The jurors asked questions about the evidence, about the interrogations and conversations Cam had overheard and relayed—because hearsay was not prohibited in this context—and about the inferences they drew.Nic gave Cam the floor.Tying A to B to C was more convincing from him—the investigator explaining the facts and helping the jurors make the connections.Not the attorney trying to manipulate the facts or sway the jury to his position.Sometimes Nic had to do that if a witness wasn’t convincing or if the evidence wasn’t strong enough, but in this case, while there was no smoking gun, the way Cam plainly put what they did have all together made it seem a near thing.
Lauren got them that much closer.Nic had contemplated putting her on the stand before Cam, but right after the lunch break, with the food coma and multiple hours of testimony taking their toll, Lauren was the shot of energy and humor he needed to keep the jurors engaged.She was a bit over the top at first, but Nic got her settled and got her explaining the financial and document trails that Duncan and Bowers had left behind.If a juror had a question, she had an analogy or pop culture reference that made the complicated soup of numbers and transactions relatable, the jurors nodding their heads along with her.She magically made the sea of bank statements and spreadsheets comprehensible.
When she finished, Nic offered the jurors a short break, but the foreman, after a quick survey of the jurors, declined.“We’ve just got a few follow-up questions for you, Attorney Price.I don’t think a break is necessary.Time is of the essence.You made that clear in your opening, and it came across clear in the presentation as well.”That sounded promising.It had not been something he’d mentioned directly after that first statement, but the fast-moving developments were impossible to miss.As was the need for action.
“I’m happy to answer any questions you have.”Rather than sit behind the desk in the witness box, he swung the chair around and sat closer to the front row, emphasizing that this was a conversation.
“It’s about US Attorney Bowers.Your boss.”
Nic unbuttoned his coat and rested an ankle on his knee.He had to play this cool.Impartial.Not like the put-upon, frequently hamstrung subordinate who’d been under Bowers’s dirty thumb for years.
“Indictments against Duncan Vaughn are one thing,” a juror said.“Against a US Attorney are another.”
“I completely agree,” Nic said.“I don’t introduce the prospect lightly.I know the oaths and obligations of attorneys practicing at the USAO—I made them and accepted them myself—and that’s precisely why I’ve proposed indictments against Attorney Bowers.He’s lost sight of those oaths and obligations.He’s compromised.”
“The evidence does seem to indicate that,” the foreman said.“If we assume he is, why do you think Bowers is working for Vaughn?”
“Speculation.I can’t answer that.”He could personally, but not professionally.
The foreman smiled, one hand raised in concession.“I had to try to ask.”Nic chuckled, as did the other jurors.“Let me try it this way,” the foreman persisted.“Why would you do something like that?What would you risk your career and freedom for?”
Not to climb the political ladder, was on the tip of Nic’s tongue, but he bit it back.That would be as good an answer as any to the foreman’s original question, and it would be speculation Bowers could later argue in a case against him.Nic had to answer for himself, truly, and let the jurors draw their inferences from there.
He grabbed his shin, stopping his foot from bouncing.“I’d like to think I wouldn’t do it under any circumstances.This”—he gestured at the room around them—“is too valuable to me.As is my reputation as someone who upholds and protects the law.And so too is my other job, my home, and my family.”He had jobs and a life he wouldn’t want to compromise, but...“I think the only reasons I’d consider breaking my oaths would be to protect my family or someone I loved.”
“Attorney Bowers could learn from you,” one of the other jurors said.“About reputation and how to get it the right way.”
Nic bowed his head, the compliment meaning more than he could say.At the same time, he didn’t want to compromise the case.This wasn’t about picking favorites; he didn’t want it to seem that way.But it was rewarding as hell to have someone impartial commend him for doing his job, the thing Bowers was daily threatening and telling him he didn’t know how to do.“I appreciate that,” he said sincerely.
“So do we.”The foreman closed his tablet and tucked the stylus in its elastic loop.“We’ll get back to you quickly, Attorney Price.”
“Thank you.”
Nic stood as the bailiff led the jurors out, back into their holding room.
Then Nic exited and met up with the rest of his team in the lobby.“Good job, everyone.”
“We should be telling you that,” Moore said, hand outstretched.“Damn impressive, as always.You are by far the easiest AUSA to work with on the stand.”
“He’s right,” Cam said.“You don’t try and move us.You nudge maybe, one direction or the other as far as what part of the story to tell, but you let us tell it.”
“You’re all professionals.You know what you’re doing.”
“Well, I didn’t,” Lauren said, shrugging one shoulder.“But it was a lot less scary than I thought it would be.”
“You did great,” Nic said with a smile.“Though it won’t always be that easy, especially when there’s a cross-examination.”
She flailed her arms dramatically.“Now you tell me.”
“Moore was right,” Cam said after the AD and Lauren left, headed back to the FBI’s floor.“That was damn impressive.”He stepped closer, a growl in his voice.“Seeing you in that suit in action makes me want to take you home and show you just how sexy you are.”
“Do you have a suit porn fetish, Agent Byrne?”
“No, I have ayoufetish, Attorney Price.”
“Later, Boston.We have some work to do first.”
“Sooner, Price,” Cam argued, dark eyes swirling with intensity.“Much sooner if I have anything to say about it.”
