Inadmissible
Chapter Five
Lexi awoke with smile, memories of last night still fresh in her mind. She turned toward Danny's side of the bed hoping for a good morning kiss, but saw that her bed was empty. Lexi's heart dropped into her stomach, forming a hard ball. She really hadn't pegged Danny as a "love 'em and leave 'em" kind of guy and honestly felt they had connected on a much deeper level than that.
She sat up in bed and stared at the clock in disbelief. Damn, it was past 8:00 a.m. Normally she would have been in the office for at least an hour by this time. She would have to make the shower extra fast today. As she made her way toward the bathroom, she heard the unmistakable sound of running water. Her faith in Danny was immediately restored.
Lexi silently tiptoed into the bathroom. Though the glass shower door was heavily fogged, she was able to make out Danny's silhouette and watched him appreciatively for a few moments. Still naked from last night, she quietly slipped into the shower behind Danny. Not startled at all, he turned toward her a big, sexy grin and gave her a lingering kiss.
"Hope ya don't mind that I helped myself to the shower. I'm kinda late for work … not that I'm complaining," he said.
"Hope you don't mind that I got in with you. I'm late too," she responded, sneaking in another kiss.
Danny looked hotter than ever all lathered up with the water running down the length of his flawless physique. It was really a shame they were both running late this morning. They made out briefly and possibly groped each other a little bit, but Lexi wasn't totally clear on the details because she was floating on cloud 9 this morning and not thinking clearly.
As they exited her apartment, Lexi and Danny had to part ways as they worked in opposite directions. They kissed again, for about the hundredth time this morning despite the hurry they were both in.
"Call ya later?" Danny asked.
"You better," Lexi beamed at him.
It was 9:00 a.m by the time Lexi got to the office and she was agonizing over what had transpired between her and Danny last night. To be sure, it was amazing and she was falling for him fast. But there was a critical detail that escaped her in the heat of the moment. She had committed a grievous mistake from a work standpoint.
"Never sleep with your client" was a hard and fast rule even a first year law student could recite. But "never sleep with a key witness" didn't even come close to entering her mind last night as, frankly, that temptation had never presented itself before.
If she even dreamed of putting Danny on the stand at trial, she would have an ethical obligation to disclose last night's indiscretion to the defense. That was more than just professionally embarrassing. It was devastating to her case. Danny's testimony would be deemed biased and, therefore, inadmissible. Jones would walk.
Lexi could potentially attempt to prosecute the case without calling Danny as a witness. She would have to rely exclusively on circumstantial evidence if she did that, but a California jury recently sentenced a man to death on similar facts without even having any idea as to when, where, or how the wife was killed. She could hold her breath and pray for a similar outcome. No, that simply wasn't right. Hard evidence linking Jones to his wife's murder had been obtained at the scene and, although the evidence itself was inadmissible, Danny could certainly testify about his findings.
Danny was all Lexi could think about. What was she going to do? She slept with her key witness on the very first day of her new job. How was that going to look? Actually, what job was probably a question she should be considering right now. The only way Danny's testimony would be allowed is without her. The case would have to be reassigned and possibly even referred out for prosecution by an outside attorney with no affiliation to her office.
Suddenly, Lexi was struck with the image of Danny's enraged face last night during dinner when her career appeared to be the reason she was upset about the excluded evidence. Danny was a good man with a heart of gold. If she chose to put on a strictly circumstantial case in order avoid office humiliation at the risk of letting Jones walk free, Danny would never look at her the same.
It was clear what she needed to do. She opened the New York v. Jones file to locate the telephone number of Mr. Jones' attorney, whom she met at yesterday's hearing, to advise him that she would be filing Substitution of Counsel forms that morning and a new attorney would be in touch with him soon.
Lexi's phone rang interrupting her thoughts. It was Danny and she was thrilled. It was only 10:00 a.m.
"Hey, it's me," he began. She liked this immensely. He was already referring to himself in the familiar way a boyfriend would rather than saying, "It's Danny."
"By 'Call ya later,' I had now idea you meant, 'Call ya within the hour'," she teased with an ear-to-ear grin spread across her face.
"Yeah, well, when something catches my attention I go after it."
"Something?"
"Okay, someone. Listen, I was wondering if you're free for lunch today because there is this great sandwich shop I go to all the time … if you're interested," he asked hopefully.
"I'm very interested, but unfortunately I have some stuff I really need to take care of here in the office."
"Okay, no problem. Maybe I'll call you tomorrow." She could hear the disappointment in his voice and thought there is no way she wanted to let this one get away.
"Hey, if you don't have plans for dinner tonight, why don't you come over to my place after work and I'll cook for you," Lexi offered.
"No way I can pass up a home cooked meal. I don't see too many of those," he eagerly accepted.
"Great. Say around 7:00?"
"Works for me. Is there anything I can bring?" Danny asked.
"Um, can you bring your lab coat and a forensics book?" she ventured, imagining that fantasy come true already.
"You kidding? Consider it done. But when you ask me to bring home a corpse tomorrow night, that's where I draw the line."