A/N: Once again, thanks to RebeccaInley for her beta read, and to Lynn46 for her helpful comments. Their assistance has been invaluable. Any remaining errors are my own.

Dress Rehearsal


Supreme Court Building

8 pm Wednesday May 9th 2007


Regan climbed the stairs to the courthouse and turned left at the colonnades to the after-hours entrance. She gave her name to the security guard and waited while he called it in.

Her head ached. She and Danielle Melnick and Nora Lewin had spent hours working on her opening statement for the next morning – an opening statement I still haven't persuaded Jack to let me give – until Rey Curtis had dropped off his background research on Keri Dyson. Danielle had left to go through Keri's history and background while Nora and Regan to kept working.

Regan had drafted opening and closing arguments for McCoy before – first drafts, setting out the facts and the law of the case, to which McCoy had then added the polish and the drama, the indefinable Jack-McCoy-touch.

Impossible to define, and, at least as far as I'm concerned, impossible to replicate.

"You're good to go through, Ms Markham," the security guard said, breaking in to her stream of thought. "Do you know where you're going?"

"Yes," Regan said.

Once inside, though, she thought that maybe she should have asked for directions after all. The courthouse looked different at night, with the windows showing the city lights and the overhead lights switched off. It was disorienting enough for her to miss the right staircase and have to backtrack, but when she gave up looking around and let her feet take her on autopilot , she soon found herself standing in the right corridor.

Danielle Melnick was already there, and Regan saw Nora Lewin coming toward them from the other direction with a slim woman with short brown hair, dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt.

"Regan," Nora said as the four of them converged at a closed courtroom door. "I'd like to introduce you to Jamie Ross."

"Judge Ross," Regan said, holding out her hand.

"I'm Jamie," Jamie Ross said, taking Regan's hand in a firm grip. "At least, at this hour of the night I am."

"We appreciate your help, Jamie," Danielle said.

Jamie took a bunch of keys from her pocket and turned to the courtroom door. "Well, I'd appreciate it if you didn't appreciate it too publicly, if you know what I mean." She unlocked the door and pushed it open.

"Are you going to get jammed up over this?" Regan asked apprehensively.

"It wouldn't look good on my resume, put it that way," Jamie said, and then shrugged. "But it's hardly a hanging offence."

The others followed Jamie Ross into the empty courtroom.

"I'll leave you," Jamie said. "I'll be in my chambers. Let me know when you're done so I can lock up."

As she left, Regan turned to Danielle. "Why is she taking this kind of risk to help us?"

"She's helping Jack," Danielle said. "You know she used to have your job?"

"Jamie Ross," Regan said. "Of course. I'd forgotten." As the courtroom door opened and Sally Bell came in with a young woman Regan didn't recognize, Regan said to Danielle: "There's a lot of goodwill toward Jack, isn't there?"

"And a lot of ill-will," Danielle said dryly. "Regan, this is Susan Kawoski. She's a drama student at Hudson. I've hired her to play the part of Keri Dyson this evening."

"Hello," Regan said. Susan Kawoski didn't look a lot like Keri Dyson – she was slim, with close-cropped dark hair and slightly Oriental features.

"Hi," Susan said.

"Susan has signed a contract. She's legally part of the defense, covered by privilege, and understands the importance of confidentiality. I've used her for this kind of work before," Danielle said. "Susan, why don't you go and sit in the front row until we're ready for you."

"I'll be your second chair," Sally said to Regan, going to the defense table. "When Serena gets here – "

"I'm here," Serena said from the door, a little breathlessly.

"How'd you go with Dr Jordan?" Regan asked.

"I have a deposition," Serena said, striding down the aisle and dropping her briefcase on the prosecution table. "Dr Jordan hasn't even been in Manhattan since 2005, and then only for a visit. Last Thursday night he was on an overnight shift at Baltimore General, with about ten colleagues and assorted patients, nurses, and EMTs able to establish he couldn't possibly have nipped up to New York to treat Keri Dyson. He has no idea how his signature got on that medical report."

"Someone forged his signature?" Danielle asked.

"Well, if they did," Serena said, "We'll find out. I got him to sign his name about a hundred times and I also got notarized copies of papers he's signed over the past few years under different circumstances. We can get them compared to the copies of the report we got through discovery."

"I have a good lab we can use," Danielle said. "I'll drop them off first thing in the morning."

Serena nodded. "Okay," she said. "So, I'm the prosecution?"

"That's right," Nora said. Regan turned to see that the former DA had climbed up to sit in the judge's chair.

"And I'm the jury," Danielle said, opening the gate to the jury box. She chose a chair in the middle of the front row and settled herself in it with a legal pad in her lap. "Are you ready, Regan?"

Regan swallowed hard and nodded. She walked to the defense table and sat down in the chair nearest the aisle, the chair she'd sit in tomorrow.

"You'll be fine," Sally murmured encouragingly.

"You won't be here tomorrow," Regan said.

"I'm in court," Sally said.

"And Jack won't agree to a second lawyer at the table," Regan said.

It'll just be me – and him.

And he's as much of a problem as Michael Cutter.

A sudden wave of panic made her stomach cramp and her hands sweat.

Regan took a deep breath and pushed it aside. You're a lawyer, act like one, McCoy had said to her once, the very first bit of advice he had ever given her. Lesson one, Ms Markham.

Serena was on her feet, opening her case, her measured steady voice setting out the allegations against McCoy. Regan envied her composure. What had McCoy said to her in the car on the way back from Carthage? Don't sell yourself short – defense lawyers can sense uncertainty.

She could almost hear his slightly hoarse voice saying the words, almost feel his hand covering hers.

Juries and prosecutors, too, Regan thought. She took a deep breath, pushing aside her nagging worries about the next day and her stomach-clenching awareness of how miserably inadequate she was to the task ahead. Think like a lawyer, just like Jack told you that you had to after Conroy confessed to the Walker murder. Think like a lawyer, act like a lawyer, don't show uncertainty.

For the first time, sitting in the courtroom as first chair, without Jack McCoy's considerable experience and expertise between her and any major mistakes, Regan realized how much of his advice had been preparing her for the courtroom, rather than the other aspects of a prosecutor's workload that she more usually handled.

You never get the ideal circumstances in a courtroom, Regan. Your job is to work with what you have. Winning is everything in the courtroom. Justice is the by-product of winning.

Once she had lived her life by the lessons of an old man's hard-won wisdom, a life-time on the force distilled down to rules for Regan to live by. Stand by your partner. Keep your head in the game. But her world had turned.

She had new rules to add now, new lessons.

Winning is everything.

Rules as ill-built for the quotidian as any of her great-grandfather's lawman lessons, but that would equally well suit her to do her job, if only she could follow them closely enough.

Serena finished her statement and sank back into her chair.

Regan took a deep breath and rose to her feet.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury," she began, hoping no-one else could hear the slight quaver in her voice, "this case is a classic test of the age-old legal principle 'innocent until proven guilty'."

They had argued about this, she and Danielle and Nora. We have to do more than put the prosecution to proof! Regan had said. 'Not proven' might be an acquittal but not in the court of public opinion!

Danielle had been firm. We don't have any proof for an alternate theory of the crime, she'd insisted. If you preview it for the jury in your opening, and we can't turn anything up, your credibility will be shot. But if we do find anything, the discovery of new evidence during the trial gives you reason to change tack – legal reason, but more importantly, a reason the jury will believe. They'll listen to you say 'Your honor, we only just found this witness', and they'll think 'She always knew he was innocent but she's only just found the proof'. So open with 'innocent until proven guilty'. Open with the weakness in the prosecution case. Open with their inability to prove that Jack's guilty. If we can do more later, if we can prove that he's innocent and not just 'not guilty', we will. But until we can prove it …

Regan had yielded to Danielle's vastly greater experience. Now, as she recited the words the three of them had drafted that afternoon, the phrases felt dead and empty in her mouth.

When she finished she looked around to see the others' reactions. There was a moment of silence.

"Well," Danielle said at last, "We can work on that some more tomorrow morning."

Regan nodded, and went back to her seat.

Serena rose to her feet. "The People call Keri Dyson."

It was standard operating procedure, in a crime with a living victim, for the prosecution to open with their chief witness. It gave the crime an immediate human face for the jury to identify with. And it gives me an immediate problem, Regan thought as the young actress playing 'Keri Dyson' walked to the stand. We haven't had enough time to find out anything that might impeach her. Even a few days could give us that opportunity. But tomorrow …

Serena as the 'prosecutor' took 'Keri' through her testimony, the actress sticking closely to the actual statement and deposition Keri Dyson had made. Serena was an experienced attorney, and her questions didn't give Regan grounds to object. She jumped to her feet a few times anyway, trying to break the flow of 'Keri's' testimony. Objection – asked and answered. Objection – calls for speculation. Objection – calls for a conclusion. Objection – irrelevant. Objection – lack of foundation.

'Judge' Nora Lewin overruled her each time.

Then it was her turn.

Regan gathered her thoughts. Need to destroy her credibility. She didn't have much to do it with.

"Ms Dyson, you've testified that you and Mr. McCoy travelled from the Lord Roberts to his apartment by taxi, is that correct?" she asked.

"Yes," 'Keri' answered.

"And that Mr. McCoy seemed somewhat intoxicated?"

"Yes."

"What do you mean by 'somewhat' intoxicated?" Regan asked.

"I mean, he seemed to be under the influence of alcohol," 'Keri' said.

"More than could be explained by the number of drinks he'd consumed?"

"Objection, your honor," Serena said calmly. "The witness has no way of knowing the defendant's tolerance for alcohol."

"Sustained," Nora said.

Damn. Regan looked down at her notes. "You told the court that on reaching Mr. McCoy's apartment, you assisted him upstairs?"

"Yes."

"Because he was so intoxicated that he couldn't use the elevator by himself?"

"Because he asked me," 'Keri' said, "And I was concerned."

"Because he was extremely intoxicated?" Regan asked quickly.

"No. Because I was concerned," 'Keri' said.

"And when you got to Mr. McCoy's apartment, who unlocked the door?" Regan asked.

"He did," 'Keri' said.

Regan bit her lip. If she'd said that she did I could try again to get her to admit that he was far more drunk than three drinks could explain.

"At the bar, you were observed engaging in behavior of an intimate nature with Mr. McCoy," she began, trying a different tack.

"Objection – counsel is testifying," Serena said.

"Sustained," Nora said.

"Ms Dyson, would it surprise you to know that others at the bar are prepared to testify that you were observed engaging in behavior of an intimate nature?" Regan tried.

"I'm never surprised by what people say," 'Keri' responded smoothly.

"Were you, in fact, engaging in such behavior?"

"I'm not sure what you mean by 'intimate'," 'Keri' said.

"Quote: They were all over each other like teenagers," Regan said.

"Objection, facts not in evidence," Serena said.

"I am prepared to table depositions from witnesses," Regan said. Or, I will be, if Serena gets them in time tomorrow morning.

"The People have had no notice of these depositions," Serena said.

"Are your witnesses prepared to testify?" Nora asked Regan.

"Yes, your honor," Regan said.

"Then call them to the stand at the appropriate time," Nora said.

"I have the right to impeach this witness," Regan protested.

"Not by trying to slip untested allegations in as statements of fact. Move on, counselor."

"Ms Dyson, would it surprise you to learn that the doctor whose signature appears on the medical file you gave to the prosecution as evidence of your assault does not work at the hospital where you were treated?"

"Yes," 'Keri' said.

"Do you have any explanation for how your chart was signed by a doctor who has been working in Baltimore for more than five years?"

"I can't explain it," 'Keri' said. "I didn't ask the doctor to see his driver's license or whatever. Do you check ID when you go to the ER?"

"Isn't it the truth, Ms Dyson, that you weren't treated at Mercy ER at all?" Regan asked, trying to imitate Jack McCoy's quick pounce on a witness's inconsistencies.

'Keri' was unmoved. "I was treated there," she said.

And no matter what tack Regan tried, the young actress playing Keri Dyson remained sure of her story. Regan tried to hammer a wedge into every potential crack in the allegations Keri Dyson had made, her head beginning to swim with questions and answers, objections and rulings.

After a while she felt as if she had been on her feet, in this courtroom, with this witness, for days rather than hours. Ms Dyson, isn't it the case … Objection – inflammatory. Sustained. Ms Dyson, how do you explain … Objection – Calls for speculation. Sustained. Ms Dyson, isn't the jury entitled to wonder … Objection – asked and answered. Sustained. Ms Dyson, you were seen … Objection – counsel is testifying again. Sustained. Ms Dyson, you bought Mr. McCoy several drinks … Objection – perhaps counsel would like to take the stand herself?

"That's enough," Danielle said at last.

Regan sank into her seat at the defense table, knees trembling. Her shirt was drenched with sweat, sticking to her skin beneath her suit.

"Thank you, Susan," Danielle said. "Would you wait outside in the hall for a few minutes? I'll walk you out when we're done here."

"Sure," Susan Kawoski said, stepping down from the witness stand.

Danielle waited until the courtroom doors had closed behind the young woman before saying: "Comments, anyone?"

"I don't know where to start," Sally Bell muttered beside Regan.

Regan felt her stomach clench. "I know that I was terrible," she said defensively.

"You weren't terrible," Serena said. "You had a tough job."

"It's always a little bit different with an actor," Danielle said, stepping down from the jury box. "If the witness they're playing lied, the actor doesn't know about it. They don't make the same mistakes, or show the same signs of stress when they're lying."

"Keri Dyson is an experienced attorney, though," Nora said, joining Danielle in the well of the court. "She won't be an easy witness to wrong-foot."

"I'll do better," Regan said.

"You'll need to," Sally said bluntly. "Don't look at me like that, Danielle. It's true. This is Jack's life we're talking about.

"We'll be in better shape tomorrow," Danielle said brusquely. "Regan, spin out jury selection as long as you can. Serena will track down those witnesses and get the depositions we need. I'll get you the report on Dr Jordan's signature. We've already got his deposition – whoever signed that chart, it wasn't him. You'll have more ammunition, a lot more, when you get Dyson on the stand."

"I'll need it," Regan said quietly. "Won't I?"

None of them answered her, but their faces told her everything she needed to know.


.oOo.


A/N: If you're wondering what Regan is referring to when she remembers McCoy's advice to her, she is thinking back to conversations they have had in earlier stories.