Final Exam: A Legal Thriller (60 page)

They didn’t complete this testimony until after lunch on Friday.
 
It was almost three when Ben rose to call his next witness.
 
Judge Wilson looked at the clock on the wall and turned to Ben and asked, “Mr.
Lohmeier
, do you have a good idea about how long it will take to conduct the direct-examination of your next witness?
 
I don’t want to interrupt your examination to adjourn for the week.”
 

Ben considered the question for a moment and then decided to call Sally
Renfroe
, who would provide character evidence on Megan’s behalf.
 
He knew her testimony wouldn’t take that long and the cross-examination would not be that extensive either.
 
He looked at Judge Wilson and said, “Unless you have a preference for adjournment, your Honor, I could call a witness that we should probably be able to complete this afternoon.”
 

Judge Wilson nodded and looked in the direction of Bridget Fahey.
 
“Ms. Fahey,” he said, “is that okay with you?”
 

She rose and nodded.
 
“That’s fine,
your
Honor.”
 

Then Ben said, “The defense calls Sally
Renfroe
to the stand.”
 
The clerk called her name and Sally rose from near the back of the courtroom and made her way to the aisle, turned and walked confidently past the counsel tables to the witness stand.
 

As she took the witness stand and raised her hand to be sworn in by the clerk, Ben stood at the defense table reviewing his notes.
 
He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and looked toward the back of the courtroom, only to see several people entering and leaving.
 
He recognized one or two of them, whether from repeated appearances in the courtroom or somewhere else he didn’t know, then turned back to Sally
Renfroe
.
 

Then it hit him and he stopped in his tracks.
 
In his head, Ben could hear the little clicking noises of the pieces beginning to fall.
 
He looked back in the direction of the gallery, then back at the witness, then up to the Judge.
 
He glanced back at his notes as the clicking grew louder and louder, the pieces of the puzzle finally at long last falling into place.
 

He stood there transfixed, right in the middle of the courtroom, as the realization that he knew the identity of the killer of Daniel Greenfield hit home.
 
All the pieces were in place now.
 
He knew what happened.
 
He knew who the killer was.
 
Or at least he thought he did.

He looked down at the counsel table, trying to figure out what to do.
 
He tried to focus.
 
He heard voices.
 
His mind was racing now.
 
How should he handle this?
 
What should he do?
 
The voices grew louder.
 
Finally, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mark knock on the table slightly.
 
He turned and caught Mark’s eye, his eyebrows raised,
a
worried look on his friend’s face.
 
Then he heard the voices again.
 

“Mr.
Lohmeier
, Mr.
Lohmeier
.”
 
It was Judge Wilson.
 
Ben turned back toward the bench.
 
“Mr.
Lohmeier
, are you ready to proceed?”
 

He looked up at the Judge and tried to gather himself.
 
“Just one moment,
your
Honor.
 
I didn’t think we’d get to Ms.
Renfroe
today, so I just need a moment to get things together.”
 

“Okay,” the Judge said, “let’s get on with it.”
 

“In just one moment.”
 
Ben turned and faced Mark.
 
He appeared to fiddle with some files sitting on the corner of the counsel table even though he and Mark both knew that they had nothing to do with Sally
Renfroe’s
testimony.
 
He looked back at Sally
Renfroe
and nodded.
 
He made up his mind.
 
“Your Honor,” he said, everyone in the courtroom looking at him and now a little curious, “in looking at the time, given that it’s Friday afternoon, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to begin Ms.
Renfroe’s
testimony after all.
 
Although I’m confident I could get through her direct-examination in a reasonable amount of time …” he fumbled for his words.
 
“I think Ms. Fahey might be rushing through her cross-examination if we were to try to finish with this witness today.
 
Also, I’m sure that the members of the jury would appreciate getting out a little early on a Friday afternoon.
 
So, with the Court’s indulgence and Ms. Fahey’s indulgence, I would suggest that we adjourn now and pick up with Ms.
Renfroe
on Monday.”
 

Judge Wilson gave him a look that seemed to suggest that Ben should have known this earlier, but eventually he nodded in agreement and said, “Ms. Fahey, any problems with that?”
 

“No, I think that’s fine, Judge,” she said rising, giving Ben a puzzled look.
 

As the jury left the courtroom with two Sheriff’s deputies, Mark leaned over to Ben and asked, “What the hell was that all about?” in a voice barely above a whisper.
 
Megan also gave him a strange look.
 

Ben shook his head.
 
“Nothing.
 
I can’t tell you now.
 
I’ll tell you later.”

Now Mark looked even more confused.
 
“What?”

Ben cut him off with a wave of the hand.
 
“I said I can’t talk about it here,” Ben said firmly.
 
Ben grabbed his friend by the forearm and looked straight into his eyes.
 
“Do you understand me?” he said slowly.

Mark had seen that fire in Ben’s eyes before.
 
Something was up.
 
“Sure,” he said nodding, “we’ll talk later.”

Ben could feel his heart pounding.
 
Nervous energy surged through to his fingertips.
 
Even his knees were shaking.
 
He didn’t know what to do.

After Court was adjourned, Ben watched Sally
Renfroe
climb down from the witness stand and walk over to the defense table.
 
He didn’t want to look back at the gallery.
 
He stared at her trying to size her up.
 
When she reached them, she shrugged.
 
Ben tried to look casual.
 
He thought everyone could see through it.
 
“I’m sorry for putting you in that position,” he said to Sally.
 
“I didn’t initially intend to call you today, but I knew you were here and your testimony wouldn’t take so long, so I figured, what the hell?
 
Then I got to thinking that I wouldn’t get it done today and, well, you saw what happened.”
 

She nodded.
 
“That’s okay.
 
Monday is just as good as today.
 
I better go catch up with Peter,” she said gesturing toward the gallery.

Ben followed Sally with his eyes as she headed for the railing to meet her approaching husband.
 
Ben and Peter
Renfroe
made eye contact and the other man nodded.
 
Ben nodded back, forced a smile,
then
quickly looked away.
 

Ben turned his back on the
Renfroes
and exchanged some small talk with Meg, Mark and Dan, all of whom seemed to think he had behaved strangely.
 
He strained to seem normal and relaxed, while his insides were bursting with the fact that he may have solved the case.
 
I have to be right, he thought.
 
It all fits.
 
It all fucking fits.

Ben walked down the steps to the media throng trembling with excitement, his hands visibly shaking.
 
He balled them into fists and led Mark, Meg and Joe
Cavallaro
to the microphone.
 
He didn’t have time for this, he thought, but he couldn’t just blow them off.
 

“We think the case is proceeding very well,” he said with nervous smile.
 
“I think everyone, probably
yourselves
included, is glad to get out a little early on a Friday afternoon.
 
With that, I hope all of you have a nice weekend, and we’ll see you back here on Monday.”
 

Turning back to his colleagues , Ben gestured in the direction of the street.
 
They all seemed a bit surprised that his remarks had been so short.
 
Nevertheless, they all moved on, grateful to get out of there.
 
The reporters also seemed eager for the weekend to arrive.
 

Ben and Mark were soon separated by the dispersing crowd.
 
Ben could see his friend’s lumbering gait disappear among the crowd of reporters crossing the street in the general direction of their parking lot.
 
Joe
Cavallaro
caught Ben’s arm.
 
“I need a quick word,” he said in Ben’s ear.
 

I don’t need this! Ben screamed inside his own head.
 
Don’t they realize I know who did it?
 
He nevertheless gave
Cavallaro
a couple of minutes of his time while people milled all around them.
 
Ben kept looking at his watch, his impatience clear to everyone.
 
Finally, unable to contain himself any longer, Ben cut
Cavallaro
off in mid-sentence.
 
“Look,” Ben said, “I don’t mean to interrupt you, but I have to go.
 
I’ve got something I need to do at the office and it’s really important.”

Cavallaro
looked startled.
 
“Oh, sure,” he said.
 
“You go ahead.
 
Do what you have to do.
 
Call me later.”

Ben didn’t wait for
Cavallaro
to say anything else.
 
He simply nodded to Meg and took off for the car.

Within five minutes, Ben was maneuvering the SUV down the alley toward 26th Street and pulling his cell phone from his pocket.
 
He dialed Mark.
 
He needed to talk this out.
 
He had to make sure he was right, that his logic made sense.
 
No holes.
 
The call went quickly to voicemail.
 
Ben slapped his phone closed and slammed it down on the seat next to him.
 
Mark didn’t have his phone on again.
 
“God
dammit
!
 
Now what?” he said.
 
He reached the intersection and had to make a snap decision – the Stevenson Expressway or the Eisenhower?
 
Ben looked at his watch.
 
It was already almost four, on a Friday afternoon no less.
 
Neither choice was a good one.
 
He picked the Eisenhower since he was heading back to the office and drove off in that direction.

The arterial streets were clogged with Courthouse traffic and Ben inched northward toward the Expressway.
 
His mind continued to race with possibilities and he tapped his fingers non-stop on the steering wheel.
 
He thought of Nelson and tried to remember his cell phone number.
 
The detective hadn’t been in Court.
 
Although Ben didn’t really have any proof in support of his growing conviction that he finally had the pieces of the puzzle in place, he knew how they could get it.
 
How would Nelson react to Ben’s theory?
 
Ben thought he could be convinced.
 
Sure, Ben had been hard on him during cross-examination, but Nelson knew the lay of the land.
 
He had been around long enough.
 
He knew how things worked.
 
It wasn’t anything personal.
 

Ben couldn’t remember the number and knew he hadn’t programmed it into his phone.
 
It had been a long time since he had called Nelson, probably since Meg’s arrest.
 
He knew he had it at the office, he couldn’t remember quite where at the moment, maybe buried somewhere on his desk.
 

Fifteen minutes later, he still hadn’t reached the Expressway.
 
He tried Mark again.
 
Still nothing.
 
Between the traffic and Mark, he thought he was losing his mind.
 
Then he called the office.
 
Nancy picked up.
   

“Nance, it’s me,” Ben said.
 
“I need to talk to Funk.”
 

“He’s not here,” Nancy replied.
 
“He left a few minutes ago.”