Betrayal - Fern Michaels [67]
Kate sat across from him and picked up the telephone to her right. “Oh Alex!” She splayed her left hand on the glass. He followed suit.
“This is bad, huh?” Alex joked.
“Yeah. I am shocked, Alex. I want to shoot James Conroy good and dead.”
“Mrs. Rocket, careful what you say. Your every word is being monitored,” Coleman said as he stood behind her.
“Sorry. I can’t help it. Has he been here since the verdict?”
Alex shook his head, then remembered to speak into the phone. “No, he hasn’t. I’m sure he has some paperwork to take care of. Remember, Kate, he doesn’t have his staff here to assist him. He’s working out of his car and a hotel room. I wouldn’t be too hard on the guy.”
Leave it to Alex to see the positive side of a tragic situation.
“I don’t care if he’s working out of the White House with the president to assist him! He didn’t provide an adequate defense. He never did anything like an effective cross-examination on Sara. He knew that she trashed the studio, that on that same day she told Emily and you that she didn’t want to go when you went to meet the Taylors. You were with Emily or the Taylors the entire time before the police arrived to investigate the destruction of my work in the studio. So there was no way in hell that you could have molested her when she says you did. And that’s the most recent incident she described, the one she was most likely to remember the details of, so she couldn’t have been molested when she says she was. How could we not have noticed that he wasn’t providing you with anything like an adequate defense? Do you think he was in cahoots with the Winters or something? He should be disbarred. If I have anything to say about it, he will. The bastard.”
“Getting pissed at this stage isn’t going to help, Kate. You know that. I’m as shocked as you are, I was sure I’d be helping you pack up. I never imagined it would come down to this.”
Alex had aged ten years since the verdict. Bags sagged beneath his eyes, and Kate swore she saw a dozen new creases around the corners of his eyes.
“I’ve hired a new attorney, Coleman Fitzpatrick.” Kate motioned for Coleman to step up and take the phone she held out. He stooped to Alex’s eye level.
“I can’t say I’m glad to meet you, but I guess I am. What do you think the chances are of cleaning up this mess?” Alex asked.
“We’re going to take one step at a time. First, I want you to understand that I won’t make you any promises on the outcome. I might be able to get a new trial, I might not. I might try to reduce the sentence, but whatever I do, I won’t lie to you or lead you to believe there is hope when there isn’t. Right now, the best I could do was finagle this visit. I’ll need a few days to get the transcript of your trial. I doubt it’s even been typed up yet. From there, I’ll see what choices we have. For now, I’m afraid you’re going to have to go through the system as ordered. It’s not going to be easy, but anything worthwhile never is. Roy Black called and told me everything he knew. What I’ll want to do at some point is go over every statement you made to the authorities, everything the Winter girl said. This might take some time, but that’s the downside of worthwhile.”
Resigned, Alex said, “I appreciate your honesty. So I’m gonna be here a while.”
“I’m afraid so. You’re going to Orlando’s reception center. I checked. You won’t be allowed visits, except from me. I can communicate for Mrs. Rocket