Page 84 of Objection to Love

“Myself as well, Miller.” He tapped the table once more, then walked back to his seat. It was a little nerve-racking to have her boss watching her every move, but she tried to think of him as just one more member of the team. They had two additional attorneys on the case as well, and a whole slew of paralegals. She had nothing to fear from Mr. Standson.

The bailiff called for everyone to stand as Judge Smith entered. This would be the final opportunity for the defense to call any last witnesses, then they would each have their chance for closing statements… After that, they’d wait for the jury. However long that may be.

Judge Smith cleared his throat in the silence of the room. “Council, are there any matters we need to discuss before we bring the jury back?”

“No, Your Honor,” Em said, but the lead defense attorney stepped forward.

Em hid her grimace. She hated that guy. If you were to look up the stereotypical slimy defense attorney, his name would be in the dictionary. Which was a pity because, generally, defense attorneys were great people. They got a bad rap at times, but Em had met dozens of great people who chose defense so they could make a difference.

Larry Evans was not one of them.

It didn’t help that he’d asked her out about once a week for the first few months of her working at the prosecutor’s office. Not only would he not take no for an answer, but he’d seemed to believe she was just playing hard to get, and therefore grew cockier and more insinuating with every attempt.

Larry caught her eye with a look of haughty gloating. Em nearly scoffed, but she was too professional for that. That guy just didn’t know when to admit defeat—and Em had him beat.

“Your Honor, we’d like to add an Exhibit 23 to our previously provided exhibits.”

Em’s eyebrows rose. New evidence? “What?” she asked. Both the judge and Mr. Evans looked at her. She swallowed. “I received no information regarding new evidence.”

“It was sent to your office, Ms. Miller.” Was she the only one who saw the sneer on Larry’s face when he said that?

“If there are no other objections, you may proceed, Mr. Evans,” the judge said.

Em surreptitiously dug through her piles of papers. Any new evidence was supposed to be sent over to their office, even if it was just sent over during the lunch break. One of the paralegals ought to have received it and brought it to her attention.

Larry walked up to the bench to hand over a document. Em needed to find the information first—so she wouldn’t be blindsided by whatever the defense thought they had over the case.

Her eye caught on a piece of paper Em didn’t have memorized like all the rest. She pulled it out, her eyes scanning the information.

And her stomach immediately bottomed out.

No. No no no no no.Her gaze shot up to the bench, to the judge, who was just now gaining the same information as her. Then, against her will, she looked back at her boss. His brow was creased as he sent her a questioning stare. Em had nothing to say. Nothing that would prep Mr. Standson for what was about to occur.

“Ms. Miller, is this true?”

Em turned to meet Judge Smith’s eyes. She liked Judge Smith. He was a great guy—always ruled fairly, treated everyone in his courtroom with respect, and had a love for Pez candy that made him seem somehow more human than a lot of the judges she worked with. But now he looked gravely concerned. “This is a major oversight, Ms. Miller.”

Em came to her feet, her heart slamming against her ribcage as she attempted to maintain the façade of confident ease. But it was hard to maintain such a front when inside she was panicking. Full-blown,the plane is going down and the house is on firepanicking.

“Your Honor, I was not aware of this new evidence. I am only just seeing it as well, but I looked into the insurance policy extensively, and the witness—a representative from the company, verified the policy. I can’t believe this information is correct. Mr. Clayton took out the insurance policy on his wife almost exactly two weeks before finding her in a compromising position with her yoga instructor, and subsequently killing her.”

“According to this document, the insurance policy was taken outa yearand two weeks before Mrs. Clayton’s death,” Judge Smith said.

A collective intake of breath sounded throughout the courtroom, as the remainder of the attendees learned what was on that little piece of paper. Em ignored the desire to look back at her boss—or to look anywhere but the judge.

She grit her teeth. “I am not certain where the defense received this information, but as you’ll see in State’s Exhibit F, Mr. Clayton took out the insurance policy in December of 2019, two weeks before his wife’s death.”

Judge Smith looked at Larry, who was still smirking horribly. Em’s chest felt tight at that look. The look of a man who was one hundred percent certain he was right. Andshewas wrong.

“Your Honor,” he said, “I understand Ms. Miller’s confusion, but the date was inputted incorrectly. It took some digging, but I was able to find the original insurance agent who began the policy instead of just the current one,” he cut his eyes to Em here, “and found that, despite the date stating it was taken out in December 2019, the file had been in their system since December of 2018.”

The judge nodded. “And you have the witness to corroborate this claim?”

Larry indicated he did.

Em blinked. No. That couldn’t be true. She opened her mouth to state that even Mr. Clayton had not objected to the insinuation that he took the policy out only two weeks before his wife’s death. But then she remembered hehadin one of his interviews. But he’d been overruled as the evidence clearly showed when the policy had gone into effect.

Incorrect evidence.

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