Judge Duffy was saying, “I want you to have maximum seclusion and comfort, so I’ve arranged for you to be sequestered in the Fairmont Hotel for as much time as you need.”
Yuki saw the shock register on every one of the jurors’ faces as they realized that the judge was locking them up in a hotel without any warning, denying them TV, newspapers, home-cooked meals, and other comforts of daily life.
They were not pleased.
Duffy thanked the jury on behalf of the court and, taking his can of Sprite with him, left the bench.
Chapter 20
YUKI’S PHONE RANG the moment she returned to her office.
“It’s me,” said Len Parisi, the deputy district attorney who was also her superior, her champion, and her toughest critic. “Got a minute?”
Yuki opened her makeup kit, applied fresh lipstick, snapped her purse shut, and stepped out into the corridor.
“Want me to come with?” Nicky Gaines said, raking his shaggy blond mop with his fingers.
“Yeah. Try to make him laugh.”
“Really?”
“Couldn’t hurt.”
Parisi was on the phone when Yuki rapped on his open door. He swung his swivel chair around and stuck his forefinger in the air, the universal sign for “I’ll be a minute.”
Parisi was in his late forties, with wiry red hair, a pear-shaped girth, and a heart condition that had nearly killed him a year and a half ago. He was known around town as “Red Dog,” and Yuki thought the name pleased him. Called up images of a drooling bulldog with a spiked collar.
Parisi hung up the phone, signaled for Yuki and Nicky to come in, then barked, “Did I hear this right? The jury hung?”
“Yep,” Yuki said from the doorway. “Duffy dropped the Allen charge and then he sequestered them.”
“No kidding. What do you think? There were one or two holdouts?”