Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Due Diligence due diligence (due diligence), n. Taking the time and making the effort to do a reasonably-good job at something; the opposite of negligence. "Can we take a break now?" asked Megan, sitting up on her knees. She held the blue marker in her hand as if it were a lighted candle. Her fingers were covered with ink in all colors, and she had a pencil stuck through the base of her ponytail. Jessie was lying on her stomach with her whole box of colored pencils spread out in front of her. There was no way they could take a break now! The trial was tomorrow. There was still so much left to do.

She'd already interviewed the five witnesses who were going to testify—Paul, Ryan, Kevin, Malik, and Jack—to find out exactly what they remembered about the day of the crime when they were at Jack's house. She'd written out index cards for David Kirkorian that told him exactly what he was supposed to say during the trial. WHEN! THE TRIAL BEGINS: You bang your gavel and say: "All rise! Court is in session. The Honorable David P. kirkoraian presiding." IF SOMEBODY TALKS WHO'S NOT SUPPOSED TO: You say: "Order in the court! Order in the court! If

you're not quiet, I will hold you in contempt!" WHEN YOU SWEAR IN A WITNESS: You say: "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" Now she was finishing up coloring the map that showed where each person would stand or sit during the trial. And she still had to write her closing argument! Jessie felt—for the first time in her life—as if she was about to take a test and she hadn't studied long enough. "Let's just work a little longer," she said. "Are you almost done with the nametags?" Megan showed Jessie the twelve jury nametags,

the five witness nametags,

and the judge's nametag. "Those are good," said Jessie. "Now you just have to do the ones for the audience." Megan groaned. "This is why Evan calls you Obsessie Jessie." Jessie hated that nickname. She hated all nicknames! Why had Evan told Megan about that? "I am not obsessed. I just work hard. It's called due"—she thought for a minute, but couldn't come up with the name—"something." She scrounged under the papers that were scattered on the floor and

found "Trial by Jury," the booklet her mother had written. She started flipping through the pages. "But we've been doing this for hours!" wailed Megan. "I want to go outside." "Due diligence!" said Jessie. "That's what it's called. Doing your job so that later, no one can blame you and say you didn't work hard enough." "Well, due diligence is BORING!" said Megan. She picked up the ruler that Jessie had been using to draw straight lines on her map and began to balance it upright in the palm of her hand. She was pretty good at it. Jessie was impressed. Suddenly, Megan asked, "Do you think you can really prove that Scott stole Evan's money?" Jessie felt her throat close up for an instant. That was the question she was most afraid of. That was the question that had kept running through her mind last night as she lay in bed, trying to fall asleep. "I don't know. I'd better be able to." Jessie imagined standing up in front of the whole class and apologizing to Scott. It made her feel like throwing