CHAPTER 26
“Everyone, please welcome Parker Keller and Julian Baker to our citizen’s police academy.” Nick swept an arm toward our guest instructors as the class broke into polite applause. “Ms. Keller is a practicing prosecutor with the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office. And Mr. Baker is a third-year law student at George Mason University, where he’s pursuing a concentration in criminal law.”
I ducked low in my seat. Julian wasn’t just any law student. Up until two months ago, he was the one I’d been sleeping with. And Parker was his very protective roommate. Judging by how much she hated me, I was pretty sure she was in love with him.
“Officer Donovan.” Nick searched the faces in the room until he found me. “As the first officers on the scene, you and Officer Ruiz will be the prosecution’s first witnesses in our role-play. Finlay, we’ll have you start. Come on up,” he said, gesturing to the witness stand.
Julian’s smile fell away as I stood and navigated between the tightly packed chairs to the front of the room. Parker glanced at Julian, whispering to him in a low voice. He dismissed her question with a tight shake of his head, refusing to meet my eyes as I entered the witness box.
“The Commonwealth Attorney was scheduled to be our judge,” Nick explained. “Apparently, he was called away on an emergency this morning and won’t be able to join us, so I’ll be playing the part instead. Which of our attorneys will be playing the role of prosecutor?”
“I will,” Parker said, as Julian said, “I’ll do it.” He snatched up a copy of his script, taking a seat behind the prosecutor’s table before Parker could argue. She raised an eyebrow as she set her briefcase on the defense’s side and settled into her chair.
Nick stepped onto the dais, hooking his cane over the arm of the bench as he sat. “Will the bailiff please swear in our first witness?”
Joey leaned on the wall beside the door to the classroom. Arms crossed, he pushed himself upright and approached the witness stand, his toothpick rolling from one side of his tight mouth to the other. He pulled it from his cheek, raising his voice so the class could hear him when he asked, “Will the witness please state their name for the court?”
I cleared my throat. “Finlay Donovan.”
“Raise your right hand,” he said brusquely. “Officer Donovan, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god?”
Julian’s whisky-gold eyes met mine across the room. It felt like there was a warning inside them. It was only a role-play, I reminded myself. I had a script. I was only answering a few questions about a CPR dummy. This had nothing to do with Carl Westover. “I do.”
Joey stared at me as he put the toothpick back in his mouth and departed the witness stand, resuming his post beside the door.
Nick addressed the class from the dais. “For the sake of time, we’re going to skip ahead and assume you’ve already heard the opening statements of each side.” He turned to Julian. “The Commonwealth Attorney will now call its first witness.”
Julian smoothed down his tie, checking his script as he approached the stand.
“Officer Donovan,” he began in a formal tone, careful not to make eye contact with me. This was a different Julian than the bartender I’d known. His shirt was pressed, his dress shoes polished, his silk tie cinched tightly below his throat. The smile lines beside his eyes had turned to stern creases, and the full mouth he used to kiss me with was pursed in concentration. “Is it correct that you and Officer Ruiz found the deceased?”
“Yes,” I answered, consulting my script.
“Can you please describe what happened when you arrived at the park?”
My voice came out flat as I read my next line. “Upon a preliminary search of the area, my partner and I saw what appeared to be a human hand, loosely covered by leaves and dirt.”
“What did you and your partner do next?” he asked without looking up.
“I removed a branch to get a better look, confirming the presence of a body.”
“Would you describe what you saw to the court?” Julian gestured to the class. Their attention was rapt, students in the back rows arching taller to see. Mrs. Haggerty sat in the center of the front row. She squinted and pushed her glasses higher on her nose as Riley and Max took furious notes behind her.
“The deceased appeared to have been dismembered and left in a shallow grave,” I said, repressing a shudder.
“And what did you do when you located the remains?”
I checked my next line. “I called Dispatch and informed them of my findings. Then I secured the crime scene and waited for a homicide detective to arrive.”
“Thank you, Officer Donovan.” Julian nodded before turning to the dais. “No further questions for the witness, Your Honor.”
Nick addressed the class. “We’ll now hear cross-examination by the defense.”
Parker rose and approached the witness stand, offering Julian a close-lipped smile as he passed her. She tucked a red lock of hair behind her ear as she sauntered toward me, her grin lifting on one side, just enough to make me squirm.
“Officer Donovan,” she began, skimming her lines, “you said you waited for a detective to arrive. Which detective responded to the call?”
“Detective Nicholas Anthony,” I answered.
Parker set her script beside her briefcase on the defense’s table, her hands clasped behind her as she paced. “Was it your understanding that Detective Nicholas Anthony was the lead investigator on this case?”
“Umm…” I looked to my script for the answer to Parker’s question, then up at Nick when I couldn’t find it on the page. He gave a small nod. “Yes,” I said.
“Was this your first time working with him?” she asked.
“No,” I said tentatively. “Nick and I have worked together before.”
“By Nick, I assume you mean Detective Anthony?”
“Yes.”
“Would you say you know him well?”
A hard cough came from somewhere in the audience. I was pretty sure it was Vero.
I scanned our lines, certain I must be missing a page. “I guess…”
“Do you have a personal relationship with him?”
I dropped my script.
“Does anyone know what page we’re on?” Mrs. Haggerty called out.
“Objection, your Honor,” Julian said, glaring at Parker. “I fail to see how my client’s personal relationships are any of the court’s business.”
“Really?” She turned to him with a hand on her hip. “I assumed the answer to this question would be of particular interest to you.”
“If it mattered, I would have brought it up during discovery, not ambushed her in court.”
Nick rapped his gavel, silencing the class’s murmurs. “I admit, I’m curious to hear Officer Donovan’s answer to that question myself. But in the context of this case, I’m going to have to sustain the prosecution’s objection. And I’ll remind you, Counselor, you were provided with a script.”
“Of course, your Honor.” Parker retrieved her script from the defense table. She rolled it in her hands as she paced back to the witness stand, her smirk still in place as she addressed me. “Officer Donovan, would you say Detective Anthony is honest?”