Chapter 4

• It's 10 o'clock when I reach Jill's law firm; her assistant takes me to her office. It's a corner office with white chairs and a glass table, with various awards and certificates on the wall.
• “Mr Salazar, good morning,” she greets
• I turn and face her. She's wearing a tailored black suit, her hair packed into a tight, low bun, not a strand out of place.
• She radiated confidence and power. She took a seat on her couch and gestured for me to sit on the other side. She cleared her throat.
• “Okay, I want you to know that if I'm going to be your lawyer, you're going to have to tell me the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; don't leave anything out,”
• “That's the only way I can help you.” she added.
• “And as your lawyer, anything you tell me is confidential; you can trust me,” she reassures.
• “So you'll be my lawyer then?”
• "Yes, I will. I'm in. You came to the right person.” she vouched
• “This is what I do; this is why I have a $100,000 retainer.”
• “I take the cases no one will touch, and I win, and your case will be no different.”
• “$100,000?” I exclaim, staring at her wide-eyed
• Well, if she can get me out of this, we can figure something out. I can borrow money from Michael, and some friends can take an extra job.
• “We'll figure something out,” she promised.
• I take a few deep breaths and clean my sweaty palm on my jeans.
• "Okay, so let's get right into it." She gets a notepad from her desk and writes something down.
• “So could you tell me what happened that night?”
• I tell her everything, leaving nothing out.
• “So around what time did you get to the hotel?”
• “I got to the hotel around 9:37,” she writes it down.
• “What time did you leave?” she questions
• “I don't know, I think 11 or there about I didn't check the time, I explained.
• “So what time, did you get home, and how did you get home?”
• “I took a cab,” I replied.
• “What time did you get home?”.
• “I don't know,” I confess.
• I don't remember it's a bit blurry. I had a few drinks, but I wasn't drunk. If I knew I would be accused of murder, I would have taken note of it hell; I wouldn't have left the house at all.
• “But I made a transfer to the cab driver when I got home,” I told her.
• I pull out my phone, and the time shows 11:42 as the time of transfer, so I show her that.
• “I'm asking about the time so we can establish a timeline. The police are going to be very particular about it, and if this goes to trial, we need to prove you didn't have the time to kill her.”
• “It’s important to get a clear picture,” she continues.
• “It’s my job to defend you, to make sure that you’re given the best advice possible. I can only do that if you tell me everything.”
• “Your story has to check out.”
• She goes on about getting the case files from the police, knowing what evidence the prosecutor has against me, hiring a blood splatter expert to review the pictures of the hotel room, reviewing CCTV camera footage of the hotel, and hiring a private investigator to dig into Cassidy's life and check out her husband and any other person in her life.
• She's saying so many things my head is spinning; it's too much. She senses my uneasiness and offers me a glass of water, which I take. She continues.
• She takes out her phone and checks something,then she turns to me.
• “Right. Okay, Manuel, this is where we are now. The case has been transferred, and the next court appearance will be the plea and trial preparation hearing. That’s when you’ll enter a plea to the indictment.”
• “That’s not for a few weeks, though. Is it?” I question.
• “Four weeks away. We’ve got very little by way of evidence from the prosecution at the moment, but they’ll serve more soon. I hope”
• “We need to go through all the evidence before that hearing. As I said, you will need to enter a plea at that stage, and if it’s not guilty, then a date will be set for the trial.”
• “And if it’s guilty?” I ask,
• “Then the matter will be adjourned immediately for sentence.”
• “If convicted, you'll be facing life for murder.”.
• So if I'm convicted, I'll be in prison forever.
• “We need to start working on your defense incase we need it, but for now I'm going to try and file a motion to dismiss on the claim of circumstantial evidence and see what happens.”
• “Go home and get some rest; it's going to be a long couple of weeks,”she admits.
• Her assistant comes rushing in and turns on the television. It's an interview with a man, a lawyer, I presume.
• Jill tells me his name is Logan Sandars; he works in the DA’s office and is the prosecutor for this case, and just like her, he is very good at his job.
• “I am the prosecutor for this case and I will leave no stone unturned to make sure Manuel Salazar is sent to prison for this gruesome act,”he proclaimed.
• “It has come to my knowledge that he's being represented by Jill Baker, who defends the worst types of people, but even she can't help him.”
• She turns off the television. I face her, my mind and heart racing, and I start circling the room.
• “Mr. Salazar, calm down and trust me. He's good, but I'm better. I have never lost a case. I'm not about to start now.”
• “Go home, rest, eat and prepare for anything and everything that might happen. Let me do my job.”
• I am about to leave when I turn to her and ask
• “How come you didn't ask me whether I did it or not?”
• “It's my job to defend you, whether you did it or not. Innocent until proven guilty.”
• I turn and take my leave, but then she stops me, hands me her business card, and tells me to call her if I remember anything.
• And then I go home to prepare for the fight for my freedom.