BRODIE: Mallory and I had drinks. Talked. Danced. I’d just gone through a bit of a hard thing, and she talked me through it.
Mallory’s heart seized. His father had just left the family. In her blind rage for her family, she’d forgotten about this pressing issue.
SUSAN: What kind of hard thing?
BRODIE: It’s not pertinent to the case. I’d rather not discuss it.
SUSAN: Everything could be pertinent to the case.
BRODIE: I won’t discuss it. (Long pause.) Anyway, we ended up at my house. She slept over. And the next morning, when I woke up, she was gone.
SUSAN: Were you immediately aware that she’d discovered her grandfather’s ring on the side table?
BRODIE: No. Well, I knew it was gone, but I thought I’d just misplaced it. Several hours later, the police arrived, and since then, it’s been one big hellish affair.
SUSAN: Brodie, please. You have to tell me where you got that ring. I don’t care what your answer is. I’ve been the legal counsel for murderers and rapists, people who’ve done unconscionable things. You’ve been caught with one of the items taken from the house, an item worth upward of fifteen thousand dollars.
BRODIE: Fifteen? Jesus. (Laughs.) I barely make that a year.
SUSAN: You got the ring from somewhere, Brodie. If you broke into the house with a group of people and stole these items, I can create a plea for you, one that involves you turning the rest of your party in.
BRODIE: I guess that covers my question of whether or not you believe me.
Mallory’s heart seized. Believe me. Believe me. The words rang through her head.
BRODIE: I’m not going to tell you where I got the ring.
SUSAN: Who are you protecting?
BRODIE: I’m sorry.
SUSAN: You’re making it much harder on me and even harder on yourself.
Mallory seethed with confusion. Abruptly, she jumped from her desk chair and headed for Susan’s office. The door was cracked, and as Mallory approached, she could make out Susan and Bruce’s conversation.
“He won’t cooperate at all,” Susan breathed.
“It’s like he wants to go to prison or something,” Bruce countered. “Poor guy. I thought stepping in to help him would organize him a bit. Help him understand the best steps forward. But…”
Mallory rapped on the door, too overwhelmed not to force herself forward.
“Who is it?” Susan called.
Mallory crept through the door, her heart pounding. Her eyes locked on Susan’s.
“He told me something,” Mallory whispered. “About his family. About how they wanted him to work the family business, but he refused.”
Mallory paused for a long moment, her head pounding.Tell Susan about Brodie’s father. Tell her that he skipped town not long after the robbery.
But on the transcript, Brodie had very purposefully not said his father’s name. Why? The man had run away from his family, leaving them in a terrible lurch.
“The family business,” Bruce muttered. “Maybe a robbery ring?”
“It would make sense,” Susan said, furrowing her brow. “Brodie doesn’t seem the type to want to throw his family under the bus.”
“This doesn’t completely clear him, Mall,” Susan said, writing manically on a notecard. “It just could give us the reasonable doubt we need. Something to dig into.”
“I know,” Mallory said.
“People can be very good at manipulation and lying,” Susan explained, her shoulders slumping. “We have to be wary of every possibility.”
“But this is really good information,” Bruce told Mallory, his hand in a fist. “Your instincts are good, Mallory. Keep it up.”