I decide to gild this lily a bit. “And to be clear, Lieutenant, you read many texts when you opened Ms. Wright’s phone, did you not?”

“Yes.”

“With respect to the texts on Ms. Wright’s phone that indicated that they came from Ms. Goodwin’s phone, did you ever see Ms. Goodwin compose any of those texts and then hit the ‘Send’ button?”

“No. I never saw Ms. Goodwin compose any texts.”

“Is that also true with regard to texts that were sent from Ms. Wright’s phone?”

“Yes. I believed that the texts that indicated that they were sent from Ms. Wright’s phone were sent by Lauren Wright. But, as I just said with regard to Ms. Goodwin, I also never saw Ms. Wright actually type out a text and press the ‘Send’ button.”

“Even though you did not actually witness these texts being typed and sent, did you draw any conclusions about the author and sender of the texts when you reviewed Ms. Wright’s phone?”

“Yes. I assumed that if the message indicated it was sent from Ms. Goodwin’s phone that she wrote the text and sent it.”

With that, I thank my boyfriend—still addressing him by his rank and surname. Then I pass the witness.

46. DANA GOODWIN

46.

DANA GOODWIN

My eyes ping-pong between LeMarcus Burrows and Gabriel Velasquez. Two very handsome men who are about the same age and very, very good at what they do for a living. Now one is an immovable object and the other an irresistible force.

I say a silent prayer that LeMarcus comes out on top. My life quite literally depends on it.

“Lieutenant Velasquez, my name is LeMarcus Burrows, and I am the lawyer representing Dana Goodwin in this trial. We’ve never met, have we, sir?”

“We have not.”

“I feel the need to get that out of the way because I don’t want the jury to think that you have a personal relationship with both the lawyers in this case.”

It’s a snarky comment meant as a dig at Ella, but LeMarcus delivers it with such charm that it provokes only a smile from Gabriel. The jurors are smiling too. I breathe a small sigh of relief with the thought that the ground Gabriel gained is going to be made up quickly by LeMarcus.

“Now, let’s start from my favorite place: the beginning. In this case, at that dinner that you and Ms. Broden had with Richard Trofino and Lauren Wright on the night Ms. Wright was killed. You said two things, in particular, that I want to focus on. First, Mr. Trofino had a lot to drink that night, didn’t he?”

It’s a clever opening gambit. By using the phrase “a lot,” LeMarcus is being intentionally vague. Either Gabriel agrees with him, in which case LeMarcus has made his point, or Gabriel will spar with him over the meaning of the term, thereby looking defensive.