Chapter 477

It felt like a big win, taking apart the Dr Brookes’ testimony, but the reality of the situation for the Trial was that it would only count as one point on a Mock Trial scorecard, and if it were a real trial all you’d accomplished was to negate her testimony that there wasn’t any erratic driving. The psychological impact was a little larger though - if it were a Jury trial, you would have made the opposition look silly presenting her as a witness, though that would be a diminished effect for a Judge. The real psychological gold was in frustrating, consternating and otherwise aggravating the opposing counsel.

When you returned to your table, Tucker looked ... Well, he looked like he’d seen a ghost. He was a little pale, and his eyebrows were raised while her mouth was doing a sort of pained smile expression. Samantha was furiously flipping through notes, not even glancing up. Thomas was downright scowling and looked like he wanted to curse you out.

They were on tilt. Now you had to figure out a way to keep them that way for the rest of the day.

Amanda, on the other hand, made eye contact with you and gave you a slight nod in a ‘nicely done’ sort of way. Maeve seemed like she wasn’t paying attention at all and was idly scrolling on her phone.

Thomas ended up calling their next witness, yet another of the drivers that had been involved in the accident, and went on a tear of strange questions that had Sabrina standing up constantly to voice new objections. Judge Mathews ended up scolding Thomas and suggested the ‘young man’ should remind himself of the rules of witness examination. All they ended up getting for their trouble was a confused witness on the stand while leaving you an opening.

After the proper pleasantries, you got straight to the point. “Mr Redikoff, on the day of the incident, you were one lane over and approximately one car removed from the Plaintiff’s vehicle, correct?”

“That’s correct,” answered the Senior Associate who was playing the driver. You were pretty sure his actual name started with a W, but you only knew him by his daily coffee order of Tall Black, Oat Milk.

“Did you happen to take particular notice of the plaintiff’s vehicle prior to the incident?” you asked.

“I did,” he nodded.

“Why was that?”

“Well,” he said. “They were hauling some sort of wood, but it was too long for their trunk and was hanging out the back a pretty long distance.”

“Objection, Your Honour,” Samantha said. “He’s speculating.”

“I don’t see how, Your Honour,” you said. “The witness is reporting what he saw.”

“The witness can’t know the depth of my client’s trunk space,” she said quickly. “Or how long the allegedly overhanging wood was.”

“Objection overruled,” Jude Mathews said. “Ms Van Der Groot, you are well aware that you’re reaching with that description of ‘speculation.’”

“Thank you, Your Honour,” you and Samantha both said, her’s a little harsher than yours.

“So, Mr Radikoff,” you said. “Did you notice if the trunk was secured in any way?”

“It looked like they’d tried to close it, and then tied it with something, but it was bouncing because there was too much slack.”

“And was there any sort of caution flag on the wood hanging out the back of the vehicle?”