“What did you do?” This, of course, was a cow-plop question. It was like handing the expert a soapbox. McKillum took the question and ran with it. He spoke for a good ten minutes, talking about various protocols, acronyms, POP3 servers, IMAP protocols, domain name servers, and how other computers had been checked. On and on he went. Absolutely no one in the courtroom understood him, but by the end of his speech, he had so totally jargonized the issue that he sounded as though he had invented computers, emails, and the internet and only an oaf wouldn’t accept what he had to say. Dana had tried to object five minutes into the speech, but Judge Mordecai admonished her. “You have asked a question and this witness is answering it. Overruled.” It went downhill from there.
At the end of the court day, Dana took a short walk to St. Paul’s Hospital.
She was worried about Lee Penn-Garrett. Could someone of such learning and experience have screwed up an appeal on a basic evidence issue? Highly unlikely. And the heart attack. Is there even such a thing as a “mild” heart attack?
It took the better part of half an hour to find him in a hospital so full of wings, additions, and towers. He looked pale, even grey, when she found him. He was hooked up to multiple monitors and tubes, bags, IVs, and wires; the equipment looked like the product of a meth head on a Frankenstein binge.
The room had an unpleasant, antiseptic hospital smell.
“Hey, Lee, how are things?”
“Should be obvious, Dana. I’ve seen better days.”
“Your secretary said it was mild.”
“I told her to say that.”
“Well, is it something other than mild?”
“No, it’s mild. But it was a heart attack. It did some damage. I heard the news coverage. The Court of Appeal vacated the order, did they?”
“Yes, Lee, unfortunately they did.”
“On what possible grounds could they have done that?”
“Sheff said we had to show that the documents were missing and without an affidavit, I couldn’t say otherwise.”
“Dana, why don’t you just swear the affidavit?”
“Well, Lee, it’s covered by attorney-client privilege, but seeing as you’re now pretty much Leon’s attorney, too, I might as well tell you.”
Dana launched into a lengthy explanation as to how Turbee from TTIC had made contact with her, and how he, using the agency’s supercomputers, was able to establish what was missing. “And I gave him my word that I wouldn’t disclose his involvement or his identity. And I won’t.”
“Okay. I see the problem. Was it Westin who set aside the order?”
“Yes it was.”
“She just thinks that she is so damn much smarter than anyone else. I’ve had to straighten her out a few times.”
“But I can’t swear an affidavit.”
“They’re playing on your inexperience, Dana. This is a murder conspiracy trial and no one should limit your right of cross-examination of a key witness like that. If there was anything misleading, Sheff could fix it in redirect.
Mordecai’s order was stupid, and Westin’s stupider.”
“She said that Judge Mordecai’s order was a bit unusual but he was allowed to make it and she would not interfere. She said all I had to do was swear a little affidavit. And when I said I wouldn’t, I think she just assumed I was lying, and then she fined me $5,000.”
“What an ass,” retorted Penn-Garrett. “What a horse’s ass.” Dana looked nervously as the beeps from the heart monitor began to increase in speed.
“Don’t get upset, Lee,” said Dana worriedly. “You could hurt yourself.”
“I’ll be fine. I’m upset by all of this. The common law is a beautiful thing, but not when twits like Mordecai and Westin start mucking with it. They both should become notaries, or clerks, or something. The trial has become a farce.” The beeping picked up its pace. A nurse must have heard it, and peeked into Lee’s room.
“Mr. Penn-Garrett, are you all right, sir?” she asked.
“Yes, I’m fine. Just pissed off.”
“Don’t be too pissed off. Look how it’s affecting your vitals. You could have another attack. Your blood pressure is pretty high, too,” she noted.
“I said I’m fine.”
“Sir, if you were fine, you would not be in the cardiac unit in St. Paul’s. Now you, young lady,” she said in a matronly voice, “is it you that is upsetting him?”
“Maybe,” Dana said. “I’m just a messenger here, letting Lee know how the trial is going.”
“And in doing that you elevated all his readings significantly. You need to tread a little more lightly.”
“Yes, ma’am,” replied Dana humbly. The nurse left, and both Lee and Dana continued with the conversation as though she didn’t exist.
“What do we do?” asked Dana. “Appeal the point to the Supreme Court of Canada?”
“You can’t really. Not in the middle of a trial. Westin has screwed it up to the point that an appeal would result in almost an automatic new trial.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it. And I will be damned before I do this trial a second time. DeFijter can do the next one.”
“What about today’s evidence?” Penn-Garrett probed. “They had a computer guy on the stand?”
“Did they ever. He showed almost conclusively that only Leon Lestage could have sent and received the emails. It ties him to the center of the conspiracy.”
“That really is the only substantial evidence they have, Dana. The emails. You have to focus on those. That’s where you can find reasonable doubt. But with Mordecai, the whole trial is getting kind of random.”
“You’re right about that. The old guy’s getting off axis,” Dana replied. “Will you be back in the courtroom?”
“As soon as they let me out of here. They said in a day or two I could go home. They made me promise not to go to the trial, and I agreed, but of course I lied. This trial is far too entertaining to miss.”
“Glad you think it’s a happy little barbecue, Lee, but I’m the one slowly roasting on a spit. This thing is wrecking me.”
“Don’t let it, Dana.
