Chapter Twenty Five

"On what grounds?"

"Relevance."

"Your Honor, Miss Lockhart doesn't want her client to answer my question, because she…"

"Counselors, please approach the bench."

Lara McVeigh couldn't take her eyes off the woman in the red suit approaching the bench. She'd always thought red wasn't a color to wear in a courtroom, but the woman wore it with such elegance and class. She'd never liked wearing shiny colors herself, she didn't like to attract the eyes of the people around her. The woman she was observing from afar was clearly the opposite, apart from the color of her suit, the length of her skirt was also a sign of that. She had no idea how old she really was, but Lara was sure she looked much younger than her actual age.

She wasn't familiar with her father's taste in women. When she was younger they never talked about the subject, while in the last years she started to be curious and brought it up often, but he never mentioned more than some casual dates. But it was different with this woman, she felt the seriousness in his voice when he talked about her. This woman seemed special to him, and seeing her for the first time, she had to admit that this adjective suited her perfectly.

The line of questioning continued for a while without another interruption, and Lara tried to pick up the pieces information to get the whole picture of the case itself. Her dad couldn't tell her anything about it, so she had to figure it out on her own. She thought of asking someone around her, but she didn't want to be kicked out of the courtroom, and the young woman sitting next to her seemed rather uninviting, she didn't have the courage to talk to her.

The woman on the stand was asked about a past incident that happened in a restaurant she'd worked in. Apparently it was an alleged food poisoning, at least that's how the opposing counsel made it look like. Then it was Diane's turn to refute the accusations with her questions, and Lara easily believed the woman on the stand had nothing to do with those charges.

She enjoyed the interactions between Diane and the opposing counsel, they both seemed to give it all, fighting hard, she even had the feeling there was more behind the words, looks and gestures. She was kind of sad when the judge announced a short recess, because she knew she had to go. It was the deal with her father that she could only stay until the first recess. They still had plans for the day, and she wanted to spend as much time with him as she could.

She looked in Diane's direction again, and for a short moment she toyed with idea of walking up to her to introduce herself, but she wasn't really capable of doing that, she was still under the effect of her performance. Besides she'd promised her dad to try and avoid being conspicuous. She walked out the door with a huge grin on her face. She decided that she already liked her father's girlfriend.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Aunt Judith? What are you doing here?" asked Amanda surprised, when she saw her aunt sitting in front of the courtroom.

"I came to testify," said the old lady.

"Testify? In what case? Who called you?"

"Your friend."

"My friend?"

"Diane."

"Diane? How many times do I have to tell you that she and I are not friends any more?"

"I still like her, and she said she can help me."

"Help you?"

"I did something wrong, but she said I can make it right."

"Something wrong? What have you done?"

"I won't tell you if you talk to me like this."

"Like what? You do realize you're trying to jeopardize my case. I'm about to win, they have no evidence."

"They do. Me."

"And what can you prove? Have you seen something?"

"It was me."

"What?"

"I put the ipecac in the soup."

"You? How dare you?" she shouted.

"You are not allowed to talk to my witness without me being present," said Diane approaching the other two.

"You shut up Lockhart, my aunt and I have something to discuss privately."

"I won't let you hurt her. She didn't know what she was doing."

"Do you think I'm capable of hurting my own aunt? Are you nuts?"

"Hurting the people you claim to love, it wouldn't be the first time."

"Don't psychoanalyze me! Just tell your bosom friend that you've got her a deal. But you won't always be that lucky. I'll find a chance to pay you back, you can count on that."

"Looking forward to it," said Diane with a wicked smile and left.

"You used to be such good friends? What happened?" asked the old lady stunned.

"It's none of your business. And I'm curious how you're gonna explain Angela that you ruined her wedding?"

"She will be unhappy, you'll see."

"Marriage is not always about happiness."

She knew what she was talking about. She'd been married to the same man for 26 years, had two children. Her husband was a surgeon always on duty, while she tried to balance her career at her father's firm with raising her children. She sometimes envied people like Diane, who had no other responsibilities than their jobs.

When her husband was offered a chief-surgeon position in Chicago, she hesitated first, but Angela had been attending Chicago University, and was about to marry and stay in the city anyway. Besides after her father's death she had a hard time keeping his firm alive, so an alliance seemed inevitable. This way she could set her foot in the legal circles of Chicago more easily.

Of course she was aware of the fact that her former friend turned enemy Diane Lockhart was one of the cities top litigators, and she was actually looking forward to facing her again. She'd never felt responsible for the way their friendship ended, she'd always thought that Diane had overreacted the whole thing. The battle between them became part of their lives, they challenged each other, which only made both of them better, and she'd never found such an enemy again.

Even if this time she lost, she was sure it wouldn't always be that way. She was already looking forward to their next round.

Author's Note: There's only one more chapter left.