Chapter 45 THE CONFRONTATION

Chapter 45 TEHILA'S DEFENSE
Tehila 

The smell of the detention centre made my stomach turn. I sat on the narrow bed with my hands pressed against my belly.

My baby is alive, and that was what mattered right now. But every day,  it feels like the life growing inside is two, not one. The last time I went for antenatal was a few days before I left for Switzerland, and I couldn’t go back.

The room was small and cold despite the radiator humming in the corner. 

I had never been in jail before, and had never felt this trapped.

A guard brought me lunch on a plastic tray, with a tasteless soup and bread that was hard around the edges. I ate it anyway because the baby needed food even if I could not stomach it.

Morrison had tried to visit me twice, but the guards said no visitors except my lawyer. I did not have a lawyer yet. Cole was working on it, but international cases took time, and I was running out of time fast.

The door opened, and a man walked in carrying a leather briefcase. He was maybe fifty with grey hair and glasses, and a grey suit.

"Ms Reyes," he said in accented English. "I am Henri Laurent. Victoria Ashford has retained me to represent you."

I stood up too fast and had to grab the bed frame to keep from falling. "You're my lawyer?"

"If you will have me." He set his briefcase on the small table and opened it. "I have reviewed your case. We have much to discuss."

I sat back down because my legs would not hold me anymore. "Can you get me out of here?"

"That is what I intend to do." He pulled out a folder thick with papers. "But first I need to understand exactly what happened in that bank vault."

I told him everything. 

Laurent listened without interrupting and took notes in a small leather notebook. His face gave away nothing.

"The recording Lucas made," he said when I finished. "Do you know how much of it survived?"

"Morrison said most of the confession was there. But Sienna destroyed the wire before she admitted to framing me."

"That is unfortunate." Laurent flipped through his notes. "The Swiss prosecutors are reviewing the recording now to determine admissibility. Even if they accept it as evidence, we have a problem."

"What problem?"

"Sienna's lawyers are arguing that you entrapped her. That you deliberately provoked her into making false confessions while wearing an illegal surveillance device."

I felt something cold spread through my chest. "That's not what happened."

"I believe you," Laurent said. "But belief is not evidence. We must prove your version of events beyond reasonable doubt."

"What about the documents from her safe deposit box?

"All compelling evidence for a murder trial in the United States," Laurent said. "But they do not directly address the charges against you here. Assault and attempted murder are serious crimes in Switzerland."

I pressed my hands harder against my stomach and felt more than one kick. "So what do we do?"

"We build a defence based on self-preservation." Laurent pulled out another folder. "You were five months pregnant when Sienna attacked you in that vault. She had already confessed to multiple murders. You had every reason to believe she would kill you and your child if you did not fight back."

"Will that work?"

"It depends on what evidence the prosecutors have." Laurent opened the second folder and spread photographs across the table. Crime scene photos from the vault. My face bruised and bleeding. Sienna's shoulder wrapped in gauze.

I looked away. "I didn't want to hurt her. I just wanted to survive."

"I know." Laurent's voice was gentle. "But the physical evidence tells a story, and right now Sienna's lawyers are controlling that story. They have convinced the media that you are an unstable woman who attacked her out of jealousy."

"That's a lie."

"Truth and perception are different things in court," Laurent said. "We need to change the perception."

"All the evidence you compiled is all useful," Laurent said. "But what we really need is proof that Sienna planned the confrontation. That she lured you to that vault, intending to frame you."

"She did," I said. "She told me exactly that in the recording."

"The recording that may not be admissible and is missing the most critical parts," Laurent reminded me. "We need something she cannot deny or explain away."

The guard knocked on the door. "Ten minutes."

Laurent nodded and gathered his papers. "I am meeting with the prosecutors tomorrow morning. They will decide whether to file formal charges against you or release you pending investigation."

"What are the chances they'll let me go?"

Laurent hesitated, and I knew the answer before he spoke. "Sienna has hired Bergmann and Associates. They are very good at what they do, and they are pushing hard for your trial."

"Where?"

"To face trial in Switzerland for attempted murder," Laurent said. "If convicted, you could spend twenty years in prison here before being sent back to the United States."

Twenty years. My baby would grow up without me, and Sienna would get everything she wanted.

"There has to be something we can do," I said.

Laurent closed his briefcase. "There is. Sienna is giving interviews to every media outlet in Geneva. She is playing the victim and describing the attack in detail."

"So?"

"So she is talking too much." Laurent pulled out a newspaper and laid it on the table. The headline was in French, but I recognised Sienna's photo. She looked pale and fragile with her arm in a sling.

Laurent translated the article for me. Sienna described how I had lured her to the bank under pretences. How I locked the vault door and attacked her without warning. How she begged me to stop, but I kept coming at her with the letter opener.

"That's not how it happened."

"I know," Laurent said. "And she just proved it."

He pointed to a paragraph near the end of the article. Sienna described the layout of the vault in perfect detail. The steel walls, filing cabinets, small desk in the corner where I had found the letter opener.

"I don't understand," I said.

"Sienna claims this was the first time she had ever been in that vault," Laurent said. "She says you forced her inside against her will. But look at this description. She knew exactly where everything was."

My heart started beating faster. "Because she had been there before."

"Exactly," Laurent said

"Can you prove that?"

"The bank has security logs showing when the vault was accessed and by whom," Laurent said. "If we prove that Sienna entered that vault before yesterday, then her entire story falls apart."

I felt a flicker of hope. "What if she used a fake name?"

"Then we look for other evidence," Laurent said. 

The guard knocked again. "Time."

Laurent stood and picked up his briefcase. "I will contact you after the meeting tomorrow. Until then, try to rest. You need your strength."

"For what?"

"For the fight ahead," Laurent said. "Sienna thinks she has won, but she underestimated you. 

He left, and the guard locked the door behind him. I sat on the bed with the newspaper still in my hands and stared at Sienna's photo.

She looked so innocent, but Laurent was right. She had talked too much.

I just hoped we found it before the prosecutors decided to lock me away and throw away the key.

The next morning, Laurent called. His voice was tight.

"The prosecutors reviewed the bank security logs," he said. "Sienna had never been there before."

I fell on my knees. "They’re working for her."

Laurent was quiet for too long.

"Henri?"

"Yes," Laurent said. "But there's something else. Something worse."

My hands went cold. "What?"

"The prosecutor assigned to your case just recused himself," Laurent said. "The new prosecutor is Judge Beaumont's daughter, and Morrison discovered that Sienna's legal team had dinner with her last night."