The Trials of Nikki Hill Read Online Free

this, I’ll put you behind bars for the rest of your life.”
    Nikki couldn’t believe it. He was threatening her. “What kind of bullshit is this?” she asked.
    “Hiding evidence from a jury during a murder trial with special circumstances can put a prosecutor away for life,” Gleason said calmly.
    “You saying I hid evidence during the trial?” she asked, eyes narrowing.
    “I’m saying you discovered that devil’s own wiener in the midst of the trial, but failed to disclose it. You came to me today because your conscience has been bothering you.
    “Isn’t that right, Ray? Isn’t that what you heard?”
    Wise looked surprised and a bit shaken. He said nothing.
    “Well?” Gleason prompted him.
    “Tom, don’t ask me to be a party to anything like this.”
    Gleason’s eyebrows shot up. “Excuse me. I thought you were somebody I could count on. Somebody who knew how to play the game. Hell, this is all speculation anyway. I’m sure Nikki’s bright enough to do the right thing, which is to flush the evidence of
her
crime down the crapper and go on about her business. Right, Nikki?”
    The jive-ass son of a bitch!
    Both men were staring at her. She wanted to scream. Or tear out their hearts. Something.
    Gleason took her silence for affirmation. “Fine, then,” he said. “Ray, you’ll supervise the removal of the ‘old business.’ ”
    “Tom,” Wise complained, “you’re carrying this too far. Let’s just put the fucking hot dog back in the box and file it. We’re still on legal high ground there, but no matter how inconsequential the evidence is, once you start destroying it—”
    “That’s the point, Ray,” Gleason said, grinning. “That’s how I can be sure there’ll be no more discussion of this matter. You two will get rid of the so-called evidence.”
    “I...I don’t think so,” Wise said.
    Gleason stood, his face filling with angry blood. Then he seemed to relax. He slumped back in his chair and grinned at Wise. “That’s a curious career choice, Ray. Just after I bumped you up to head deputy. Could be a short-term decision.”
    Wise blinked in surprise, and Nikki could tell by the change that came over his pasty face that he would be raising no more objections. Gleason saw it, too. “Good. Now that we’re in agreement, be off with the two of you. When you’re finished, Nikki, come back and we’ll work out your reassignment.”
    “What reassignment?”
    “I’m sure you’d be happier somewhere else.”
    “Where?” she asked coldly.
    “You’ll stay on here for a few months, closing out your caseload. Then when the media has forgotten all about the damned ‘weenie defense’ case, you’ll quietly request a reassignment to Compton.”
    “You sorry sack of shit,” she said.
    “I love you, too,” he said. “Now, why don’t you and Ray get rid of that nasty old weenie.”
    They made their way to her office in silence, Nikki leading the limping Wise by several paces. When they arrived, she turned to him and said, “He’s gonna be holding this over us for the rest of our careers. Even head D.D.A. isn’t worth it.”
    “Grow the fuck up,” Wise replied. “You can’t beat Tom at this game. You do it his way, or you pay, as you are paying. I have no desire to wind up at the desk next to you in Compton. Besides, you know damned well Durant is guilty as sin.”
    “He is. But...aw, hell, what’s the point of talking ethics to you? You want to destroy evidence, Mister Integrity, do it without my help.” She sat down at her desk. “I’m already on my way to Compton.”
    She took no delight in the sight of Wise limping gingerly from her office, one hand clutching the rotten food wrapped in a Kleenex, the other holding his nose. When he was gone, she went to her bookshelf and pulled down a thick volume. She shuffled through its thin pages until she found what she was looking for. “
Brady v. Maryland,
U.S. Supreme Court, 373 OS.83 (1963).”
    She scanned the words of