The other judicial concept they discussed in the jury room: reasonable doubt. Using your ability to reason, to ask questions, to doubt. Wasn’t that what the term meant? And given that, weren’t there reasons to doubt? If you couldn’t understand something like the Cloud, wasn’t it reasonable to have doubts about it? To have doubts about its structure, its accuracy, its reliability? If it wasn’t clear, well that was the very definition of doubt, wasn’t it? Cope’s closing argument echoed in their minds, reverberating with the sound of both American values and common sense. “Look, I’m not saying Joey Richter didn’t do it. I’m his lawyer, and I’m admitting, maybe he did. But I am saying that we haven’t heard the proof, the pretty much doubtless proof, that our law and our system requires and that this courtroom must deliver.”

Yes, there is doubt. And if there is doubt, there is reason to doubt. Is the doubt truly reasonable? That is a distinction lost on many juries. Including this one.

Joey stares at the pocket squares of his attorneys, Cope and Carter. At their alligator shoes, shiny beneath the defense table. The pocket squares and shoes tell him a lot. He isn’t asked to contribute a dime. If Karloff is footing the bill, as he assumed (and no one would confirm it to him, which told him it was true), then there will be, he knows, an expectation. He doesn’t know what it is. But he knows Karloff isn’t coming to his spirited defense out of the goodness of his heart. As far as Joey knows, Karloff has no heart.

Joey can feel the grim seriousness, the tight silence, close around his legal team, as arguments conclude and the jury files into the jury room.

And the longer the jury takes, as the minutes and then hours tick away, he can feel the energy, the excitement, the anticipation, starting to fill his team. The looks they begin to exchange. Slight smiles, amused, even cheerful. Their thinking is obvious: the longer the jury is out, the more evident it is that there is substantial disagreement. And while disagreement might mean the jury is deadlocked, unable to reach a verdict, it can also mean the jury will vote to acquit.

Seeing the growing anticipation and the bounce in his team’s steps as they go for more and more coffee, Joey begins to feel a little dizzy. Disoriented. He has done everything the prosecution is accusing him of. Every little thing. They had been careful, methodical, and he doesn’t think they’d gotten a single detail wrong. They have the photo evidence, of course, to make sure they got everything right. They have timelines to make sure everything connects. Their methodical care is impressive.