Page 19 of The Proving Ground

“Mr. Haller?” she asked. “Mr. Mason makes a strong statement. Do you care to respond?”

I needed to quickly turn this around and get the focus off my motives and on Mason’s.

“Well, Judge, all I can say is that Mr. Mason has quite an imagination,” I said. “I am flattered that he believes I can think that quickly on my feet after finding a man dead in his bed and also that I can pinpoint time of death without conferring with a medical examiner. But what I am concerned about, Your Honor, is that Mr. Mason sure seems to have a lot more information than I have. I would ask thecourt to inquire of him what was inquired of me—that is, what does he know and how did he come to know it. I would also throw in when he came to know it.”

Marcus Mason didn’t need the judge to prompt him. He jumped in.

“Your Honor,” he began, “we have a solemn duty to our client to provide the best defense we possibly can against this frivolous lawsuit. In doing so, we became aware that Mr. Patel was a disgruntled ex-employee who might have been tempted by Mr. Haller or his investigator to break his nondisclosure agreement with Tidalwaiv. We have a large firm with a lot of resources. We used them to monitor Mr. Patel, and this is where our information came from.”

I shook my head. The judge leaned toward Marcus Mason.

“These resources, are they people or cameras or other devices?” she asked.

“Uh, both people and cameras,” Mason said.

“Did you put a camera inside Mr. Patel’s house?” Ruhlin pressed.

“No, Your Honor,” Mason said quickly. “Of course not. Never.”

“Your Honor?” I asked.

“Not yet, Mr. Haller,” Ruhlin said. “Then, Mr. Mason, how did you accomplish your surveillance of Mr. Patel to the extent that you knew that his death was being investigated as a suicide?”

“Judge, we had a camera outside the house that recorded audio. It was not on his property. It was on a utility pole on public property. It picked up some of what the investigators discussed outside the house, and that information was forwarded to me. It was not illegal, and some might call it good lawyering.”

He threw my condescending look right back at me.

“I received the information just moments before the hearing began,” Mason said. “I would have brought the situation to the court’s attention at the start, but Mr. Haller jumped in before I could.”

The judge did another twiddle with the pen as she thought about everything she had just heard.

“Your Honor?” I tried again.

“Go ahead, Mr. Haller,” Ruhlin responded impatiently.

“Thank you. Your Honor, I would like opposing counsel to put on the record whether his firm or anyone working for his firm has me or anyone on my staff under similar surveillance.”

“That’s an outrageous claim, Your Honor,” Mason said angrily. “Tidalwaiv had every right to put a disgruntled and volatile ex-employee under surveillance for safety reasons alone. Mr. Haller is using this perfectly legitimate business practice to try to impugn opposing counsel.”

“That is a lot of words, Mr. Mason,” Ruhlin said. “But I did not hear you say that you do not have Mr. Haller or any of his staff under surveillance.”

“Sorry, Your Honor, I’m just very worked up,” Mason said. “The answer is no, we do not have Mr. Haller or any of his staff, or his client, for that matter, under surveillance of any kind. Period.”

“What about before this meeting?” I asked. “Have you been watching me or my investigator?”

“We have not,” Mason said. “There. It’s on the record.”

“Any other questions, Mr. Haller?” Ruhlin asked.

“I would like the record to reflect that the man Mr. Mason calls a disgruntled and volatile ex-employee, I would term a whistleblower,” I said. “But no, no other questions, Your Honor.”

I knew from Ruhlin’s countenance that I did not have to press the outrage button. She would handle that.

“Very well,” she said. “Gentlemen, I find the tactics and behaviors you exhibited outside the courtroom troubling and below the dignity of the court. I am putting both parties on notice that I will have little patience and show little sympathy should any of you or those workingfor you violate the law or the decorum of the US district court. That includes feeding the media unfounded claims or misinformation. This is not a street fight, gentlemen, and I do meangentlemen. Be warned—conduct yourselves accordingly.”

Ruhlin got a chorus ofYes, Your Honors from the Masons and me. She then said the hearing was adjourned and dismissed us. We left silently and in single file behind the stenographer and headed back to the courtroom. I was last in line behind Marcus Mason.

“You looked a little stressed in there, Marcus,” I said to his back. “How’re you holding up?”