The Reversal

me.”
    “Yeah, well, he’s probably in it for a dip into the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We probably should have seen something like this coming.”
    It was a defense tactic I had used myself before, but not with such obviousness. If you didn’t like the judge or the prosecutor, one way of getting them off the case was to bring someone onto your team who has a conflict of interest with them. Since the defendant is constitutionally guaranteed the defense counsel of his choice, it is usually the judge or prosecutor who must be disqualified from the trial. It was a shrewd move by Royce.
    “You see what he’s doing, right?” Maggie said. “He is trying to isolate you. He knows I’m the one person you would trust as second chair and he’s trying to take that away from you. He knows that without me you are going to lose.”
    “Thanks for your confidence in me.”
    “You know what I mean. You’ve never prosecuted a case. I’m there to help you through it. If he gets me kicked off the table, then who are you going to have? Who would you trust?”
    I nodded. She was right.
    “Okay, give me the facts. How long were you with Bell?”
    “With him? I wasn’t. We went out briefly seven years ago. No more than two months and if he says differently he’s a liar.”
    “Is the conflict that you had the relationship or is there something else, something you did or said, something he has knowledge of that creates the conflict?”
    “There’s nothing. We went out and it just didn’t take.”
    “Who dropped who?”
    She paused and looked down at the floor.
    “He did.”
    I nodded.
    “Then there’s the conflict. He can claim you carry a grudge.”
    “A woman scorned, is that it? This is such bullshit. You men are—”
    “Hold on, Maggie. Hold on. I’m saying that is their argument. I am not agreeing. In fact, I want—”
    The door to the stairwell opened and the prosecutor who took our places when we had gotten up for the recess entered and started up the steps. I checked my watch. Only eight minutes had gone by.
    “She went back into chambers,” he said as he passed. “You guys are fine.”
    “Thanks.”
    I waited until I heard his steps on the next landing before continuing in a quiet tone with Maggie.
    “Okay, how do I fight this?”
    “You tell the judge that this is an obvious attempt to sabotage the prosecution. They’ve hired an attorney for the sole reason that he had a relationship with me, not because of any skill he brings to the table.”
    I nodded.
    “Okay. What else?”
    “I don’t know. I can’t think… it was remote in time, no strong emotional attachment, no effect on professional judgment or conduct.”
    “Yeah, yeah, yeah… and what about Bell? Does he have something or know something I have to watch out for?”
    She looked at me like I was some sort of traitor.
    “Maggie, I need to know so there’s no surprise on top of the surprise, okay?”
    “Fine, there’s nothing. He must really be hard up if he’s taking a fee just to knock me off the case.”
    “Don’t worry, two can play this game. Let’s go.”
    We went back into the courtroom and as we went through the gate I nodded to the clerk so she could call the judge back from chambers. Instead of going to the prosecution table, I diverted to the defense side where Royce was sitting next to his client. David Bell was now seated at the table on the other side of Jessup. I leaned over Royce’s shoulder and whispered just loud enough that his client would hear.
    “Clive, when the judge comes out, I’ll give you the chance to withdraw this motion. If you don’t, number one, I’m going to embarrass you in front of the camera and it will be digitally preserved forever. And number two, the release-and-remuneration offer I made to your client last week is withdrawn. Permanently.”
    I watched Jessup’s eyebrows rise a few centimeters. He hadn’t heard anything about an offer involving money and freedom. This was because I hadn’t made one. But now it would be up to Royce to convince his client that he had not withheld anything from him. Good luck with that.
    Royce smiled like he was pleased with my comeback. He leaned back casually and tossed his pen on his legal pad. It was a Montblanc with gold trim and that was no way to treat it.
    “This is really going to get good, yes, Mick?” he said. “Well, I’ll tell you. I’m not withdrawing the motion and I think if you had made me an offer involving release