Page 17 of The Proving Ground

8

THE JUDGE WASlate for the emergency hearing she had scheduled. We—the attorneys—waited silently at our tables. I had nothing to say to the Masons and they had nothing to say to me. I had informed my client of the hearing but she was unable to get away from her job at the lab on short notice. And so I sat alone. In the first row of the gallery, there were three reporters, one print and two TV, all of whom had gotten an anonymous tip about the hearing from Lorna. This allowed me to be insulated from any accusation of setting in motion a news flash unfavorable to the defense. McEvoy had stepped away from his work in the cage to watch from the back row, where he sat next to Cisco.

At 4:15 Judge Ruhlin finally emerged from chambers, took the bench, and got down to business with no explanation for her delay. Federal judges were like that. They rarely had to bother explaining their actions or rulings.

“All right,” the judge said. “We’re back on the record inRandolph versus Tidalwaiv,and we have a motion from the defense to stay myruling of this morning. Misters Mason, would one of you state your argument for a stay?”

Marcus went toward the lectern, but before he got there, I stood up.

“Your Honor, could I be heard?” I said. “I believe I have information that has significant impact on this hearing and the motion from the defense.”

Ruhlin looked at me for a long moment, showing a flash of annoyance, before responding.

“Very well, Mr. Haller,” she said. “You shall be heard.”

I moved to the lectern, forcing Marcus Mason to step back to his table. I gave him a wink from the eye the judge couldn’t see. He stayed standing, ready to object to whatever I was about to say.

“Thank you, Your Honor,” I said. “And good afternoon. Unfortunately, I have rather disturbing and sad news to deliver to the court. It appears that on the very morning that the court ruled that Rikki Patel could serve as a witness in this trial, his life was cut short. His death is the subject of a homicide investigation being conducted by the Los Angeles—”

“Objection!” Marcus Mason called out.

“—Police Department,” I continued. “There is no need for this hearing, Judge, because my key witness has died under highly suspicious circumstances. The outcome—”

“Objection!” Marcus shrieked again.

“—of the investigation will undoubtedly shed light on the lengths that Tidal—”

“Okay, stop,” Ruhlin said. “Everyone, just hold on.”

She signaled her clerk to the side of the bench. Ruhlin rolled her chair over and whispered to him. He then left the courtroom through the door to chambers and Ruhlin rolled back into position.

“Okay, we’re going to move to chambers to discuss this further,” she said.

“Your Honor, I object to that,” I said. “This is a serious matter and it should be discussed in public.”

“Your Honor,” Marcus Mason said, “plaintiff’s counsel is once again looking to air outrageous claims to the assembled media in hopes that he will taint the—”

“Enough!” Ruhlin boomed from the bench. “Both of you. Enough. My clerk is just clearing documents from another case from view in chambers and then we will convene there to continue this. Andrew will bring you in when we’re ready.”

With that, she left the bench and went through the door to her chambers.

Marcus Mason immediately moved toward me at the lectern and whispered forcefully. “This is bullshit,” he said. “And you’re bullshit.”

“Sure, Marcus,” I said. “Whatever you say.”

“What happened with Patel has nothing to do with this case!”

“Yeah? I hope you can convince a jury of that.”

I left him there and went back to my table, but before I could sit down, one of the reporters, a TV guy who had been around for decades, jumping from station to station in the local market, stood up at the rail and signaled to me.

“Is what you just said true?” he asked. “There’s a murder of a witness?”

“I didn’t use the wordmurder,” I said. “And I would never lie to a federal judge.”

I turned back to my table and saw Andrew, the clerk, standing at the door that led to the judge’s chambers.

“The judge will see you now,” he said.