NINE
"How nice of you to finally join us, Belthazor," said the judge, more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"My apologies, Your Honor," said Cole. "I was delayed on business of the court."
"You may call your next witness," said the judge.
"I call Phoebe Halliwell," said Cole.
"Your Honor," said Caldwell, "if Belthazor plans to call all the sisters as witnesses we will stipulate that they will all testify to the same thing. In the interest of time we don't believe it necessary to have multiple witnesses stating the same thing."
"As I'm sure my learned colleague is aware," said Cole, "all witnesses have the right to testify, even if they are testifying to the same thing. But that is not the purpose for my calling this witness."
"Belthazor is correct," said the judge. "Ms. Halliwell will take the stand."
Phoebe walked up to the witness stand and sat down. She felt conspicuous with everyone looking at her. She was also very uncomfortable. She knew that whatever she said Caldwell would most likely twist her words on his cross-examination.
"Phoebe," said Cole, "you've been a Charmed One for how long?"
"About five years," said Phoebe.
"And in all that time," continued Cole, "the plaintiff claims that the Source never actively attacked you without provocation. Is that accurate?"
"I would say not," said Phoebe. "He sent demons after us on more than one occasion. Without any provocation from us."
"Can you give the court an example of one of these instances?" Cole asked.
"Well, you, for one," said Phoebe. "When we first met you, you had been sent by the Source to kill us."
"And you know this how?" Cole asked.
"You told us," said Phoebe.
"Objection," said Caldwell. "Hearsay."
"Your Honor," said Cole, "the witness is simply stating what was told to her. It is not offered as factual but it does go to the state of mind of the defendant."
"I'll allow it," said the judge.
"You said I told you the Source had sent me to kill you," said Cole.
"That's right," said Phoebe. "You said you were a mercenary and the Source had hired to you kill us."
"Obviously I didn't kill you," said Cole. "Why is that? If I had been sent to kill you why didn't I finish the job?"
"Well," said Phoebe uneasily, "it's because we fell in love. You claimed you changed from evil to good because of it. You even vanquished the Triad because of it."
"Yes," said Cole. "And we were eventually married, isn't that true?"
"Yes," said Phoebe. "I didn't know it at the time but it was a dark ceremony. I didn't know that you had changed back to evil or I wouldn't have gone through with it."
"I changed back to evil?" questioned Cole. "Just like that?"
"I . . . I don't really know," said Phoebe. "I can't really say why you changed back. Only that you did."
"And exactly when did this happen?" Cole asked.
"Just after we vanquished the Source," said Phoebe.
"But you weren't aware of this initially, were you?" Cole asked.
"No, I wasn't," said Phoebe. "Paige suspected and tried to tell us but we wouldn't listen to her. If we had things might have turned out differently."
"How so?" Cole asked.
"We would probably have vanquished you earlier than we did," said Phoebe.
"You vanquished me?" said Cole. "But I'm standing right here. How could you have vanquished me if I'm standing in front of you now?"
"Your Honor," said Caldwell, "it's common knowledge that Belthazor was protected in the Wasteland because he has a soul. And that he was able to gather enough power from other vanquished demons to allow him to return to the mortal plane. I fail to see where this line of questioning is going. What does it have to do with the wrongful death of the Source?"
"I must admit, Belthazor, I'm perplexed myself," said the judge. "I assume you are going somewhere with this line of questioning."
"Of course, Your Honor," said Cole. "If you will bear with me for just a few more moments my point will become quite clear."
"Very well," said the judge. "But get to it quickly."
"Yes, Your Honor," said Cole. "Now, Phoebe. You testified that you had to vanquish me when I changed back to evil. Surely there was more to it than simply that. Simply being evil wouldn't have been enough to cause you to vanquish someone."
"No, it wasn't," said Phoebe. "We had to vanquish you when you tried to kill Piper and Paige. You claimed it was the only way to put the past behind us and get on with our lives."
"I tried to kill you?" Cole questioned. "What precipitated this attack? Had you done anything that would have provoked me to try to kill them?"
"Not really," said Phoebe. "We were living in the Underworld at the time and my sisters were trying to get me back. They thought they could persuade me to return to the mortal realm but you wouldn't have any of it. You said that killing them was for the best and that I'd eventually come to understand that."
"But you vanquished me instead," said Cole.
"Yes," Phoebe choked out. "It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I knew you were thoroughly evil by that time. And they were my sisters. I had to choose between you or them. I chose them."
"Thank you, Phoebe," said Cole. "No further questions. Your witness."
"Your Honor," said Caldwell, "I still fail to see how this has any bearing on the case at hand. I have no questions for the witness at this time."
"Very well," said the judge. "The witness is excused."
"Caldwell is right," Leo whispered as Phoebe returned to the witness table. "What does this have to do with the wrongful death of the Source?"
"Trust me," said Cole, "it's going to play a very important part in our case. In legal terms it's called laying a foundation. A foundation for evidence I'm about to present."
"Your Honor," said Caldwell, "I see absolutely no connection between this testimony and the wrongful death of the Source. I would ask that the entire testimony be stricken from the record and that the jury be instructed to disregard it in its entirety."
"Belthazor, I'm inclined to agree with Mr. Caldwell," said the judge. "You said you were going to show relevance of this testimony to the case at hand. I don't see any relevance with the claims maintained by the plaintiff."
"Your Honor," said Cole, "as I said, I will show a connection between this testimony and the wrongful death suit. I plan to do exactly that with my next witness."
"Very well," said the judge. "I'll reserve ruling on plaintiff's motion for the moment. But if you do not show relevance between Ms. Halliwell's testimony and this case I'm going to sustain plaintiff's motion to strike the entire testimony."
"Understood, Your Honor," said Cole.
"Now, Belthazor," said the judge. "Call your next witness."
"The defense recalls the Seer to the stand," said Cole.
