Motion to Dismiss by Jonnie Jacobs Page A

did, for that matter. "Grady Barrett isn't a danger to the community," I told her. "And he's not a flight risk."
    "I'm not going to agree to bail."
    I had a feeling the judge would follow her lead.
    "But we might be able to cut a deal," she added.
    "What sort of deal?"
    Madelaine examined her nails. They were unpolished and cut close to the quick. "A confession would save us all a lot of time and grief. I think we could take that into account."
    I looked at her. "You're crazy. No way would I recommend that."
    "Look at the case, Kali. Our victim is a single mom struggling to make a life for her young child. Your guy is rich and successful, the kind who's used to throwing his weight around. First he rapes our victim, then he kills her so she won't testify against him. On top of that, it's the sweet and innocent seven-year-old daughter who discovers the body. The jury's going to love it."
    "It's a nice story, but you're kind of short on evidence."
    She shook her head. "I don't think so."
    There was a knock at the doorway, the same blond policeman I'd seen in Madelaine's office on my last visit.
    "Oops, sorry," he said with a quick smile. "Didn't know you had someone with you. I'll drop by later."
    From his manner, I suspected his interest wasn't purely professional. "You two seeing each other?" I asked when he'd gone. The last conversation we'd had on the subject, several years earlier, we'd both been bemoaning the shortage of men who were straight, reasonably articulate, and not already spoken for.
    Madelaine made a face, something between smugness and disavowal. "If you call a couple of dates 'seeing each other,' then, yeah, I guess maybe so." It was clear she hoped that was the case.
    "Nice guy?"
    "So far." She shrugged in what was no doubt intended as an offhand gesture. But there was a girlishness to it that made her appear for a moment almost ingenuous. It was a side of Madelaine I'd not seen before.
    "What's his name?"
    "Steve. Steve Henshaw." She let the name linger on her lips a moment before composing herself for business. "We wouldn't be bringing the case to trial," she continued, "if we didn't think we had a good chance of winning."
    "And I wouldn't be defending this client if I thought I would lose."
    She didn't smile.
    "When am I going to get copies of the reports?"
    "Soon. We're still processing some of the information."
    "You want to give me the highlights? I'm assuming there's more to it than this alleged rape business."
    This time she did smile. "Oh, yes. Much more." Madelaine seemed to be enjoying her role as master of suspense. "You know that Deirdre Nichols' daughter saw Grady's car in the driveway?"
    "A car in some ways similar to the one he drives."
    A shrug capped with a smirk. "And then there is the handkerchief monogrammed with Grady's initials. Matches one the police seized when they searched your client's house."
    "Which Grady claims to have left at Ms. Nichols' the night of the alleged rape."
    "And Deirdre just happened to keep it on the floor of the front hallway for two weeks? That's not going to play real well to any jury with half a brain."
    She was right. I hadn't known they'd found the handkerchief in the hallway.
    Madelaine pressed her fingertips together. "And I find it kind of interesting that the pants Grady was wearing the night in question ended up in the Salvation Army pickup two days later."
    "What?" I felt my stomach knot, but I kept my expression flat.
    "That's what he says. Their butler, or whatever he is, knew the pants Grady was wearing that night, and the cops didn't find them when they conducted their search." Madelaine ran a hand through her already rumpled hair.
    "What did they find?"
    She smiled. It was the smug expression of someone with the upper hand. "You'll get the whole picture when you read the report."
    And then I'd have to have a long talk with Grady.
    She leaned back in her chair. "You've got your work cut out for you, Kali."
    On that point, unfortunately, we were in