is your lover playing on your side?

[beyondtheblonde]

The thing about working for different firms this summer is that it means Elle spends more time on her own cases, less time studying others or hearing about Emmett's. With him at Poolman and her with the D.A., she can't listen to anything about his work anyway. There are a few cases they're arguing that she knows his firm is on the other side of, and she's literally on one of them. If there's anything she knows that they don't or if he knows anything the D.A. has and she finds out about it, it's trouble for both of them.

Both the D.A. and Poolman and Cooke have so many cases they're overseeing anyway that the odds of them actually being on the same one are pretty slim. It's easier, therefore, not to mention what their cases are at all.

So she's really not expecting to see Emmett when she gets to court that morning.

She's only an associate, pulling her weight but not allowed to talk or do anything major. He's an actual lawyer and part of her can't believe he's actually doing this. She works whatever case she gets put on, but he — well, he can't really afford to say no, at this point in his career, but if he had a strong objection, she's sure they would move him to a case where he'd be more use. If he's here, it's because he has to be or because he actually thinks Aaron King should walk free.

She was only in Darrow for a couple of months when King was arrested for murdering his wife, but she's had plenty of time to go over the evidence: the neighbors who saw King return to the building shortly before the shots rang out; the best friend who has sworn in repeat statements that he arrived to find King kneeling over his wife's prone body; the reports from co-workers claiming King had been unusually agitated for days before the murder. With no other suspects and no reasonable explanation for the timeline, the case appears to her as good as closed.

As long as court is in session, though, there's nothing she can do about Emmett's presence, beyond stealing a few bewildered glances. He's distracting, and not just in the usual way, though he looks really good dressed for court. She's almost positive she's the one that bought that tie; of course he looks good. She tries to keep her head down anyway, take notes, pay attention. Just because he's defending a murderer doesn't mean she's going to let herself slack off or get in trouble when they get back to the D.A.'s office. She's still seething by the time she leaves again, though, heading for Emmett's in the evening.

"I can't believe you're on his defense," she says in lieu of hello. "Are you crazy?"

Comments

[beyondtheblonde]

"That's not always enough," Elle says. She doesn't mean his instincts, though. Emmett is a good guy. He's a smart guy, and he's a good lawyer, and while she's not entirely convinced, she believes that he believes. That's enough of a start for her. But juries have convicted before on less, and not everyone has the time or money for a lengthy appeals process. If he's right, then he's going to need more than mere reasonable doubt, no matter the letter of the law. "You need something more substantial."

She can't ask him to share, though. She's not on his team, technically.

[driven_as_hell]

"And I'm looking for that," Emmett says, as serious as can be. He may have reasonable doubt on his side, but he doesn't want to count on that and he doesn't want to coast through this trial, not with so much at stake for his client. That it will only look good for him as well if he gets a win here doesn't matter nearly as much as making sure the wrong man doesn't go to prison, and he's convinced that that's what would be the case. And if it is, then there has to be that something substantial. It's just a matter of turning over the right stones, looking at things the right way. If she weren't on the other side, he'd ask if she would be willing to look at it all with a fresh pair of eyes. As it is, whatever he finds, he'll have to enter, of course, but this wouldn't be the way to let her know about it when she's supposed to help the prosecutor get a conviction. "I'll find it."

[beyondtheblonde]

"Well, you're running short on time," Elle says. He doesn't need the reminder probably, but it's what comes out all the same. His instincts won't be enough if he doesn't work fast. "He doesn't have anything for you? Nothing that can prove his story? And if he is innocent —" It occurs to her as she's speaking. "Where did the actual killer go?"

[driven_as_hell]

"If there was anything that could prove it, it would be in evidence by now," Emmett says, sighing heavily. He may be sure, but he can't pretend that it isn't stressful, having nothing concrete, nothing except the absence of other evidence to try to convince the jury that his client is innocent. That Elle is working for and agrees with the prosecution, he can't blame her for in the slightest, but that doesn't help, either. "But my theory is that the killer went down the fire escape. Less chance of being noticed by neighbors, or seen by King when he got home. After that, he could've gone anywhere."

[beyondtheblonde]

The fact that there seems to be no footage of that possible escape route is frustrating, to say the least. Not everything can be under surveillance at all times, Elle knows, but it would help an awful lot if there were a camera across the street that happened to have that window in frame. Then they'd have something to check, a way to know for certain.

"Then what's the motive?" she asks. "Nothing stolen. If it's a robbery gone wrong, she interrupted him very early on."

[driven_as_hell]

"I don't think it was a robbery," Emmett says, shaking his head. "Whoever it was, they knew what time her husband would be getting home, they knew how to make it seem like he did it. It was personal." His best guess is still the lover, but they've been unsuccessful so far in trying to track him down, making his job a lot harder than it might otherwise be. If he had something concrete instead of just theoretical, he might stand more of a chance of convincing the jury his client is innocent. "Someone with an axe to grind with one or the other or both. Maybe she was calling off the affair. Maybe that best friend wasn't such a good friend after all."

[beyondtheblonde]

Elle sighs, taking a seat with a flounce of her skirt. "I wish we could ask her," she says. "But then there wouldn't be a case." It isn't fair, and she thinks that might be much more apparent to her on this side of the aisle. Thinking like a defense attorney, her concern has always been the client. Right now, though, it's hard to do anything but remember those crime scene photos and depositions given about Mrs. King's character. The marriage seemed like such a happy one, but people hide unhappy marriages all the time. In all the uproar over the case, it's the victim who gets forgotten.

[driven_as_hell]

"Yeah, if only," Emmett agrees with a sigh of his own, shaking his head a little. He’d be short a case, but it wouldn’t matter. Mrs. King still being alive would be infinitely preferable to all of this. He just can’t let himself get too hung up on it that it gets in the way of his defending his client. It’s already difficult enough for King as it is, having just lost his wife and now being on trial for her murder. The least Emmett can do is make sure that he has the best representation possible, one thing he might then not have to worry about quite as much. "She’s the only person who’d really know what went on, other than the killer."

[beyondtheblonde]

When she was defending Brooke, it was all about making sure that her client got the best possible outcome. Elle didn't want Brooke to waste away her life in jail or lose her career over a guilty verdict for a crime she didn't do. Her husband is dead and that can't be changed; how Brooke spends the rest of her life could be. She didn't think too much about the dead man or the horrible thing that happened to him. This new perspective hurts a little. Nothing about this job is easy on either side of the court, but she's still certain it's where she's meant to be.

"Just saying maybe it was someone else isn't enough," she says. If anyone at the office knew she was saying this, she'd be in huge trouble, but if Emmett's right, then the truth is way more important. He has good instincts. She trusts him. "You need a reasonable alternative to show the jury."

[driven_as_hell]

"I know," Emmett says, and exhales heavily, dragging his hands over his face. "I'm just trying to come up with something that's more than just a hunch." If he's going to, there isn't much time left for him to do it. He's been poring over information until his eyes cross, running on as little sleep as he did when he was a law student, and still he hasn't got anything concrete. If he were the only one with something at stake, that would be one thing, but his client's future depends on his ability to pull this off, and he knows, he knows, that Aaron King didn't do it. "Something that might actually be convincing."

[beyondtheblonde]

"Someone whose alibi doesn't hold up," Elle says, "or doesn't exist. Their alibi doesn't exist, I mean, not them. They'd be totally useless to you if they didn't exist. But everything seems real solid." He'll have to drill some serious holes into witnesses to get anywhere with the people they've got now, and it's late in the game to introduce a new witness.

[driven_as_hell]

"Right," Emmett says, and despite himself, can't help letting out an exhale of a laugh at her remark about it needing to be someone who does, in fact, exist. It's completely self-explanatory, and while it may be hard to find any sort of levity about this situation, that does it, if only for a moment. "I've been over it and over it, and I know there's got to be something I'm missing somewhere. I just have to figure out what."

God, he wishes she weren't working for the other side. He knows full well why she chose the summer job she did, even helped her figure it out, but he could use her help and a fresh set of eyes.

[beyondtheblonde]

It's so unbelievably bizarre to be facing off with Emmett. Things may be civil now, but Elle knows how heated it can get in the courtroom. Besides, even being on opposite sides of something is weird. They're such a good team that working against him is hard to fathom. But this is her building her own professional reputation; she can't just help the opposing counsel strengthen their case.

"It doesn't have to be just you," she says. "I mean, the rest of your team should be on this." It should be her. That's how they work. That's when at their best. It doesn't feel right, not being able to offer her own input on this.

[driven_as_hell]

"They've been trying," Emmett says, "though if they can't come up with anything, I'm not sure how I could." That's not really how it works and he knows it. Sometimes it's just a matter of looking at things in the right way, of connecting just the right pieces; it takes skill, yes, but it can be somewhat happenstance, too. When he's been over and over this, though, it's hard to imagine what he might be missing. More than just about anything, he wishes he could have Elle take a look. The two of them, they just work together. "But I've got to keep trying."