The 8th Confession by James Patterson, Maxine Paetro Read Free Book Online

well.
    And that meant Stacey Glenn would go free
.
    "Take a seat, you two. No need to transport the defendant."
    Duffy called out to the sheriff's deputy, "Mr. Bonaventure, please bring in the jury."

Chapter 19
     
    A S THE JURORS put their bags down beside their seats, Yuki's mind whirled like cherry lights on a police cruiser. She scrutinized the jurors as they filed in, looked for telling signs on their faces and in their body language.
    Who had believed Stacey Glenn was innocent? How many of them had voted to acquit—and why?
    The foreperson, Linda Chen, was Chinese-American, forty years old, with an Ivy League education and a successful real estate business. She had a no-nonsense manner countered by a wide and easy smile, and both Yuki and Hoffman had felt comfortable with Chen when they'd cast the jury. Even more so when she'd been voted foreperson.
    Now Yuki wondered how Chen had let the jury quit so soon.
    Duffy smiled at the jury, said, "I've given your note serious thought. I understand that six weeks of trial is an ordeal and many of you are quite ready to go home.
    "That said, this trial has been expensive—not just in terms of money, although it's cost the State of California plenty, but for the better part of a year, both sides have labored to put together this case for you to judge.
    "Where things stand now," said Duffy, "
you
are the experts on the
People versus Stacey Glenn.
If you can't arrive at a unanimous decision, this case will have to be tried again, and there's no reason to believe that any other group of people would be more qualified or impartial, or have more wisdom to decide this verdict, than you."
    Duffy explained to the jury that he was going to ask them to continue their deliberations, not to give up deeply held ideas based on the evidence but to reexamine their views with an open mind in order to try to reach consensus.
    The judge was giving the jury the "Allen charge," the so-called dynamite charge designed to bust up logjams in deadlocked juries. It was considered coercive by legal purists.
    Yuki knew that this was the best option available, but the Allen charge could backfire. A resentful jury could push back and deliver whatever verdict would end its service the fastest.
    It was obvious to Yuki that the easiest, least-nightmare-provoking decision would be a unanimous vote to acquit.
    Judge Duffy was saying, "I want you to have maximum seclusion and comfort, so I've arranged for you to be sequestered in the Fairmont Hotel for as much time as you need."
    Yuki saw the shock register on every one of the jurors' faces as they realized that the judge was locking them up in a hotel
without any warning,
denying them TV, newspapers, home-cooked meals, and other comforts of daily life.
    They were not pleased.
    Duffy thanked the jury on behalf of the court and, taking his can of Sprite with him, left the bench.

Chapter 20
     
    Y UKI'S PHONE RANG the moment she returned to her office.
    "It's me," said Len Parisi, the deputy district attorney who was also her superior, her champion, and her toughest critic. "Got a minute?"
    Yuki opened her makeup kit, applied fresh lipstick, snapped her purse shut, and stepped out into the corridor.
    "Want me to come with?" Nicky Gaines said, raking his shaggy blond mop with his fingers.
    "Yeah. Try to make him laugh."
    "Really?"
    "Couldn't hurt."
    Parisi was on the phone when Yuki rapped on his open door. He swung his swivel chair around and stuck his forefinger in the air, the universal sign for "I'll be a minute."
    Parisi was in his late forties, with wiry red hair, a pear-shaped girth, and a heart condition that had nearly killed him a year and a half ago. He was known around town as "Red Dog," and Yuki thought the name pleased him. Called up images of a drooling bulldog with a spiked collar.
    Parisi hung up the phone, signaled for Yuki and Nicky to come in, then barked, "Did I hear this right? The jury hung?"
    "Yep," Yuki said from the doorway. "Duffy dropped