"You're looking very sharp today, Sir." DS James Hathaway admiringly surveyed the dark, blue-black suit worn by his boss, DI Robert Lewis. Against his crisp, white shirt, a royal blue tie nicely picked up the blue in the older man's eyes.

"Ginny Harris's trial starts today. I'm the star witness for the prosecution." Lewis thought a moment. "You should see if the Chief Super will let you go. I think she's planning to go, to watch me get her friend put away for life."

Hathaway remembered the case like it happened yesterday, although in fact nearly five months had passed since they arrested the unbalanced woman after she confessed to killing two people. One of them had been her foster son and former sex partner, an aspect that both men had found repellant. The other had been an innocent woman, whom Ginny had mistaken for someone else.

"Who's the prosecutor?"

"Robert Marks, and the prosecuting barrister is Tiffany Ambrose. He's getting too old to be doing this, he must be over ninety by now, and doesn't do anything to help the barrister as far as I can tell. I think he slept through the last trial I saw him at. And she's a bit of a newbie, from what I understand. I guess they figured with Ginny's confession this won't be that hard of a case."

"Hmm. I haven't heard of her. I'll see if I can find out anything from Blair." Hathaway's friend from school, Blair Crandall, had been with Crown Prosecution Services for years, a connection Hathaway often found useful.

"Well, I have to get to court. I expect we'll be done in just a few days, there isn't a lot of evidence other than mine and Doctor Hobson's testimony. Maybe I'll see you there."

"Yeah, I'll check with Innocent as soon as I get this text off to Blair."

Lewis had reviewed his expected testimony with Marks and Ambrose just the week before so he did not need to be in court until after the jury was empanelled. In fact, since he would testify after Hobson, he might not even be needed until the second day of trial. But he knew his early arrival would reassure the rookie barrister, especially since his testimony was essential for a conviction.

He had bought a newspaper on the way and he settled down on a bench outside the courtroom. Voir dire could take a while, he knew, especially for a murder trial, with both barristers wanting to be sure they had winnowed out any potential jurors who would be biased against their side. He had peeked in to see who Ginny's defense counsel was, and unhappily recognized Sir Winston Bellingwood, arguably the best at criminal defense in southern England. He wondered where she had gotten the money to hire him. And how Ambrose would fare against his considerable talent. Still, the evidence was there. And maybe the jury would be sympathetic with the young barrister.

Someone sat down on the other end of the bench. He glanced up, and was a bit surprised to see Doctor Hobson there.

"Well, Laura, don't say good morning or anything." He smiled broadly. She was looking very professional in a dark suit jacket and trousers. A bit of lace peeked out at her décolletage. She looks good in everything, he found himself thinking.

She started at his voice. "Robbie! I didn't realize it was you. You got a new suit!"

He couldn't help being pleased that she noticed. "The old 'good suit' doesn't fit quite right anymore. I think it shrank in a couple places." He made a wry face.

"Well, the new 'good suit' fits quite nicely. You look very elegant."

He beamed. "Thanks. You're looking rather smart yourself." He wanted to say "dishy" but was fairly certain that was not the look she was striving for and thought she might not appreciate the comment.

"Why, thank you. But these shoes are killing me."

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