Mock Trial Part Eleven; Day Two

“Alright, folks. Let’s get this show on the road,” Judge Mathews said, then tapped his gavel, calling the court to order. “Mr Jackson, please call your next witness.”

Your evening with Gemma and Sabrina really hadn’t been that long. Fun, as always, but you hadn’t been able to collapse into bed together. Gemma didn’t have another work outfit at your place that she or Sabrina deemed worthy of Mock Court, and Sabrina’s place was closer where she did have an outfit, so they left together rather than Gemma going halfway across the city by herself after midnight.

You’d been surprised when the girls showed back up at your door a little before eight with breakfast in tow not just for you but for Mosche as well. You’d touched base with him the night before after saying goodbye to the girls - he’d spent the afternoon with Iris, and then the evening at the smaller comedy club open mic where he tested out new jokes. He hadn’t been awake in the morning - not surprising considering you were pretty sure he’d gone back to his room to play video games with Iris - but Sabrina had written him a note with his breakfast sandwich and homefries and left them on the kitchen table for him.

You’d arrived with plenty of time to spare at the Old Courthouse venue, just a couple of the Associates from the firm there before you, and they both smirked at you when you asked how they thought the case was going so far. Garrison had clearly spread the word not to offer any advice. The opposition had come trickling in, first Samantha, then Tucker and Thomas together. Eric had arrived after that, grinning as he handed off his new Motion to Dismiss for the three of you to read, and then Amanda and Maeve had come in together. That was a bit of a distraction, wondering if they’d spent the night together.

The Senior Partners of the firms who were interested, and not busy with cases, showed up right before the start time along with Judge Mathews, and after about fifteen minutes of socialising between the lawyers and the Judge that pushed everything back a bit, he’d mounted the stage.

“May it please the court, Plaintiff calls Doctor Vivian Brookes to the stand,” Tucker said.

You frowned, raising your eyebrows a little. This was another big swing to open the day, and you had to wonder if it was their plan all along or if they had decided to try and switch tactics.

Barbara, one of the senior associates from the Firm whom you’d spoken with a couple of times - and a former mentee of Garrison back from the previous time he’d been in charge of the Interns who spoke highly of him - stood up from the gallery and made her way to the front after pulling out a stethoscope from her purse and looping it over her shoulders. The prop was a little silly, but it still made everyone in the room chuckle slightly. Properly adorned, she strutted her way up to the stage and the witness stand with her script notes in hand and was ‘sworn in’ by the judge.

“Your Honour, may I approach the witness?” Tucker asked.

Judge Mathews nodded, and Tucker thanked him properly before coming to stand closer to ‘the Doctor’ and flashing her his winning smile. “Thank you for being here this morning, Doctor Brookes,” he said. “I don’t think your testimony should take too long at all, as it seems fairly cut and dry. During the multi-vehicle accident on the date in question, were you on the road that day?”

“I was,” ‘the Doctor’ answered. “I was one vehicle ahead of the accident.”

“What was the weather like that day?”

“Slightly overcast, but no precipitation,” she answered. “A little warm, if I’m remembering correctly.”

“Prior to the accident, were you paying attention to the other vehicles and drivers around you?” Tucker asked.

“I was,” she answered. “I’m not much of a ‘look at the scenery’ kind of person, so I’m always attentive to the other vehicles on the road.”

“Any other reasons you might be extra attentive?” Tucker asked, which confused you a little.

“I was in a nasty accident as a child,” ‘the Doctor’ said. “I may still have some mild anxiety over that.”

You frowned, raising an eyebrow as you glanced at Gemma next to you, and then opened the Dr Brookes file. You hadn’t seen anything about that in the depositions or biography. Tucker continued asking questions as you quickly scanned the documents.

There was nothing about an accident. You double-checked that you weren’t missing a page or anything, but nothing there either. That meant that Tucker and the Plaintiffs had different information than you. It hadn’t come up yet, but…

You looked up in alarm glancing at Sabrina, and then up at Tucker, Barbara on the witness stand, and Judge Mathews.

Judge Mathews wasn’t looking at the witness, or the lawyer. He was looking at you and smirking. Just a little.

They got different Bios than we did, you quickly wrote out on the notepad the four of you used to communicate during court.

What!? Gemma wrote back.

The depositions have to be the same, but the Bios are what we would have found on research, you wrote. They might have some information we don’t.

Sabrina looked at it and grimaced just slightly, mostly with her eyes, before reaching over. Then we have info they don’t, too.

You looked at her and felt just a little of the panic in your chest subside, and nodded. That was true. They might have little gems that would help them, or hinder you, but you would have to have the same. Probably.

Tucker, meanwhile, had been laying the foundation work building up to his big question for the Doctor. “Just prior to the accident occurring, Doctor, did you observe any erratic driving from any of the vehicles behind you?”

“I did not,” ‘the Doctor’ answered firmly.

“Did you see what did cause the accident?” Tucker asked.

“No,” she said. “One moment the traffic seemed to be moving fine, and the next there were crashes and honking behind us.”

Us.

She hadn’t said that before.

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