That was the end of his posturing with Gift.  They became friends.  During the weeks and months before the trial, he spent more time with her than with either of the attorneys.  If Hadley and Davids were busy—and they usually were—she would listen to his questions or complaints.  Zeigler didn't easily open up to anyone, but eventually he talked to her about Eunice and his marriage.  Gift became convinced that he truly loved his wife, and that he hadn't yet fully grasped the fact of her death.

He could be a prickly client.  As details of the state's case trickled in, Hadley would bring Zeigler into the office to confront him with the new evidence and ask him to explain it.

The first few times this happened, Zeigler would protest, as if he couldn't understand why anyone, especially his own attorneys, would doubt his version.  But he always answered, and Gift noticed that his answers were always consistent with the statements he had been making since he awoke in the hospital on Christmas Day.  If he was a liar, she thought, he was the most effective liar she had ever known.

He would bristle if Hadley's questions became personal.  Hadley asked him about his sex life with Eunice; Zeigler told him that was none of his business.  Hadley wanted to see the logs of their intercourse that Eunice had kept.  Zeigler refused and stormed out of the office.

A day later he brought the logs to Gift.  Some were torn and repaired with transparent tape.  Zeigler said that he had started to destroy them to keep them out of the public record, but had changed his mind.

At one point Zeigler confronted his attorneys with their doubts.  They were in Hadley's office: Zeigler, Hadley, Davids, and Gift.  One by one, he asked them whether they believed in his innocence.

Yes, Gift said.

Yes, Hadley said.

It was David's turn.  Davids didn't like it.  He felt that he was being pressured into a sort of loyalty oath.  Davids was a libertarian by temperament and philosophy, and didn't care to be pressured into anything.

He told Zeigler the truth: that as yet he hadn't made up his mind about the question of Zeigler's guilt, that he wanted to know more before he finally decided.

Zeigler was affronted.  He didn't understand how any lawyer who didn't completely believe in his innocence could represent him.

 *

Zeigler gradually accepted the doubts and the questions.  He still thought it was more fuss than necessary, but he put up with it.