Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (2012 Watty Winner)

Attorney 'No No's'

"You know, falling for your client is Attorney 'no no', right?" Jackson says pulling me from my thoughts.

"Huh?" I mumble, looking up at him. He smiles and nods at the picture in my hand. "You've been staring at that for the past half hour." Jackson and I decided to stay late and go over some important details of the case. We're doing everything we can to find any loose ends or holes to poke in the District Attorney's case. We've been at this for over four hours and I'm beat. After that talk with Spencer yesterday and the way my heart... let's just say I was thinking about passing the case off to a colleague. But then I pictured her face in my head. The disappointment. I couldn't do it. Plus I made a promise.

"Oh, I um..."

"Save it for someone who'll believe it." He tells me and takes the picture out of my hand.

"She is one fi-"

"Shut it!" I tell him, snatching the picture back. He holds up his hands defensively and smiles.

"We've been at this forever, Ash. When are we going to call it a night?" He asks and I sigh. He's right, we're finding it really hard to find anything to give the jury doubt.

"If she ran from the house, why would she have come back not even ten minutes later to call an ambulance? Why not just keep running?" I ask aloud, more so to myself than anything.

"Say what?" Jackson asks, looking up from the file he was reading. I rifle through the stack of papers on my desk to find the eyewitness statement.

"The neighbor across the street said that she heard arguing and then a gun shot at 4:30pm. If Spencer was the person fleeing from the scene, how'd she get back inside the house without the neighbors seeing?" I ask, looking up from the paper to Jackson.

"The back door?" He asks in a questioning tone.

"You think the jury will buy that if Scott tries it?"

"Hard to say." Jackson shrugs.

"It just doesn't make any sense." I take off my reading glasses and place them on the desk, pinching the bridge of my nose. I could feel a headache coming on.

"You're gonna over work yourself ash." Jackson says standing up from the chair. "You should go home and get some rest, we can pick this up tomorrow."

"Yeah, you're right." I nod and start to gather up the mess of papers on my desk. "Spencer's parent's house in the morning, you coming?" I ask and he nods.

"See you tomorrow, Davies." He says before yawning and walking out my office.

"Night, Jack." I yell after him.

I can't say that I wasn't thankful that night when I got home and Michelle wasn't there. For once she'd listened to me. But I also can't say that I didn't miss the company. I warm body next to me...

–

"Spencer has always been a shy person. She didn't have many friends growing up, mostly kept to herself." Spencer's mother Paula, told me as she held a picture of her daughter in her hand. Jackson and I came over first thing in the morning to get some background on Spencer. Trying to prove moral fiber. That there was no possible way Spencer could have committed a crime of this nature.

"Mrs. Carlin, has Spencer ever talked to you about having troubles in her marriage or wanting to get a divorce?" I ask and Jackson's eyes shoot to mine.

What?

This is strictly professional.

"Oh no. Spencer was as happy as ever. Her and Aiden are happy...we're happy." She corrects herself as Mr. Carlin emerges from the kitchen with a tray holding four glasses of lemonade and a pitcher.