept on her credenza and she said 'yes' and pointed Ms. Baldacci out to me.'

'Did she talk at all about this chance meeting?'

'Yes.'

'And what did she say?'

'That at first she was happy to see Ms. Baldacci, but things had gotten awkward.'

Abernathy nodded. 'Did she say why?'

'Yes. Over the course of their conversation, Jenny mentioned that she was working for Treacher and Pine and Ms. Baldacci became visibly upset by this revelation.'

'Objection,' Waverly said. 'Hearsay as to my client's frame of mind.'

'Sustained.'

'What about Ms. Keating?' Abernathy asked. 'Did she say she was upset about the meeting?'

'She said she felt surprised and uncomfortable because she hadn't realized that the firm was representing Ms. Baldacci's ex-husband in their custody case.'

'I don't understand,' Abernathy said. 'If Treacher and Pine was representing the ex-husband, wouldn't it stand to reason that Ms. Keating would know this?'

Harding shook her head. 'Treacher and Pine is a very large law firm with over a hundred and fifty attorneys in several different departments on three separate floors. Jenny worked in contracts, not the family law division, and the firm is very strict about client confidentiality. Unless there's a legal question involved, sharing of case files is strongly discouraged.'

'So Ms. Keating wouldn't have access to the ex-husband's files?'

'No,' Harding said. 'In fact, Jenny was a stickler about ethics and stayed as far away from the case as humanly possible. To the point where she instructed me to refer any calls she might get from Ms. Baldacci to the attorney handling it.'

'Even though there was no real conflict of interest?'

Harding shrugged. 'Like I said, she was a stickler.'

'And did she get any calls?'

'Yes, several.'

'When was this?'

'The first came about two days after their encounter, when I was out sick.'

Abernathy's eyebrows went up. 'If you were out sick, then how did you know about it?'

'Because the woman who replaced me that day didn't know about Jenny's instructions, and mistakenly sent the call through to her. When I saw Jenny the next day, she was quite upset about the whole thing. Said she hated to treat Ms. Baldacci like a leper, but felt she had no choice until the case was resolved.'

'Did she characterize the nature of the call?'

'Objection.'

'Overruled. Answer the question, Ms. Harding.'

Harding looked at Abernathy. 'She said it was contentious, but she didn't go into detail.'

'Fair enough,' Abernathy said. 'But you told us there were several calls. Did you personally receive any of them?'

Harding nodded. 'All of them.'

'And did you make any kind of notation's regarding these calls?'

'Not at first,' Harding said. 'But after a while I started marking them on my computer calendar.'

'And when was this?'

'In the week before Jenny was murdered.'

Abernathy moved to the prosecution table and picked up a stack of papers. Holding them up he said, 'Your Honor, I have here a printout of the calendar in question, which I'd like to enter into the record as State's Exhibit 2.'

'So entered,' O'Donnell said.

Abernathy handed a copy to the court clerk, then turned to his witness. 'Ms. Harding, can you elaborate on these phone calls?'

Harding took a breath. 'They were fairly innocuous at first. Ms. Baldacci called, identified herself, and I told her Jenny wasn't available, then transferred her to the family law department.'

'You say they were innocuous at first. Did that change?'

'Oh, yes,' Harding said. 'Very much so.'

'In what way?'

'Ms. Baldacci became increasingly hostile and demanding on the phone and began calling with more frequency, several times a day, asking to be put through to Jenny. That's why I started marking it down.'

'And what do you consider hostile behavior?'

'Calling me names, for one thing.'

'Oh?' Abernathy said. 'Can you give us an example?'

Harding seemed to steel herself, no longer the unruffled witness she was when she first sat in the box. 'The worst one was about two days before Jenny was murdered. It was late in the afternoon and I had already fielded several calls from Ms. Baldacci during the day. Then she called again, and while I can't be sure what was going through her mind, she was very frank about what she thought of me.'

'What did she say?'

Harding straightened in her chair, looking directly at the jury. 'She said-and I'm quoting here-'Put me through to Jenny you uppity black bitch or I'll gut you where you sit.''

For a moment the courtroom seemed frozen in time. Not a sound was uttered, all eyes on Ronnie as the words sank in.

Then Abernathy turned to Waverly, a small, self-satisfied smile on his face. 'Your witness, counsel.'

— 42 -

'Put me through to Jenny, you uppity black bitch, or I'll gut you where you sit,' Waverly repeated as she got to her feet and moved to the podium. 'Did the caller really say that?'

Looking wary, Harding sat up even straighter, and Hutch could see that she was bracing for an attack. 'Yes. Yes she did.'

'Those exact words?'

'Yes. It's not something I'm likely to forget. It frightened me.'

'I don't blame you. I think we can all agree it's a pretty disgusting thing to say. But are you sure it was my client who said it?' She gestured to Ronnie. 'Ms. Baldacci?'

Harding cocked a brow at her as if to say, you're kidding right?

'Why wouldn't I be? She called at least five times that day. And more than twice that during the week.'

'That's a lot of calls,' Waverly said. 'But let's go back for a moment. You testified that the first time you heard the name Veronica Baldacci was about a month before Ms. Keating was killed. Is that correct?'

'Yes.'

'And Ms. Keating pointed her out in a photograph on her desk.'

'Her credenza,' Harding said forcefully, as if she were a teacher correcting a student.