D.A. Peters doesn’t respond to Matthew’s quip. He sits down and directs his attention to me.

“Anyway, thanks for coming down here on such short notice,” I say.

He nods. “Of course. What is it you wanted to discuss? Might I remind you, the plea bargain is off the table.”

Anne gently closes the door behind her as she leaves.

“We wouldn’t take the plea bargain even if it were on the table.” Matthew gives him a stern look.

“Okay, then what is it you’re looking for?” D.A. Peters clasps his hands together.

I point to the stack of boxes, and then I slide a few more folders toward him. “This is our discovery so far. There will be more.”

He glances at the boxes and then pulls the folders toward him, flipping through them quickly. He closes them back up and looks at me.

“You might want to take a closer look. Not sure they taught you this at night school, but evidence is the most important part of a law case,” Matthew retorts.

D.A. Peters rolls his eyes, paying no mind to Matthew’s bad cop routine. “You could have sent these over to my office. I didn’t need to come down here.”

“I know that. I just wanted to give you the courtesy.” I smirk.

“The courtesy of what? This case is open and shut.”

“Is it, counselor? Because from what I’ve found, it’s not. That’s where my courtesy to you comes in. You’ve been good to me, and I didn’t want to embarrass you in that courtroom, so I’m giving you nearly all of our discovery early.”

He glances at the boxes again and at the folders in front of him. A look of suspicion begins to creep into his eyes as he tilts his head in either bewilderment or disbelief, I’m not sure which. I fully expected this reaction though: I would have the same. I quickly press on. “Oh, I almost forgot.” I slide another folder to him. This folder contains the transcript of a conversation between Jesse Hook and Sheriff Stevens. I highlighted areas that I need D.A. Peters to see. I need him to want to talk to this witness. I need him to get more information out of this witness.

He opens the folder up and scans it. “Who’s Jesse Hook?”

“Exactly,” Matthew says. “Not so open and shut, is it?”

“Jesse Hook is—” I say. There’s a scream from outside the conference room.

44. Adam Morgan

44

Adam Morgan