I nod to indicate that he’s made a good point. It takes only one person to hang a jury.

“But I still think Trofino is the more attractive choice,” he continues. “It’s a hard sell that a sitting DA commits murder to avoid a potential primary challenge. People lose elections all the time. In his case, the worst-case scenario is that he’ll end up making millions of dollars in the private sector if he’s voted out of office. Besides, when a woman having an affair is murdered, it doesn’t seem plausible that her murder is completely unrelated to that. By contrast, everyone on earth will believe that Richard Trofino had an obvious motive for killing his wife. And I suspect the jury will hate him every bit as much as McKenney. A multimillionaire who can’t take no for an answer. My thinking is that we explain away the text by claiming that Lauren mistakenly took your phone home the night of the murder. That kind of mix-up happens sometimes. Richard read the texts, flew into a jealous rage, and then decided that he could kill his wife and frame you for the murder just by sending a text from your phone. As part of that theory, we’ll need to demonstrate that you didn’t have a passcode on your phone. Otherwise, Richard wouldn’t have been able to access it, even if he did have it in his possession.”

“I really didn’t have a passcode,” I say, understanding that this fact is essential to any defense that involves someone else sending the text from my phone. “And I can do you one better on your theory about how Richard came into possession of my iPhone. On the night Lauren was killed, Richard was alone in my office. He could have taken the phone then.”

LeMarcus smiles like he’s hit the lotto. “That’s good. Very good, in fact. Now tell me, who can testify that he was in your office alone?”

I think for a moment. Then I realize I know the answer to this one.

“Rita DeSapio. She’s the secretary that Lauren and I shared. Her desk is between our offices. Even if she doesn’t remember, I’m certain we can prove Richard was in the building that evening, because he must have signed in downstairs.”

“Excellent. Now, about the phone. How can we prove that you didn’t have it that evening?”

I know that this is going to be more difficult. “I bought a new one the next day,” I say.

He nods but isn’t convinced. “Okay . . .” he says, pausing, most likely in the hope that I’m going to give him something better to work with. We both know that if I did send the text and then murder Lauren, the first thing I’d do is get rid of my phone, so a purchase the next day doesn’t prove very much.