FiFty Fifty

Chapter Twenty - Seven

KATE

The consultation room in the Center Street courthouse was both cold and uncomfortable. Alexandra dressed in a smart black pantsuit with a white silk blouse beneath the jacket. She shivered, and Kate couldn't tell if it was due to the temperature or the thought of the trial due to begin in the next hour.
Bloch wore a navy blazer, blue shirt and tan chinos. This was Bloch dressing up for the jury. She looked professional, and yet casual enough not to be uncomfortable. Kate had suggested Bloch wear a suit for court appearances. She had said nothing in return, and Kate accepted the outfit as a fair compromise.
Pulling down the hem of her skirt over her knees, Kate read the notes for her opening speech to the jury. She had been preparing it for almost a week – practicing in front of the mirror. She had cut it down from an hour and ten, to just ten minutes. The speech touched on all the main points of evidence, highlighted the presumption of innocence, and laid the groundwork for the case against Sofia.
An old, scratched-up table sat between Alexandra and Kate. Alexandra's fingers drummed on the tabletop. In the past weeks, Alexandra had become increasingly nervous, her anxiety building with each passing day. It seemed natural. As long as Kate could keep her own worries and anxieties from the client, things wouldn't get too much for Alexandra.
Sliding her notes to one side, Kate turned her attention to her client.
'You're really scared, and that's completely natural. It's okay to be scared. I'd be worried if you were calm. You just have to get through the next few days. That's all. Remember what I told you?'
Alexandra nodded, said, 'Okay, I'll try it.'
Her fingers quieted and became still. She took in a long breath, and instantly an air of something approaching calm settled over her.
Kate had told Alexandra to wiggle her toes if she was nervous. No one would see her do it. It was an anti-anxiety trick Kate learned in law school. Witnesses, defendants, even lawyers, can't help getting nervous. There was no way to stop it, but there were ways of dealing with it. Consciously wiggling your toes gives anxiety an outlet. No one can see you do it, so you have a calm and confident exterior.
 
'I'll take two of my meds – that'll help ease it,' said Alexandra. She popped two pills into her hand from a blister pack and swallowed them with water. They were low-level anti-anxiety meds. Alexandra took one every day. Doubling the dose on the first day of a murder trial didn't seem like a bad idea to Kate.
There was a knock on the door behind Kate. Moving off the wall, Bloch unfolded her arms. Opening the door an inch or two, she peered out. Somehow, between Kate and Bloch they had managed to avoid the journalists and hacks that surrounded cases of this type like scavenger birds feasting on a corpse.
'It's Dreyer,' said Bloch.
Kate stood and followed her into the corridor.
'God, what is it? Is it bad?' asked Alexandra. Any pretense of calm
evaporated. Her shoulders tensed, her hands came up as if she were about to fend off a blow.
'I'm sure it's fine. Wait here. I'll be back,' said Kate.
In the corridor Dreyer stood with three assistant DAs behind him. All were thin, youthful men who looked at least five years younger than the prosecutor. Little Dreyers in waiting, thought Kate.
In his hands he held a bound document with a laminated cover marked, 'Further Disclosure.'
'What's this?' said Kate. 'Don't tell me this is something I should have been given months ago or I will file notice with the judge – you're giving me great points on appeal before we've even begun.'
'Can we talk alone?' said Dreyer.
Kate eyed the young men behind Dreyer and said, 'Bloch stays.'
'As you wish,' said Dreyer. He stepped forward and the entourage scattered.
He held out the document like it was toxic. Having been served with a lawsuit not long ago, she was wary of accepting papers without first knowing what they contained.
'What is it?' said Kate.
'We had a request from Flynn for a toxicology screening on Frank Avellino. Blood and organs were tested. These are the results. I'm not obliged to share them with you, but I figure you and Flynn should at least have a fair fight.'
Kate took the document, flicked through to the conclusion.
'What is Haloperidol?' she asked. Traces had been found in Frank Avellino's liver, brain and blood.
'You have to figure that out for yourself. We're tearing apart the property now, looking for any trace of it. What you should really be pondering is how Flynn knew to test for it when we didn't, and why it was present in Avellino's system at all. My guess is the answers can't be good for your client, Miss

Brooks.'
Kate handed the report to Bloch as Dreyer walked away.
Bloch flicked through the pages, read the conclusion and handed the
document back to Kate in under a minute. In that time, Kate had accessed her phone's Google search facility and was looking for an academic article on Haloperidol – something, anything more reliable than Wikipedia.
'You don't need to search it,' said Bloch. 'It's a pacifier. An old girlfriend of mine used to work in a geriatric care home in Bay City. Said most of her job was cleaning up shit. In Bay City they liked to keep the patients docile. Liquid Haloperidol in their oatmeal did the trick.'
'It's an antipsychotic. Jesus, they give that to old people?'
'They used to in Bay City,' she said.
'And they don't anymore?'
'Not after I heard about it. I paid a visit to the care manager. Seems like most
of their stock of Haloperidol was accidentally poured down a drain in the middle of the night. Same night that the manager had a nasty fall on a torn piece of carpet and broke both of her arms.'
Kate reminded herself how glad she was to count Bloch as a friend. She would never want her as an enemy.
'Why was Frank Avellino taking it? There's no mention of it in his medical records?' said Kate. There was something in that statement that made her think more. Like she was on the precipice of something key to the whole case. Bloch got there before her.
'Maybe Frank didn't know he was taking it,' said Bloch.
Alexandra's head shot up from the desk as soon as Kate returned.
'What did he want?' asked Alexandra.
Kate brandished the document, let it fall on the desk dramatically.
'It's a toxicology report. It says your father had large amounts of a drug in his
system when he was murdered – Haloperidol. You ever heard of it?' Alexandra's shoulders relaxed, her expression changed. Where she had been tense and worried before Kate returned, she now had a very different aspect. Her lips set in something like determination – a fire lit behind her eyes – she said, 'Yes, I've heard of it. I've known about it for years. My sister used to take it
when she was young.'