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Bishop had represented himself through the last series of lawsuits. He’d simply ran out of money. Noah couldn’t help but think of that adage: Anyone representing themself had a fool for a client. To be fair, though, Mr. Bishop wasn’t a fool. He was brilliant; he just knew next to nothing about the intricacies of the legal system.
“Mr. Bishop.” The judge packed so much displeasure into those two words that it seemed to violate the Law of Conservation of Matter. “What did I tell you about dressing appropriately in my court?”
“But this is all I have,” Bishop said, a man seeming to fray at the edges.
The judge ran a hand over his thinning hair. “This is the last time I will tell you this. Find something appropriate to wear in my court. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yeah, fine, whatever.”
Emma flinched as if Bishop had physically struck her.
The judge pointed a finger at Bishop. “Don’t press your luck with me, son. I’ve warned you once. Do not test me again.”
“Or you’ll do what?” Bishop didn’t speak with malice, more like end-of-his-rope frustration.
“Or I will find you in contempt and throw you behind bars until I feel like letting you out again.”
Bishop opened his mouth but instantly closed it, as if common sense had finally wrangled control. And with that, the hearing got underway.
Emma was a pleasure to watch. She began by citing the numerous lawsuits that Bishop had already filed, how they’d subsequently been dismissed. She provided signed affidavits from Bishop’s former partners that stated there had never been any special treatment regarding Lone-Star Tech and Bishop’s daughter. If she’d undertaken an experiment within a Lone-Star Tech building, using Lone-Star Tech equipment, per their partnership agreement, all work and designs were communal property. As such, the chip had been well within the initial buyout agreement that all three parties willingly entered in to and agreed upon. Emma even provided evidence that showed instance after instance in which one partner had made a discovery and how the discovery had become communal property, including one example where the daughter had collaborated with the three men. Then, she brought out the big guns.
Emma picked up one of the three stacks of bound documents she’d laid on her lectern. “Permission to approach, Your Honor?”
“Granted,” the judge said.
Emma carried one of the stacks of documents to the judge. In her black suit and heels, her hair pulled back into a knot, she looked professionalandlethal. Who’d have thought he had a thing for that combo?
“I’d like to enter into the record,” she began, “this packet of previous lawsuits Mr. Bishop filed against my client. As you’ll note, Your Honor, these suits include the one we’re discussing todayandall the previously dismissed ones. You will also note that I have marked seventeen instances of either outright lies or, let’s call it,mis-remembrancesby the plaintiff. Seventeen instances where claims or details have been changed from one lawsuit to another to fit whatever narrative the plaintiff was pushing. These are marked within the documents as well as detailed in an outline on the beginning page.”
“Seventeen instances?” The judge’s words were sharp enough to draw blood.
“Yes, Your Honor. With The Court’s permission, I would like to provide the plaintiff with an identical copy of the document in question in case he didn’t get the one I messengered to him a few days ago.”
“Permission granted,” the judge said, head down and already reading.
Emma glided back to her lectern. Although her face and lips stayed neutral, Noah noted the smile in her eyes. She’d gone over her entire case with him two nights before, over a late-night dinner and a serious make-out session.
After retrieving one of the two remaining sets of papers from the table, she offered one to Bishop.
Bishop yanked the document from Emma and hurled it back at her. “Get that away from me.”
The packet smacked Emma in the face. She took an instinctual step backward, but her ankle twisted, her foot slipping from her shoe. When her stocking foot hit the ground, it slid on the slick linoleum.
“Emma!” Noah rushed toward her, determined to catch her, but before he reached her, Bishop rammed his fist into Noah’s face.
And the courtroom erupted into chaos.
