Chapter 6

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Jake and Jan sat down in the courtroom. He was sitting one row behind Jerry and a row in front of Cox’s lead counsel.

Man, things are hopping here today, Jake sent to Jerry.

Jerry looked around and saw Jake right behind him. He noticed Jan, too.

Down, Jerry. I’ll introduce you later, but you won’t get anywhere with her. She’s a friend of Ellen, and she knows about you by reputation. Besides, I have a crush on her. If you make any moves, I will tie you to the counsel table, cut open your belly, and spill your entrails on the floor of this courtroom.

Then I appreciate that you gently warned me off before I did something I would regret. Jerry looked around the courtroom. Get used to the big crowds. O’Connor v. Cox will be the biggest case this courthouse has ever seen. The attention will be good for business, especially if we win. Then Jerry smiled evilly. If Sid Vicious thinks any interesting thoughts, would you tell me?

Jake located Vincent’s mind and began to channel his thoughts to Jerry. There was a lot of uninteresting crap about his investments and his mistress and how he was going to maximize the number of hours he billed Cox for the trial.

A few interesting tidbits dribbled through. He was confident the judge would rule in his favor that day. He wasn’t involved in bribing the judge, but he knew all the details. He knew who Cox’s intermediary was. He knew the judge’s bagman. He knew the dates and amounts of the cash payments and the details of how Cox intended to get the judge on the appellate bench.

Vincent also thought about how he could stretch this case out for at least three years until trial with the judge’s assistance. Eventually the judge would realize that Cox wouldn’t help him get to the appeals court until the trial was over. That’s when Vincent figured he’d have to get serious doing discovery. Until then, the fewer depositions taken, the happier his client would be.

Jake sensed Jerry bristling.

Turn it off, please, Jerry sent. I guess this makes the justice system look pretty scummy to you.

Do you think there is anyone who understands better than me the hold that greed and the lust for power have on people? We won’t let Cox, Vincent, Judge Thompson or any of the others profit from this. I can’t make the whole world a better place but I can remodel a few corners of it.

I’d sure like to see that. He sighed. You might as well sit tight. It could be a while before our case gets called.

Jerry subsided, grumbling to himself.

Jake took advantage of the slack time to process the nerve bundle that ran from Jan’s occipital lobe to her prefrontal cortex. The two days of effort was paying off. The dead areas were now all working. The day before he had worked on the most inefficient areas remaining.

This morning the signal quality along that pathway was now pretty robust. He would improve the efficiency more later, but at that moment, she was bringing more raw signals to her mind-reading circuits than Harris. That was plenty for her to read people. Of course, her brain wasn’t yet as skilled as Harris’s at interpreting those signals but that would come with time.

Jake turned his attention to the nerve that ran from Jan’s parietal lobe to the mind reading circuits. This was the nerve that would give her the capability to see raw neurology. He began at the posterior end of the nerve and swept along it feeding energy into the dead regions he encountered. He took hold of her hand just because he wanted to feel close to her and then lost himself in the task.

Jake had gotten through about half of the nerve when he sensed a stir around him. Jerry had gotten up and was making his way to the counsel table, followed by Vincent.

Vincent spoke first, but he was interrupted immediately by Jerry.

“Judge, I notice the court reporter is idle. I believe it would be prudent to have a record of this hearing and your ruling.”

“This is just an informal hearing on an interlocutory discovery motion, Mr. Amos.”

“Nonetheless, we are entitled to a record and it would be an abuse of discretion for the court to fail to provide it. Besides, your honor, I fear this matter will be hard-fought. There will be lots of people interested in the proceedings and who will be scrutinizing your rulings.”

The judge turned to the court reporter.

“Mr. Sanders, would you put this hearing on the record.” Once the court reporter was ready, the judge called the hearing formally. Neither the judge nor Sidney Vincent looked very happy.

“You may proceed, Mr. Vincent,” the judge said.

“Your Honor, this deposition was noticed improperly. I only received notice Monday. Further, the deponent has no testimony that is relevant to this proceeding.”

“Mr. Amos?”

“Judge, Mr. Vincent may not have gotten the notice until Monday but if he had been in his office Friday afternoon at four-forty instead of at the golf course, he would have received the notice which was properly served prior to the deadline specified by the rules of civil procedure. I’d like to take Fridays off, too, but if I did, I wouldn’t use it as an excuse to dodge depositions. Especially as I already had an agreement with Mr. Vincent to hold the deposition tomorrow.

“As for the specious argument that Ms. Tamborg’s testimony is irrelevant, I can only shake my head.” Jerry raised his voice. “Her testimony is very relevant. She is the only surviving eyewitness, other than Speaker Cox himself, of his tawdry conduct on the night of the accident, of the intentional and reckless acts that led to the accident, of his failure to render aid to Ms. O’Connor as she lay dying, and of his hastily assembled conspiracy to cover up the accident.”

“That’s enough, Mr. Amos,” the judge said. “The deposition of Nina Tamborg scheduled for June 18th is quashed.”

“May I ask the basis for your ruling, Judge?”

“I have granted the motion, Counsel.”

“But on what basis, Your Honor. Was it the notice issue? Relevance? Something else?”

“I have ordered it quashed.”

“Judge, I am entitled to know the basis for the ruling. Further, I require it for an interlocutory appeal.”

“I’ve said all that I am going to say.”

“Then may I ask the court to schedule the deposition for a day in the near future?”

“Your Honor, I don’t have my calendar with me,” Vincent said. “I will have to get with Mr. Amos after the hearing to schedule a new deposition date.”

“Which will never happen, Judge. This deposition is critical. I will not rest until this witness’s testimony has been rendered in a permanent, admissible form before something unfortunate happens to the witness. I stand ready at any date in the near future to conduct this deposition. Will the court order a date to hold it?”

“You can follow the rules of procedure, like all other attorneys, Mr. Amos.”

“May we approach the bench, your honor? Off the record.”

“Approach.”

The discussion at the bench was too far away for Jake to sense and too quiet to hear. However, as it dragged on occasional words made their way through the courtroom. The word, corruption, was plainly heard followed by the judge threatening to hold Jerry in contempt.

Jerry’s voice rose angrily.

“If I am taken into custody, Judge, habeas corpus will issue and I’ll explain these same facts under oath and in open court. My client will have a fair trial or the eyes of this state will bear down on this courtroom, scrutinizing every ruling you make.”

“That is enough, Mr. Amos. Go back to the counsel table. I will say nothing further on this point. We are now back on the record.”

Back at the counsel table, Jerry resumed.

“Judge, I ask again for the basis of your ruling to quash my deposition or for an order setting a date on which it will be heard.”

“I said no, Mr. Amos.”

“Then I move the court to recuse itself. This is not a case over which this court can preside fairly and without favor toward the defendant.”

“Denied, Mr. Amos. And furthermore, I see you intend to try this case in the court of public opinion. I will not allow that to happen. I hereby order sua sponte that no party or counsel or any officer of this court will discuss the case with the press or any other person who is not a party to these proceedings. Mr. Vincent, please, prepare an order to that effect.”

“Yes, your honor.”

“Then we are done here. Next case.”

Jerry collected his papers and walked out of the courtroom. Jake and Jan caught up to Jerry just in time to hear him addressed by a young woman.

“Jerry, what the holy hell was that all about?”

“You heard the judge, Donna. There’s a gag order in place now. I can’t say anything to the press. You’ll have to find another source.”

“Come on, Jerry. I can tell something is wrong here. There must be some way you can let me know.”

“Mum’s the word, Donna. I’m an officer of the court, bound by the canons of my profession to obey the orders of the tribunal. It’s a real shame, too. There is a lot here that would thrill and titillate your readers. By the way, I don’t think you’ve met Jake Fielding. He’s a valuable employee of my office. Maybe you have a business card you could give him.”

She looked at Jake critically for a moment. She was a little on the plain side and her frown made her look daunting.

“Why would I want to talk to your very junior employee, Jerry?”

“Very junior employees sometimes are not subjected to the same scrutiny as the people at the top, Donna. I shouldn’t have to tell you that. Jake, this is Donna Glenn. She’s the courthouse reporter for the Morning Journal.”

She scowled but she handed Jake her business card.

“Jake Fielding to see Mr. Cockrell.”

The receptionist called right away.

“He’s back, Mr. Cockrell ... Yes, sir.” She hung up the phone and spoke to Jake. “You can go back.”

Jake and Jan went back to Cockrell’s office and took seats in front of his desk. Cockrell’s sense of shame hit Jake hard as he sat down. He steeled himself to the emotion.

“How are you feeling, Mr. Cockrell?” Jake asked.

“I feel bad, just like you said I would.”

“I believe that you were going to show me financial statements, Mr. Cockrell,” Jake said.

Cockrell looked at Jake and then over at Jan. He handed a sheet of paper to Jake.

Jake looked it over, holding it so that Jan could see it, too.

Do you think it’s accurate? Jake sent to her.

I wouldn’t count on it. Feel his emotions. He’s ashamed and scared, but I also feel greed. He’s hoping to put something over on you.

Jake smiled at her.

Good. Your sensitivity and discrimination are improving.

Besides anyone who’s worked with a construction company knows that these numbers make no sense. He hasn’t got enough money to pay current payroll and his subcontractors, much less his suppliers. These businesses are always cash-heavy. They’ve all this money from construction loans to pay for the buildings they are currently working on. This balance sheet should also show all the properties that are currently under construction or finished but not yet sold.

“Jake, he thinks he is dealing with an ignorant boy who doesn’t know anything about business,” Jan said.

“He is, but this ignorant boy is well advised. We’ll just have to give him a lesson on accountability.”

Jake linked an intention to lie to him to the circuit that caused testicle pain.

“Is this really the total cash you have on hand?”

“Yes, it —” Cockrell began and then screamed.

Jake waited until he stopped a few seconds later.

“That looked uncomfortable, Mr. Cockrell. I should explain what just happened to you. Every time you even think about lying to me you are going to feel that rather rude sensation. It’s up to you whether you go through that again, but it makes me cringe just to think about it.”

Jake heard footsteps and a man appeared at the office door. He looked around for the cause of the noise. There was nothing he could see to account for it.

“Are you okay, Steve?”

“Sorry, Richard. I, uh, lost my temper. Please close the door. Tell everyone it’s nothing to worry about.”

Richard looked disbelieving, but he closed the door anyway.

“We were talking about cash on hand, Mr. Cockrell,” Jake said.

Cockrell screamed again.

“Stop doing that,” he said.

“You aren’t listening to me, Mr. Cockrell. I didn’t do it. It’s an automatic thing. Whenever you lie to me, that pain will recur. How much cash do you have on hand?”

“That’s all the money in the account.”

Ask him about other bank accounts.

“Are there other accounts?”

“No — Arghhh!”

“Would you like to try that again, Mr. Cockrell?”

“Yes, there are others.”

Jake, he will have given the bank accurate financial statements the last time he applied for a construction loan. Ask for them.

“Mr. Cockrell, when was the last time you applied for a bank loan?”

“This week. Why?”

“I want to see the paperwork you sent them.”

“I don’t have — Arghhh!”

“You were saying, Mr. Cockrell? Since I rewired your brain, I not only have the assurance that you won’t lie to me, I also get clued into what you think is important enough to lie about. I find it interesting that you don’t want me to know how much money you have. I’m going to only ask one more time. I want to see the papers you sent to the bank. You’ve got sixty seconds.”

Cockrell grabbed the phone.

“Cindy, bring me the file for the construction loan application that we just sent to First National.”

Yes, Mr. Cockrell. Are you alright, sir? We’re wondering if we should call the police.

“If I have to deal with the inconvenience of the police,” Jake said, “I will pull out all the stops, and your life won’t be worth living.”

“Uh, no, Cindy. This is not the kind of thing for the police. Just bring me that loan paperwork. Hurry.”

A minute later Cindy appeared with a file folder. She looked at Jake and Jan suspiciously before leaving.