Presumption of Innocence: David Brunelle Legal Thriller #1 (22 page)

The force of his denial belied it.

"And after that," Brunelle went on, "no one in the civil law community wanted to hire you again, isn't that right?"

"That is not right. I continued to testify in child custody cases and all types of civil litigation."

"But word got out, and the phone stopped ringing and you needed to expand into criminal work to pay the bills?"

"I chose to expand into criminal work."

Brunelle nodded again. "But criminal work is different, isn't it? The prosecution, we have our own psychologists, right? The doctors at Western State Hospital, right? And they're paid a salary. We don't have to pay them anything. So the State never would retain a private psychologist like you, isn't that right?"

"I wouldn't say never," Orbst replied. "It does happen."

Brunelle smiled. "But you'd agree that it's very rare."

Orbst surrendered a shrug. "I suppose it is rare."

"Exactly. So if you're going to make a living testifying in criminal cases it's going to be by testifying for defense attorneys, isn't it?"

Orbst pulled himself up. "It's going to be by testifying truthfully."

"Sure, sure." Brunelle waved the answer away. "But you would agree with me that if every time you got hired by a defense attorney, you testified that the defendant was competent to stand trial and legally responsible for his actions, well, after a while, those defense attorneys would stop calling?"

"I, I don't know."

"But," Brunelle drew the word out and laid a hand on the witness partition, "if you testified in a notorious murder case—one with shock value from an innocent young girl and a crazy vampire-man—and the murderer got acquitted because of your testimony? Your phone would be ringing off the hook, wouldn't it?"

"I testified honestly," Orbst defended.

"Those shoes are really scuffed," Brunelle observed. "Have you bought a pair since Lindsey's dad drowned her in the tub?"

"Objection!"

"Do you think of that little girl when your finger catches on a loose thread of your jacket?"

Welles objected again, but the judge wasn't ruling on them, so Brunelle pressed on.

"Exactly how many zeros is your so-called expert opinion based on?"

"My expert opinion is based on years of study and hard work, a thorough review of all the police reports, and an extended clinical interview with Mr. Karpati!"

Brunelle stopped. He turned to Yamata who raised an eyebrow to show her understanding. Welles' eyes flew wide, then dropped intently to his legal pad. The judge had the slightest curve buried in the corner of her mouth. The jury didn't get it. But they were about to.

"You spoke with Mr. Karpati?" Brunelle asked.

Orbst's face showed he realized it too, but it was too late.

Anything you say can and will be used against you.

When Orbst hesitated, Brunelle clarified, "You spoke with him about the murder?"

"Objection," Welles tried half-heartedly. "Calls for hearsay."

Weak
. Every lawyer in the room knew a defendant's own statements were never hearsay when the prosecution elicited them.

"Overruled."

"Then another objection," Welles tried again. "Any communications between my client and his psychologist are privileged."

Weak too.

"He opened the door, your honor," Brunelle responded. "The witness mentioned the interview first, not me. I should be allowed to explore."

"Objection overruled. Proceed, Mr. Brunelle."

Brunelle mentally cracked his knuckles. He'd just wanted to rattle Orbst, make him look like the expert-for-hire he was. He hadn't expected this, but he wasn't going to waste it either. The temptation was to ask 'What did he say?' But this was cross examination. Lead the witness, make him agree with you.

"Karpati admitted he killed Emily Montgomery, didn't he?"

Orbst shifted uneasily in his chair. He absently fondled the worn cuff of his jacket. Finally, after the gears stopped turning, he looked away from the jury and admitted, "Yes."

All the professionals in the room knew Orbst would never get hired again. Too bad for him.

"He tied her hands behind her back, hoisted her upside down, and slit her artery to drain her blood, right?"

Another pause. Orbst still didn't look at the jury. "Right."

"And he did it because he wanted people to think he was a vampire, correct?"

Orbst looked up at Brunelle defiantly. "He did it because he is mentally ill and not responsible for his actions."

Brunelle frowned. One question too far, that was the danger in cross. But he'd needed to ask that question. Having done so, he had to clean up Orbst's answer. Or at least scare the hell out of the jury so they would never consider walking Karpati.

"Mentally ill?" Brunelle confirmed.

"Yes," Orbst sneered. "It is my expert opinion that Mr. Karpati suffers from vampirism and therefore does not appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct. He believes it necessary for his survival, and therefore acts under the influence of an irresistible impulse."

Brunelle nodded. "Irresistible impulse?"

"Oh yes."

"So given the opportunity, he'd do it again?"

"Absolutely," Orbst crossed his arms. "And when he did, it would prove I'm right."

Brunelle nodded. There was so much more he could ask, but he was done.

"No further questions."

"Redirect examination, Mr. Welles?"

All eyes turned to the defense attorney. He was in a heated whisper exchange with his client. Whatever Karpati was saying, he was angry and emphatic. Welles was shaking his head and tapping the legal pad with his pen for emphasis.

"Mr. Welles?"

Welles stood up. "No further questions, Your Honor. Thank you. At this time the defense would suggest we adjourn until Monday. My client and I have some matters to discuss."

The judge shrugged and looked at Brunelle and Yamata. "Any objection?"

Brunelle looked to Yamata, but she waved her hand back to him. His call. It had been a long week. And it was a good way to leave it with the jury.

"No objection, Your Honor."

"Court is adjourned," the judge quickly declared. "We will reconvene Monday morning at nine."

The clerk hit the gavel, the bailiff led out the jurors, and the guards took Karpati away. Brunelle expected a smarmy comment from Welles, but the defense attorney was busy packing his things. He avoided Brunelle's gaze.

"That was awesome!" Yamata yanked Brunelle's face to hers. "I could kiss you right now."

Brunelle stared at her for a second, then shook his head. "How the hell did you win a sexual harassment suit against your old firm? You're the most flirtatious lawyer I've ever had the pleasure to try a case with."

Yamata cocked her head, then let out a belly laugh, just making her even hotter somehow. "Is that what everyone thinks? No wonder no one will talk to me. Not 'sexual harassment,' dummy. 'Sexual discrimination.' As in 'gender discrimination.' As in one of the old-boy partners got caught saying he'd never make a woman a partner. Thought he'd hung up his phone but it was on speaker. Hello, payday, and goodbye, law firm. Finally could pay off my student loans and take a kick-ass prosecutor job for half the money."

Brunelle was stunned. That was a lot of unexpected information all at once. He latched onto the last bit. "Half?"

Yamata laughed again, a deep purr of a laugh. "Okay, a third." Then she thought for a second and laughed again. "Hey, don't tell anybody, okay? I kinda like everyone being scared of me."

Brunelle shrugged. "I won't tell, but Welles probably heard and I can't speak for—"

He turned to the defense table, but Welles had slipped away without so much as a goodbye. That wasn't like him.

Brunelle should have known it meant trouble.

Chapter 42

"And then he says," Brunelle swallowed his bite and pointed at Kat with his fork, "No, my opinion is based on my education, the police reports, and.... my interview of Mr. Karpati!"

Kat nodded. "Okay, sounds reasonable."

Brunelle shook his head. "No, no. The point is, we didn't know he'd done that interview. Defense doesn't have to share that with us. I mean, not unless they're gonna use it at trial. Welles probably should've given it to me, but I never would have known if Orbst hadn't let it slip."

"Ah," Kat nodded. "Well, lucky break for you."

"Luck?" Brunelle scoffed. "More like scathing cross examination."

Kat just raised an eyebrow.

Brunelle laughed. "Okay, yeah, luck. But I got him to admit that Karpati had confessed to the murder."

"Wow, how did he explain that away?"

"He said Karpati was mentally ill and driven by an irresistible impulse. He'd do it again and that just proves he's not guilty by reason of insanity."

Kat's face scrunched into a frown. "That logic is what's crazy."

"I know," Brunelle laughed. "And so does the jury. No way they let him out."

Then his cell phone vibrated. He looked down at it and shrugged. "I'm gonna ignore that, I think."

"What if it's a new homicide?" Kat questioned.

"Then you're probably the next person they'll call," Brunelle smiled. "We'll see if your phone goes off too."

The persistent hum of Brunelle's phone was clearly audible over the voices of the restaurant.

"You know," Kat leaned onto the table and gestured toward the phone on his hip. "That could be fun under the right circumstances.

Brunelle smiled. "Hmm. Not sure I can text one-handed."

Kat's eyes twinkled. "Maybe I'll do the texting. You can watch."

Brunelle's eyebrows shot up. "Oh my." Then he scanned the restaurant. "Time for the check, I think."

Kat laughed. "We're still on the appetizer, Romeo. Besides, Lizzy's at the house."

"I have an apartment," Brunelle replied. "And we can hit the drive-thru on the way back to your place."

"Great, walk in to see my daughter, still smelling like you and french fries. Mom of the Year."

Brunelle's phone was still buzzing, or rather buzzing again.

Kat nodded at it. "You better answer that."

Brunelle frowned. "Yeah, you're probably right."

He pulled the phone from its hip holder and pressed it to his ear. "Brunelle." Then. "Hey, Michelle. What's up? Kinda busy here."

Kat waited and watched as Brunelle's face dropped.

Then he lowered the phone. "Karpati posted bail. He's out."

He thought for a moment then raised a haunted gaze to Kat. "Lizzy."

"Lizzy?" she repeated quizzically. Then her voice hardened. "What about Lizzy?"

"He knows it was her," Brunelle explained. "That she's the one I sent into the jail. He overheard us talking after you testified."

Kat stared at him for just a moment, then screamed, "Damn you, David Brunelle!" and ran for the door.

Brunelle only hesitated for a second before running after her, his hand digging the car keys out of his pocket as he went.