Chapter 37
WEDNESDAY MORNING STARTED with a meeting of both parties’ lawyers in Judge Ruhlin’s chambers.
Marcus Mason reported that Tidalwaiv had reached a settlement with the Coltons and I reported that my client had turned down a settlement offer and would continue with the trial.
The judge gave me the side-eye when I said I was prepared to continue.
“Is your client sure about that, Mr. Haller?” she asked. “She did have a front-row seat at the end yesterday.”
“She—and I—believe that was a minor setback, Your Honor,” I replied. “This has never been about money for her. It’s about getting the truth out there, and we have much more of that coming.”
Marcus Mason shook his head.
“You’re dreaming,” he said.
“Well, if so, it’s not my dream,” I said. “It’s my client’s, and she wants to expose Tidalwaiv for what they did to her child and continue to do to others.”
“By putting liars on the stand?” he shot back.
“Gentlemen, that’s enough,” Ruhlin said. “Mr. Haller, do you wish to talk to your client one more time before we proceed?”
“I don’t think so, Your Honor,” I said. “She is resolute. As am I.”
“I am prepared to go to ten million,” Mason said. “Just to end this charade.”
The judge raised her eyebrows.
“That is quite a number,” she said.
“For my client, yes,” I said. “For Tidalwaiv, it’s nothing. I will bring her the offer, but I don’t think it will make a difference. Does that number come with an acknowledgment of Tidalwaiv’s reckless behavior and an apology?”
“No, it does not,” Mason said.
“Then I think we will be continuing the trial,” I said.
“Perfect,” Mason said. “It’s my client’s offer, not mine. If it were up to me, I’d keep going until a verdict, and I told them that.”
“But there is an offer on the table,” Ruhlin said. “Mr. Haller, go to your client, and if I were you, I’d use your powers of persuasion. Let us know, please.”
I paused as I digested the judge’s words.
“I think this will be quick,” I finally said.
The judge said nothing else. Before standing up to leave, I opened my briefcase and pulled out the subpoenas I had prepared the night before. I handed them across the desk to the judge.
“Just in case we don’t settle,” I said, “I’d like to subpoena my former clients to testify.”
“Wait, what is this?” Marcus Mason said.
I turned to look at him.
“Subpoenas for the Coltons,” I said. “They’re already on the witness list the judge approved. I just want to make sure they show up.”
“But they’re not your clients anymore,” Marcus insisted. “You can’t make them testify.”
“If I subpoena them, they will testify,” Ruhlin said.
“Of course,” Mason said. “I just meant… never mind. Fine, subpoena them.”
I turned back to the judge, and she was already signing the papers.
After returning to the courtroom, I huddled with Brenda Randolph at the plaintiff’s table and told her that the offer from Tidalwaiv was now up to ten million.
She didn’t even take a moment to consider what she could do with what Bruce Colton might have called change-your-life money. Her response was one word: “No.”
I got up from the table and went to the clerk’s corral.
“Andy, you can tell the judge that we are ready to proceed with the trial,” I said. “My client has declined the settlement offer.”
“Will do,” he said. “She’s not going to like it.”
He got up from his workstation and headed to the door that led back to chambers.
I watched him go, wondering what the judge had said to him.
My number one priority was to make sure I didn’t lose the jury and they would listen to the whole presentation of my case before making any decisions.
But if I had already lost the judge, I had to wonder where the jury was.
The Mason boys didn’t look at me as I returned to the plaintiff’s table. They knew my client had said no. Marcus had his arms folded across his chest and stared straight ahead, ignoring me as I passed by.
Before sitting down, I took the signed subpoenas to the rail and handed them to Cisco.
“Go get them,” I said. “Each subpoena has an eleven o’clock arrival. I’ll keep Brenda on the stand till then.”
“Then I’d better get going,” he said.
I returned to the plaintiff’s table and sat down to wait for the judge to take the bench.
“It’s just you and me now, Brenda,” I said.
“Good,” she said. “I like it better this way. I couldn’t take much more of Bruce, to tell you the truth.”
“Well, you are probably going to have to take a little more of him, because I’m putting him on the stand. Probably right after you.”
“Do me a favor and don’t be nice.”
“I won’t be.”
The judge took the bench and called for the jurors. Once they were seated, she turned to address them.
“You’ll notice that there has been a change and that there is only one plaintiff by Mr. Haller’s side.
This is nothing for you to be concerned with and should not enter into your evaluation of the evidence and eventual deliberation of a verdict.
When the case is over, I am sure you will get a fuller explanation from the attorneys involved.
Now, Mr. Haller, do you wish to call your next witness? ”
“Thank you, Your Honor,” I said. I stood and headed to the lectern. “I’d like to call Brenda Randolph to the witness stand.”
As I had instructed earlier, Brenda went to the stand clutching a packet of tissues in her left hand.
After she was sworn in and seated, I began a carefully strategized course of questions that took her through the worst time of her life.
She managed to hold back her tears until I asked her to describe her daughter’s ambitions.
“She wanted to go into medical research,” Brenda said. “She told me she wanted to research vaccinations. She wanted to help prevent people from getting diseases.”
“Why vaccinations specifically?” I asked.
“Well, she lost her father during COVID. He had asthma and he got sick before the vaccines were developed. He didn’t make it…”
She paused to use a tissue to wipe her eyes and then continued.
“Her father was on a ventilator for three weeks and we weren’t allowed to even be in the same room with him.
And then he died, and Becca felt she’d never had the chance to say goodbye.
It made her want to do something. So that’s when she started talking about wanting to be a researcher and help save people from diseases in the future. ”
More tears came and I asked if she wanted to take a break to compose herself, but she declined.
“I cry every day,” she said. “I’m used to it.”
I stole a glance at the jury and all I saw was empathy on the face of each juror. One of the women was crying as well.
“After her father—your husband—passed, did you and Becca become closer?” I asked.
“We were always close,” Brenda said. “She was an only child. But after Rick died, we were all each other had. Yes, we became much closer.”
“And she started dating a boy named Aaron Colton when she was fourteen?”
“I’m not sure you call it dating anymore, but yes, they became boyfriend and girlfriend.”
“How well did you get to know Aaron?”
“Um, not that well. He came by the house a few times and he seemed like a nice boy. But they liked their privacy. They would go in Becca’s room and play games on the computer.”
“Do you know what games?”
“Yes, I always tried to watch over that as best I could. They played a few different ones where they were like a team working together. Minecraft was one. Monster Hunter. Then Aaron started playing a game called League of Legends and Becca tried it but stopped.”
“Did she tell you why?”
“She said it was a very good game, even addictive, but she didn’t like the other players. The community that played it. She said there was some racism and misogyny.”
“Did Aaron keep playing it?”
“Yes, that became one of the things that split them apart. Becca told me that.”
We were right on the objection line, but the Masons were smart enough to know it was not good optics to object and interrupt a victim who had lost so much.
“Did your daughter know that Aaron had downloaded the Clair app?” I asked.
“She told me that he had created an AI companion, yes,” Brenda said. “I didn’t know what app it was or anything like that.”
“Did that also cause a rift in their relationship?”
Marcus Mason couldn’t hold back. He stood and objected before Brenda could answer.
“Calls for speculation,” he said.
“Not if she spoke to her mother about it,” I responded.
“Overruled,” Ruhlin said. “The witness may answer the question.”
“Becca told me that it was becoming a problem between them,” Brenda said.
“Was she jealous of this companion?” I asked.
“I don’t know if she was jealous of the thing. I think she wasn’t happy that he was spending so much time with it. She said that he would get texts from it when they were together.”
I nodded and looked down at the questions I had written on my legal pad. I ran a pen through the ones I had asked. I looked up at Brenda and continued before the judge could call me out.
“When did Becca tell you she had broken up with Aaron?” I asked.
It took a moment for Brenda to compose herself before answering.
“It was at the end of the school year,” she said. “The end of tenth grade. She didn’t want to continue the relationship with him. She even said to me, ‘I broke up with them,’ meaning Aaron and his AI friend.”
I checked my notes again. I thought I had what I needed. I had underscored Becca’s noble ambitions and had, at the very least, hinted at Aaron’s descent into a relationship with a chatbot. It was time for the big finish.
“Brenda, when did you learn that Aaron’s decision to take a gun to school and shoot your daughter was influenced by his connection—”
Marcus Mason jumped up and objected before I could finish the question.
“Assumes facts not in evidence,” he said.
“I didn’t even finish the facts or the question,” I said.
“It was clear where you were going, Mr. Haller,” Ruhlin said. “Rephrase the question.”
“Thank you,” I said.