***Thursday***
Jennifer was up early, trying to not be nervous about the trial. She was nervous, but more than anything, she just wanted to get it over with.
She decided to wear a gray wrap dress and some black heels. She was in the kitchen pouring herself some coffee when the phone rang.
She hurried to get it.
"Hello?"
"Good morning, gorgeous".
"Hi handsome. How are you?"
"Great. I got subpoenaed to testify in your trial, so I'll meet you at the courthouse".
"Wonderful. Room 326 B".
"I'll be there. You got this, baby. Don't stress".
"Thank you. I keep telling myself to just let Megan deliver the blows".
"Yep. That's what you pay her for".
"It certainly is. Ok, well, I'm heading out the door. I'll meet you at the courthouse. And I'm so glad you're going to be there".
"Me too. See you there".
They hung up and Jennifer headed out, confident and self-assured that justice would prevail.
***Los Angeles Courthouse***
Jennifer pulled up and parked, and then headed inside.
Her lawyer was waiting on her outside the courtroom.
"Hi! You look great".
"Thanks, you too. Jonathan Hart is supposed to be here as well. He can testify to most of the evidence I showed you the other day."
"What do you mean by most?"
"He wasn't present for me seeing Daniel in the vehicle, but he saw the pictures".
"I see. Well, that's helpful actually".
Just then, Jonathan came walking up the hallway.
"Hi".
"Hi. Jonathan, you remember Megan Rowlands".
"Hi, yes, how are you?"
"Great."
"Ok, so we are going to have the two of you wait in the conference room till court starts".
They got up and began to follow Megan when Daniel appeared in the hallway.
"Jennifer, can we go talk somewhere?"
"No, I don't think I want to do that".
Megan stepped forward.
"Mr. Reynolds, I'm Megan Rowlands, Jennifer's attorney. I need to meet with you to go over the questions I'm going to ask you on the stand".
"Ok".
Megan and Daniel walked down the hall a good ways, and she told him she was going to ask him about the nature of his relationship with Jennifer and if she involved him in her efforts to run the paper.
"I can handle that".
"Perfect. You can wait in this room right here, and the bailiff will come get you when we need you".
Megan went back to the other room where Jennifer and Jonathan were.
"Ok, he thinks I'm only going to ask him about his relationship with you, and whether or not you ever asked him about how to run the paper. So he thinks he's only going to be testifying to your fitness of running the paper".
"Perfect".
They headed into the courtroom, and took their seats.
Stella and her lawyer came in a few minutes later.
"All rise, the honorable Evelyn Prescott presiding".
"Be seated".
"Ok counsel, tell me what this case is about".
Stella's attorney stood up.
"Your honor, my client feels that she should have inherited what was left to Miss Edwards in my client's mother's will-a newspaper, an apartment, and a bank account".
"Your honor, my client feels she is entitled to what was left to her due to the special relationship she had with the deceased".
"Your honor, we aren't only challenging the basis of the will. We are also challenging Miss Edward's ability to effectively run the paper".
"Ok. Counsel, you may begin".
"Your honor at this time, we call Stella Wilkinson to the stand".
Stella hesitated and then took the stand and was sworn in. "Ms. Wilkinson, please tell the court about your relationship with your mother".
"It was your typical mother-daughter relationship. I am the oldest of 6 children, and up until a few years ago, I lived the closest to her. We got along great".
"Did your mother ever express to you that she was going to leave the paper to someone who wasn't in the family?"
"Not one time. She used to always tell us that she would provide for us".
"If you were to gain control and ownership of the paper, would you run it?"
"I would hire someone to run it and I would run the business part. I would be visible each day, but I wouldn't be writing the articles myself".
"Have you ever run or owned a business before?"
"On a smaller scale, nothing with an official business license or anything. When my girls were little, I made and sold hairbows and blankets out of my home, but I didn't have a brick and mortar business somewhere. I know enough about hiring HR professionals and doing the accounting and managing the sales people that I could get by in a pinch".
"No further questions, your honor".
Megan stood up and walked towards the witness stand.
"Ms. Wilkinson, what journalistic degrees do you have?"
"I don't have any degrees in journalism".
"What papers have you worked for?"
"I haven't worked for any papers".
"What articles have you written and had published?"
"I haven't written anything that was published".
"So, what makes you think you are a better candidate than Miss Edwards to run this paper?"
"The paper was started by my mother and she should have left it to me and my siblings".
"So, if you were running the paper, what's the first thing you would do at the paper each morning?"
"Whatever needed to be done, I suppose. I'm also intelligent enough to hire people with the experience of running a newspaper to do the parts that I don't know".
"Which, by your own admission, is everything except a little accounting".
"Yes, I suppose it is".
"No further questions, your honor".
"The witness may step down".
"No further witnesses, your honor".
"Your honor, I call Jennifer Edwards to the stand".
Jennifer walked up to the witness stand and was sworn in.
Jennifer got up and headed to the stand and was sworn in.
"Miss Edwards, please tell the court about your journalistic experience".
"I first got into journalism when I was in high school, and then I continued that pursuit through college. I have a bachelor's degree in languages, a master's degree in Journalism, and I was a columnist and investigative reporter for 5 years at The New York Times. "
"How did you know Loretta Robinson?"
"She was my mentor, my friend, and like a second mother to me. When I reached the point during my Master's degree where I had to complete an internship, she welcomed me into the paper she was running at the time, and taught me everything from top to bottom, about journalism. She took me under her wing, and we grew to be very good friends".
"What paper was this?"
"She was living in Boston at the time. I believe it was called The Boston Informer".
"How long did she mentor you?"
"From Mid-March until the end of August".
"Did you and Mrs. Robinson keep in touch after you left the Informer?"
"Oh yes. For several months, we had weekly phone calls. And I would send her my articles and she would read them, proof them, and send them back. When I was employed at the Times, she would clip my articles and send them to me, and we exchanged letters often, up until she met Tom".
"What happened when she met Tom?"
"She had a habit of going on cruises-short ones, long ones, it seemed like every vacation, she was going on a cruise. So the summer after I graduated, she hired me to come work for her paper for two weeks and run it while she was on her cruise. And when she came back, she was engaged to Tom, her longtime boyfriend. A few months later, they eloped, and then she wrote me and told me that she was moving with Tom to California and she was going to enjoy retirement. And then a few years later, Tom died. She wrote me that she was going to downsize and make some changes."
"And what were those changes?"
"She sold her home, moved into a condo, and decided to start her own newspaper. She never could stand to read the news in other publications".
"How were you notified that you were going to inherit the paper?"
"I was living in New York. I received a letter in the mail that told me I had an appointment here in Los Angeles, at a law firm. Enclosed in the envelope with the letter was my plane ticket, and a reservation for a week's vacation at a luxurious hotel here in Los Angeles".
"What happened at the appointment?"
"It was a will reading. The attorney read her will, and handed out the appropriate documents".
"Your honor, we submit into evidence a copy of the will that clearly states Mrs. Robinson left the paper, and the apartment and the bank account to Miss Edwards".
"Thank you".
"Miss Edwards, please tell the court about how you got the paper up and running".
"Well, she left me guidebooks. She was always so detailed and organized. She thought of everything. I made a few decisions on my own, but most of it, she laid out for me. And in the few short months that we've been operational, we have more than quadrupled our subscriber base".
"Is the paper turning a profit?"
"Yes, it is".
"No further questions, your honor".
Stella's attorney approached the witness stand.
"Miss Edwards, isn't it true that you were fired from the New York Times?"
"Technically speaking".
"What was the cause?"
"Creative differences".
"Please tell the court what transpired to lead to you being fired".
"I wrote an article that included an interview with someone, and they asked for a lifetime subscription to the paper in exchange for an interview. I promised I would look into it. They proceeded to call and harass the sales department for hours demanding their subscription. My boss suspended me for it, even though I never promised them anything more than I would look into it. We argued, and he told me not to say another word. I replied with "Whatever", and he stuck to his promise and fired me".
"When you worked at the Times, did you ever take on the position of editor?"
"No, I didn't".
"Is your tenure at the Los Angeles Gazette the first time you have been the editor?"
"Yes, it is".
"Thank you, no further questions".
"The witness may step down".
"Your honor, at this time, we call Daniel Reynolds".
They brought Daniel in and he took the stand and was sworn in.
"Mr. Reynolds, how do you know Miss Edwards?"
"We were dating for the past few months."
"Were, as in past tense?"
"Yes, we broke up this week".
"And what is your relationship to Stella Wilkinson?"
"I don't have one".
"Have you ever worked in a newspaper, Mr. Reynolds?"
"No".
"Objection! Your honor, this witness has nothing to do with this case".
"Yes, your honor he does. Just let me get there, I promise, I will make the connections".
"I'll allow it".
"Have you ever been inside a newspaper?"
"Sort of".
"The witness will be more specific".
"I've been inside the Los Angeles Gazette, but only when I came to see Jennifer. I have never been to the part where they print the paper or anything like that".
"So what you're saying is, you've only been in the reporter's area and the sales floor?"
"Yes, I suppose so".
"Did you and Miss Edwards ever have a discussion about the types of articles she should print?"
"Not really. I always encouraged her to print hard hitting articles, and to print ones that people would read, but I never told her what she should or shouldn't print".
"Mr. Reynolds, do you recognize this device?"
Megan handed him the GPS unit, and gave the other one just like it to Stella's lawyer.
Daniel looked at it and then handed it back to Megan.
"No, I don't".
She handed him one of the receivers and handed the other one to Stella's attorney.
"Do you recognize this?"
"No, I don't".
"This is one of the two GPS devices that you put on Miss Edward's vehicle, to track her movements. And that is the receiver that you used to get the information of everywhere she had been".
"Objection, calls for speculation".
"Ms. Rowlands, if you have evidence to back up those claims, I am confident you'll present it to the court".
"Yes, your honor".
She walked over and loaded the first video, the one of Daniel accessing the GPS on Jennifer's car.
"Objection, your honor. This video doesn't show anything, and Mr. Reynolds isn't on trial here".
"Your honor, this is all connected, I promise. This is just the first step. And no, this video doesn't show him putting the GPS on the car, but it clearly shows him accessing the receiver. At the time this video was taken, Miss Edward's vehicle was in the parking lot of the paper, and he had just been there to visit her."
"Overruled".
"Your honor, we submit into evidence the next video."
She hit play and the video clearly showed Daniel tampering with the newspaper.
She hit pause.
"Your honor, this is a copy of the paper from last week. Here is a photo that Miss Edward's took of the layout she had wanted the paper to reflect, including her article on Thomas Cohen. This copy of the paper, with the red post it, is the one Miss Edwards designed. The video you just saw showed Daniel tampering with the machines and changing the layout, to print the edition with the blue post-it".
"Opposing counsel, if you want to see this, you may approach the bench".
He approached the bench and they pointed out several differences between the two.
"Your honor I would like to point out that the main difference is that in Miss Edward's article, she prints the facts. In Mr. Reynold's version, Mr. Cohen is labeled as a child molester, murderer, and a pimp. Claims that could have earned my client a libel suit".
"Noted. Anything further Ms. Rowland?"
"Mr. Reynolds, tell me again, how do you know Stella Wilkinson?"
"I already told you, I don't know her".
"No further questions, your honor, and at this time, I want to recall Jennifer Edwards, and I would like for Mr. Reynolds to sit in the witness section".
"So ordered".
Jennifer came up and again took the witness stand, while Daniel sat in the witness section.
"Miss Edwards, I would like to remind you that you are still under oath".
"I understand".
"Miss Edwards, please tell the court how you know Mr. Reynolds".
"Like he said, we dated for the past few months".
"And is he correct that you two recently ended your relationship?"
"Yes, he is".
"Can you tell the court if he ever tried to persuade you to print certain things?"
"Yes. He was at my home, and we both saw the breaking news bulletin about Thomas Cohen. He began telling me about previous allegations that had been made against Mr. Cohen, and then he began to tell me that I needed to print everything in order to be fair to all of his victims."
"Did you decide to print what he told you?"
"No, but I did decide to look into it. I am known for doing lots of research, so I researched it and I couldn't find anything to back up his claims, so I didn't print them".
"Tell the court what happened two days later".
"I was at the office, and I had taken my vehicle to a dealership for some maintenance. I purchased my vehicle a few months ago from a friend, and the dealership called the friend to tell him about my car, thinking that he still owned the vehicle. So, I was sitting at my desk and my friend showed up wanting to talk to me. He informed me that the dealership had called him and told him about the GPS devices and the receivers. So, we talked about it and then my pressman brought me the first copy of the paper. So, per custom, we split it into sections and began to look it over to see if there were any mistakes. Jonathan, my friend, had been there the day before and had spotted a typo in my article. As soon as he told me about it, I had fixed it. He pointed out that the typo was still there and that there were numerous other discrepancies. So, then my pressman comes in and tells me that he thought someone had gone through his tools, that they weren't where he had placed them. So, I pulled the cameras and found the footage of Mr. Reynolds tampering with the machines".
"Did you find him on any other footage?"
"Yes, the one of him in the hallway right outside my office, which clearly shows him getting my jump drive out of my desk, and the footage of him in the parking lot taking the receiver off my car, and getting the information off of it".
"How do you know that is what he is doing?"
"Jonathan has an executive who is good with technology. He researched the serial numbers and found the reports that show the devices and the receivers are registered to Daniel, and he came to my office and explained how they work to Jonathan and I".
"Your honor, we submit into evidence the report that Miss Edwards mentioned".
"Noted".
"Finally, Miss Edwards, please explain to the court what happened next".
"So, I went home that night and had been home about an hour when Jonathan came by. He explained to me that he had tasked his engineers with feeding the GPS devices false information about where I was. He put the devices back on my vehicle, and then we were in my apartment when Daniel. I let the answering machine pick it up, and he left a message about me being at the beach. I wasn't at the beach, and I had never told him I was going to the beach. I called him back and we made a date for Sunday. I told him I would meet him at the restaurant. And when I pulled up, he was already there".
"And what was he doing?"
"He was in a car, kissing Ms. Wilkinson".
"Objection, your honor, where is the evidence?"
"Right here".
Megan handed Stella's attorney copies of the photos of Daniel and Stella kissing in the car, and another copy to the Judge.
"No further questions, your honor".
"Opposing counsel?"
"No questions, your honor".
"Your honor, we would like to recall Daniel Reynolds to the stand".
Jennifer stepped down and went and sat by Megan again.
"Mr. Reynolds, please take the stand".
"I don't want to".
"It's not optional. You will take the stand or you will be held in contempt".
He begrudgingly took the stand again.
"Mr. Reynolds, this court would like to remind you that you are still under oath".
"I understand".
"Mr. Reynolds, I am going to ask you again-do you know Mrs. Wilkinson?"
He sighed.
"Yes. I'm her husband".
"And when I asked you that earlier, you forgot that you were her husband then?"
"No".
"How long have you and Mrs. Wilkinson been married?"
"A week".
"You son of a bitch! You promised you could pull it off! I will divorce you yet!"
The Judge banged her gavel.
"Order! Mrs. Wilkinson, you will control yourself or you will be escorted out".
"Mr. Reynolds, would you like to explain why you put the GPS on her car, and why you tampered with the paper?"
"Because…Stella was trying to prove that she wasn't fit to run the paper. So, we thought we could distract her and if we could get enough editions of the paper printed, and get a libel suit, then Stella would win the suit".
"Your honor, in light of this evidence, I ask that Mrs. Wilkinson's suit be dismissed".
"Granted. Ownership of the Los Angeles Gazette will remain with Jennifer Edwards. Mr. Reynolds, by my count, you lied to this court 7 times, while under oath. In the legal world, we call that perjury. I can go one of two ways with this-I can refer this to the district attorney and have you charged with 7 counts of perjury, or I can hold you in contempt for 7 days, plus a $200 fine for each count. Which would you prefer?"
"I'll take the contempt".
"The bailiff will remand Mr. Reynold's into custody. Ms. Wilkinson, I don't appreciate being lied to. I respect the fact that you felt you were cheated by your mother in regards to her will, but two wrongs don't make a right and you had no right to try and cheat this court into siding with you. I expect that if you ever bring a lawsuit into court again, especially in front of my bench, that you will do so honestly. Court is adjourned. Ms. Wilkinson will pay Miss Edwards' attorney fees, court costs, and damages in the amount of $20,000. Court is adjourned".
Jennifer and Megan shared a hug as Stella stormed out of the courtroom.
"Thank you, so much!"
"My pleasure".
Jennifer and Jonathan headed out of the courtroom and outside the courthouse.
"Feel like a celebratory lunch?"
"Yes, I do."
"Follow me".
He leaned down and gave her a kiss and then she got in the car and happily began to follow him out of the parking lot.