“Sustained,” replied the judge, but the damage of the accusation had already been done.
Nielsen asked Hailey, “You’ve had this drive all along, haven’t you, Ms. Ramirez?”
“No. I brought it straight here. I didn’t know what else to do. I wasn’t thinking about fingerprints or DNA.”
Nielsen’s voice boomed against the walls of the courtroom. “Mr. Seagraves has had it in his office all along, hasn’t he?”
“No,” Hailey replied with forceful indignation, looking down at her fingertips. “I just found it in the drop-box. Ten minutes ago. Really, I did. I brought it right here.” My legal assistant turned to me. Her confused, worried eyes pleaded for my help in correcting the wrongful charge that was gathering against her and me.
Charlayne O’Malley touched Nielsen’s sleeve, and my opponent leaned over so she could whisper to him. Although I could not make out his associate’s words, I assumed that O’Malley reminded Nielsen that Benton Dynamic could run diagnostics. There would be a record of each time someone accessed the KEL drive. With possession of the KEL drive again, Benton Dynamics could figure out what was stolen and when someone had viewed its confidential data.
“Nothing further for this witness … at least at this time,” Nielsen said to Judge Arnetti.
She slowly removed her reading glasses and leaned back in her huge leather chair. “I suppose it’s your turn to ask questions, Mr. Seagraves. Anything for your paralegal?”
I rubbed the slight razor stubble on my chin as I stood up. “Yes, Your Honor, I do have some questions for Ms. Ramirez.”
With Hailey still at the podium, I crossed my arms and pushed aside the churning thoughts in my mind. I had to focus on the facts, wherever they would lead us. “Ms. Ramirez, how many times today did you check the drop-box at my law office?”
“Twice.”
“When was that?”
Hailey turned away from me to face the judge. “First thing in the morning, about eight o’clock when I got to work. Then a second time just now. Like I said, about ten or maybe fifteen minutes ago.”
“What, if anything, was in the drop-box at eight this morning?”
“It was empty.”
“And the second time?”
Hailey shrugged, seeming more nervous than usual. A courtroom can be an intimidating place even for people who work for an attorney. She replied, “Just that thing.”
“The KEL drive that you brought to court?”
“Yes.”
“Do the computers at our law firm have the ability to read KEL drives?”
“Well, I’m not sure. Never tried.”
My paralegal was not following me, so I asked, “But KEL drives require a special access port. They’re not like USBs. They don’t use standard computer ports, correct?”
“I guess. I really don’t know. Never seen one before.”
“You never saw one before ten or fifteen minutes ago?”
“Yeah. Like I’ve been saying. That’s it. And I didn’t do anything with it, except bring it here.”
I paused for a moment, trying to think of more questions when Judge Arnetti interrupted my examination. “I’m not sure this court is the best place to conduct this investigation. That should be handled in a different forum. Unless either of you have anything further, I suggest we determine what to do with this disk drive. Benton Dynamics, law enforcement, or someone else would be better suited to figure out the chain of custody.”
Nielsen said that he had no further questions, but that he wanted the judge to return the disk drive to his client.
Unsure of where this case was heading, I said, “Your Honor, everyone is assuming this is the missing KEL drive, but it should be authenticated as the property of Benton Dynamics before it goes anywhere. The witnesses are here in court. Oscar Yoshida is still on the stand. He can confirm whether it belongs to the plaintiff.”
“Very well,” Judge Arnetti said. “Mr. Nielsen, your witness.”
Nielsen asked for permission to approach the bench, which Judge Arnetti granted. He grabbed the KEL drive and walked over to Yoshida. “Sir, do you recognize this device I just handed you?”
Yoshida turned it in his hands and studied it, peering closely through slender reading glasses. “This is it. The serial number is on the side. 2131620. I spent days looking for this KEL drive. I’ll never forget that serial number.”
“To whom was it assigned?” Nielsen asked.
“Marisa Dupree. Issued to her.”
Nielsen gripped both lapels of his suit jacket. “Mr. Yoshida, based on your years of experience working for my client and your personal knowledge of the missing KEL drive, can you inform the court who owns this device?”
“Benton Dynamics. No doubt about it.”
Nielsen took the KEL drive from the former Chief of Cybersecurity and faced the court. “This establishes that my client should get this, Your Honor.”
Judge Arnetti said, “Defense questions first. Mr. Seagraves, do you have any questions for this witness?”
“Yes, Your Honor,” I replied.
Nielsen briefly glared at me as he returned to his chair. From the stand, Yoshida watched me with eyes filled with distrust and impatience. Everyone was ready for this hearing to be over, but nothing added up yet.
Someone was trying to frame me, but I was not sure who it could be. I was out of time. Hailey had mysteriously showed up in court with the missing KEL drive. Marisa had left to get a sweater long enough to run to my law office and slip it into my drop-box. Nearly every other person in the courtroom could have planted it there this morning. In the gallery sat Glenn Bernthal and his new friend, the Chinese professor who was almost certainly an undercover agent. Jennifer Rybak was there, but not her cameraman, Yulian. According to Glenn, the FBI had arrested two Iranian students here in Chester County on espionage charges. Other possible suspects whom I had not even considered were likely lurking around the courthouse and the town of Bridgeford. Anyone could have placed it in the drop-box while I was at this hearing. I had no explanation how or why the KEL drive turned up at my office.
Sheriff Tompkins and Special Agent Wolanski stared me down
