“Mr. Quinne, your reputation with Greenhaven is quite high, but now it’s time to defend a man accused of being a murderer.. Aren’t you worried that this will affect the good reputation you have built up over the years?”
Case Quinne responded politely but firmly. “I’m a lawyer. My job is to fight for the fairest outcomes for my clients, to clear their names. No one should be held accountable for something they didn’t do.”
Balfour chuckled, “Well, if you say so. I’m all eyes to see how you’ll prove her innocence against the solid evidence.”
As Ellinor was seated by an officer, the suspect who had attacked Patricia was soon brought in by another officer.
Seeing the suspect, Patricia tucked herself into Balfour’s arms out of fear…
Balfour held her, murmuring soothing words. He looked up at the suspect who had once bullied Patricia with a glint of ferocity in his mild eyes.
Case Quinne started questioning, “Mr. Zachary, we’ve met before, so I won’t introduce myself again. Now, please describe in detail how you committed the crime.”
Zachary had already confessed and had nothing to defend. He nodded obediently and began:.
“Three nights ago, Ellinor asked me to meet by Trent River, transferred me $100,000 as a down payment, asking me to hurt a girl named Patricia, with another $100,000 to follow after I succeed. I thought, I could get the money and sleep with a pretty girl, so I said yes impulsively. Later, Ellinor contacted me, told me where Patricia was in which hospital room, and I went…And then, I was caught by the police.*
After he finished, Case Quinne immediately asked, “So you’re saying that you only committed the crime under Ellinor’s instructions, correct?”
Zachary confirmed, “Yes!”
“So how did you and Ellinor meet?”
“It was accidental. She… found my contact online and reached out to me.”
Case Quinne continued, “As I understand, you were laid off from a company two months ago, but you didn’t tell your wife and children about your unemployment, so you’ve been doing some temporary jobs to make ends meet. And three days ago, you were handing out flyers for a newly opened barbecue restaurant. At The Bund of Trent River, you happened to rest on the same bench as my client Ellinor. That was your first meeting!
At that time, you just recommended the barbecue restaurant to her for a commission, and you signed her up as a member of the restaurant. There was nothing else!”
Zachary lowered his head with a flicker in his eyes, “That’s because she asked me to pretend to be the flyer guy to meet her. She said this could avoid suspicion from the police after the incident.”
“Really? You were pretending to be the flyer guy? If you were pretending, then why did you need to start preparing two months in advance? Mr. Zachary, you’ve been handing out flyers for the past two months. Does this mean that my client found you two months ago and arranged for you to attack Ms. Howard? Does this plan require two months of preparation? Isn’t that too cautious?”
After thinking for a while, Zachary firmly said, “Ellinor stressed that I should be careful! She said that Ms. Patricia had a past with her husband, so she was jealous of Ms. Patricia, asking me to prepare in advance and wait until Ms. Howard returned to the country to find an opportunity to act… I thought I could also make some money by handing out flyers during this period, so I kept doing it.”
Case Quinne suddenly raised his voice, “You’re lying! Two months ago, my client didn’t even know Mr. Blanchet, let alone be jealous of Ms. Howard because of him! Why would she go after a girl she had never met and had no interest with so far in advance? It doesn’t make sense!*
Zachary seemed flustered, “Because… oh man! I don’t remember exactly, but it’s Ellinor who transferred me the money! It was her who asked me to do this! I have the transfer record on my phone, you can check if you don’t believe me!”
Case Quinne had of course already examined the evidence.
“The phone my client used was lost for a while that day, picked up by someone, and handed over to the police. Later, Mr. Blanchet sent his secretary to the police station to retrieve it! There’s a record of this in the police station. It’s completely possible that the phone was picked up by someone else during the loss and a sum of money was transferred out!”
At this point, Balfour seemed a bit impatient. He interrupted, “Mr. Quinne, please don’t overturn the established evidence. I’m not interested in hearing your assumptions or possibilities, they are not persuasive. I just want to know where is the new witness the police mentioned? If there isn’t, I’m leaving!”
Case Quinne glanced at his watch, clearly anxious, and then at Ellinor…
The new witness should have arrived by now, had something happened on the way?
“Excuse me, I need to go outside and make a phone call.”
