Lizzy ran through the opening statement twice before the clock struck ten. Trial convened in thirty minutes. Maybe Jack would be there for her opening statement. A spark of excitement coursed through her. Of course, she hadn’t asked him to come, but he might come anyway because he was Jack—the kindest, most considerate friend a girl could ask for. A real smile lit up her face for the first time that morning. She lifted her black suit jacket from the back of her chair and shrugged into it, adjusting her pale blue blouse underneath it. After checking her makeup in her compact, she snapped it shut and dropped it into her purse.
The superior court was less than three miles from her office, but thanks to one-way streets and traffic, it was a solid ten-minute drive. She parked her white BMW 3 Series in her favorite structure, shelling out thirty dollars for all-day parking. It was across the street from a seldom-used entrance to the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, which allowed her to bypass the long line at the main entrance.
The side entrance led her directly to the fourth floor, so she only had to ride the escalator up one floor to where Judge Reiner’s courtroom was located. It allowed her to avoid the cramped, dilapidated elevators altogether, which was key to getting anywhere on time at this courthouse. She smirked, feeling quite smug about having home-courtadvantage.
Her high heels clicked against the terrazzo floor, and their sharp staccato echoed down the long, nearly deserted hallway. The stone benches outside the courtrooms—because who doesn’t want a cold ass to start the day off with—would’ve been filled with lawyers clad in black and gray suits just two hours ago. That was when the judges held their morning calendar, during which they dealt with the more day-to-day matters of the numerous cases assigned to them.
The few lawyers who remained in the hallway exuded the same vibe of exhaustion and adrenaline that sloshed through her. They were all in trial mode—similar to beast mode but infinitely less cool. Lizzy sighed. Poor souls.
She stepped into the courtroom with ten minutes to spare, pulling her briefcase close behind her. To her great annoyance, Carol Monty already sat at the plaintiff’s table closer to the jury box with her perfectly highlighted blond head bent over a yellow legal pad. She didn’t bother looking up when Lizzy sat down at the defendant’s table.
Holding back an irritated sigh, Lizzy said, “Good morning, Carol.”
Ever so slowly, Carol put down the pen she was holding and turned toward Lizzy, making it abundantly clear that she wasn’t happy with the interruption. “Good morning, Counsel.”
While most lawyers addressed one another by first name, Carol never called herLizzy.Not evenElizabeth.It was eitherCounselorMs. Chung.God forbid there was even a hint of camaraderie between them. At this point, Lizzy would be grateful for a modicum of civility.
“Nicepantssuit.” Carol stared pointedly at Lizzy’s slacks.“Rumor has it that our esteemed judge finds female attorneys in pants unprofessional.”
So much for her hopes for civility. The sad thing was Lizzy wasn’t even shocked. Carol might very well be full of shit, but she wouldn’t put it past the curmudgeonly judge to be flagrantly sexist. The point was her dear opposing counsel only shared that little tidbit to unnerve her before her opening statement. Lizzy didn’t care what the judge thought about her slacks. Her audience today was the jury. What did make her blood pressure rise was Carol’s unrelenting antagonism. She was just so sick of it.
“Good to know. Thanks for the tip, Carol,” Lizzy said with a benign smile, deliberately using her first name again. She was rewarded with the tightening of Carol’s lips. But it wasn’t worth the brief flare of satisfaction. Her opponent was succeeding in bringing Lizzy down to her level. The realization left a bad taste in her mouth.
“God, I hate those elevators,” Katie whispered as she settled down on the seat next to her. Her hair fell past her shoulders in lustrous waves. She was one of those people who could pull the pen out of their bun and shake their hair loose to achieve the perfect loose curls.Lucky.“Michael had those boxes of exhibits to bring, so we couldn’t take the escalators.”
“I hear you. I avoid those elevators at all costs.” Lizzy waved at their paralegal, who was stacking up the Bankers Boxes against one of the walls.
She liked Michael. He did great work. She’d asked him to join their trial team as soon as she’d suspected the case wouldn’t settle before another attorney could snatch him up. She also supplied him with a constant stream of chocolate from See’s Candies so he would give her preferential treatment. Having competent support made an attorney’s life so much easier.
Other than a couple of attorneys speaking with the courtclerk after the morning calendar, the courtroom had emptied out of any audiences. Lizzy pursed her lips as a strand of disappointment wound through her. Jack was four hours away in Weldon. She hadn’t seriously expected him to drive all the way down to Los Angeles to watch her opening statement. But a small part of her had hoped he would come. She certainly could use the moral support.
Then she thought wistfully of her friend Ashley. If they had still been close, she would be there to support her. But there was a rift between them that she didn’t know how to mend. They’d joined the firm at the same time, both fresh out of law school, and had connected instantly. Unfortunately, the firm culture and the drive to make partner inevitably pitted them against each other. Things hadn’t been the same with Ashley since last year, when Lizzy made senior counsel first.
The bailiff opened the door to the deliberation room, and the jurors filed out to take their seats in the jury box. Lizzy dragged her attention back into the courtroom. Now was not the time to mull over her growing discontent with the firm culture and the ugly realities of climbing the corporate ladder. She had to focus on winning over the jury so she could win this damn trial.
Her heart pounded a relentless beat in her ears, and her palms grew slick with sweat. She poured herself a glass of water from the carafe on the table. As she brought the glass to her lips, she noticed her hands weren’t quite steady. She needed to center herself. While this was her first trial, she was an experienced litigator with many court appearances under her belt. She’d argued and won multiple motions for summary judgment, which was like a mini trial where the judge decided the case based on a set of finite facts. The opening statement wasn’t that much different from what she’d previously done.
Despite the sound logic of her mind, anxiety continued to climb its way up, and her breath quickened with her pulse. As her therapist said, becoming anxious about anxiety only made things worse. Lizzy could handle anxiety. She lived with it constantly. She breathed in five seconds through her nose and gently released it through her mouth for seven seconds. But even after multiple repetitions, her breathing technique wasn’t slowing down her heart rate.
“All rise,” the bailiff boomed. “The Honorable James Reiner presiding.”
Lizzy got to her feet but grabbed the table in front of her when the room threatened to tilt. She felt Katie looking at her, but she kept her gaze focused straight ahead to will the dizziness away. Many of the superior court judges didn’t require people to stand when they entered the room anymore, but Judge Reiner took his time settling into his seat and moving some files around before he said, “You may be seated.”
She plopped back into her seat, her knees weaker than she would like. She envisioned waves crashing into the beach and receding and tried to allow her anxiety to wash over her. If she didn’t fight it, it would run its course and move on.
“Ms. Chung, are you ready to make the opening statement for Defendant?” Judge Reiner asked, managing to sound both apathetic and patronizing. When she got to her feet, his glance flickered to her slacks, and the corners of his thin lips dove down.
“Yes, Your Honor.” It felt as though her head were underwater, and her voice echoed in her head. Picking up her leather binder with her opening-statement bullet points, Lizzy made her way to the small podium by the jury box. She put her binder down and planted her palms on the podium to steady herself.
“Good morning, members of the jury. As you know, I’m Elizabeth Chung, counsel for Defendant Jubilee Toy Company.”Her body turned cold as though all the blood had drained out of it, and numbness spread to her fingertips. “Contrary to Ms. Monty’s passionate monologue yesterday, this case isn’t about gender discrimination. It’s about hurt feelings and wounded pride taken way out of proportion…”
Darkness edged in from the corners of her vision, and suddenly, she couldn’t get enough air into her lungs.Oh, God. Not now.Something squeezed at her skull as though she were a plush toy being gripped and carried in the air by a mechanical claw. She was shaking uncontrollably now, and her knees finally gave out. She thought she heard a lovely deep voice call outLizzy,but the coldness of the hard floor met her body, then there was darkness everywhere.
“Lizzy!” Jack yelled.
His best friend fell to her knees just as he stepped through the courtroom door, then collapsed onto the thinly carpeted floor as he ran to her. He might have pushed someone out of the way, but Lizzy’s head was cradled in the crook of his arm a moment later as he crouched on the floor beside her limp body.
“Lizzy,” he said gently even as his heart beat the hell out of his rib cage. What was happening to her?
