Part Five
On the evening of Saturday the eighth of January 2005, Jo Mills knew that there was one last thing she had to do before the start of the Lauren Atkins trial on Monday. Jo had spent the last year getting to grips with Lauren's defence of diminished responsibility, obtaining reports from psychiatrists and witness statements from Lauren's mother, Lauren's closest friend and her cell mate Denny Blood. It had taken a lot for Jo to really get her head round what Lauren had done on the fifth of October 2003, and she couldn't be said to have taken up this case lightly. But she had come to the realisation a long time ago that she wasn't doing this for Lauren, her client, she was doing this for Yvonne. At the end of the day, Yvonne was a mother, just like Jo, and Yvonne was only doing the best she could for her daughter. But there was still one link in the network of communication, which had led to this crime that still hadn't been satisfactorily prepared for the upcoming trial. This pinnacle of all Jo's current worries was Karen Betts. As far as Jo was aware, Yvonne, Cassie Tyler, Denny Blood and Dr. Margaret Richards, were all acquainted with exactly what Lauren had done to James Fenner. These were Jo's four witnesses other than Lauren herself, Dr. Richards being a psychiatrist friend of Karen's. But Jo knew that Karen would without doubt be present at this trial, and that she didn't know just how Fenner had died. The first few times Jo had thought about what Lauren had actually done, she'd been unable to suppress a shudder, but she'd had a year to gradually become accustomed to the idea that she was defending someone who had not only shot a man to paralyze him, but who had buried said man alive. Jo had tentatively suggested that Yvonne put Karen in the picture before the trial, but Yvonne perfectly understandably had been unable to do it. Fenner had been Karen's one time lover, and even though he had raped Karen, one reason for which he had eventually been killed, the way in which he had died would still come as an enormous shock to Karen. But, as Jo wasn't about to break the rules governing client confidentiality, the only option left open to her was to make sure that there would be someone in the public gallery who could offer Karen some moral support. Jo would be utterly incapable of doing this as she would be in full flow defending her client, but she couldn't simply leave it to chance as to how Karen might react. She knew too much of what Karen had gone through at the hands of Fenner to simply allow her to find out how he had died without putting someone there who could try to do what Jo couldn't. Her thoughts naturally would have veered towards John, but as he would hopefully be presiding over the trial, if he could prize it away from Monty Everard, this was impossible. The only person left to her was George.
The last time George and Karen had been in the same room together, their meeting had been anything but amicable. George had been in the process of ruthlessly questioning Karen as to her own culpability in Fenner's murder. But this had been fifteen months ago, and they had all moved on a long way from then. With her visits to see Lauren over the last year, Jo had come in to contact with Karen on a number of occasions, the two women always making time to catch up with each other. Jo was also aware that Karen had seen quite a lot of John over this time. Quite when and how their friendship had begun, Jo didn't always like to contemplate. But she had no doubts that what friendship did exist between Karen and John was purely platonic. Jo privately thought that Karen was good for John, someone who would always give him nothing but the absolute unvarnished truth, no matter how much he might not want to hear it. Jo had no doubt that Karen was aware of Jo, John's and George's thruway relationship, but this didn't bother her. Karen knew how to be discrete having had too much of her private life brought out for all to see during the Merriman/Atkins trial. It was an odd thing, Jo thought to herself, that Karen usually asked after George when she saw Jo, and George occasionally asked after Karen, yet neither having had contact with the other for over a year. But Jo knew that if Karen reacted badly to hearing how Fenner had died, George would be able to handle the situation tactfully and sensitively. Good God, she thought, that really did show just how much things had changed between them all. Before the Merriman/Atkins trial, Jo would rather have spent an hour in the company of a poisonous snake than an hour with George. But since George had begun to remove some of her outer layers of scorn, pride and bitterness, and they'd begun on this arrangement by which John could continue to have a relationship of sorts with both she and George, though meaning that he was banned from chasing other women, Jo and George had slipped in to a closeness that Jo suspected neither of them had ever had in a friend before. The legal profession, especially in the days when they'd both entered it, hadn't allowed for female friends, it being a world of either domineering males or equally backstabbing females, all eager to reach the top by the fastest route. But here they were, fifteen months on, and all three of them were relaxed with this new arrangement. It had taken both Jo and George some time to get used to the idea, but they'd eventually overcome the awkwardness and could now freely talk about John, it no longer being taboo to mention and occasionally discuss the evenings they spent with John. Each in their own way had crossed a line, removed a barrier. Jo's being the hurdle of jealousy that John did sometimes sleep with George instead of her, and George's the burden of guilt that she was making John cheat on Jo, no matter how much it might have been Jo's idea in the first place. But they had gradually dispensed with these negative feelings, both having made a concerted effort not to tread on the other's toes, learning pretty quickly that communication was the way to avoid problems. For the first time in her life, Jo really was happy with the relationship she had with John, and the friendship she had with George. She was now able to feel that she could rely on John not to stray, not to wander off and pick up some nameless stranger. Jo had been right, on that Halloween evening when she had initially suggested this new arrangement. She did feel far more secure in the knowledge that although John might still sleep with George on a regular basis, he would never entirely go back to George, and that George would never try to persuade him to go back. This meant that Jo was finally beginning to trust him, which was still something of a novelty in her relationship with John. But this wasn't the only advantage of their little triangle. Both Jo and George were getting a great deal out of having a female friend, something neither of them would ever relinquish for anyone.
So, knowing that John was at the digs reading through the papers for the coming trial, still hopeful of getting it away from Monty Everard, Jo drove over to George's, wondering how she would take her request. In personality, George had changed quite a lot since this new arrangement with John and Jo had begun. She was altogether softer, a few of her sharper edges having been sanded down by a regular dose of expert loving from John, and by her gradually allowing Jo to get that bit closer to her. This didn't by any stroke of the imagination mean that George didn't still have the capacity to make verbal mincemeat of any opponent, it simply meant that she was able to drop this harsh facade behind closed doors. She had managed to regain most of the weight lost during that extremely serious bout of Anorexia that had so irrevocably removed any lasting barrier between her and Jo. She hadn't found this easy to do, but with the support and encouragement coming from both sides, she had at last managed to regain a size that whilst not ideal, was certainly no longer life threatening. It had surprised George more than a little that beginning the process of unburdening herself with Jo had been so good for her, and that even now, if she thought she was drifting back in to the cycle of depression and starvation that had almost killed her, Jo would be there to pull her out again. After the initial session of verbal purging Jo had put her through after she'd fainted in court, George had been reluctant to go through anything similar a second or a third time, but Jo had usually managed to coax her to do so.
George hadn't been unduly surprised to see Jo on the Saturday evening. The Lauren Atkins trial in which Jo was defending was starting on Monday, and George figured that Jo would likely want to talk about it. "You look incredibly stressed," Said George, after pouring Jo a Scotch and a Martini for herself. "I've got a problem," Jo said without preamble. "Well, that much is obvious," Said George, receiving a brief roll of the eyes from Jo. "How busy are you this week?" "That sounds like a loaded question," Replied George carefully. "It depends how much of my week you want to appropriate." "Certainly the first couple of days of it. After that, I'm not sure." "Start at the beginning," George said, having absolutely no idea what Jo wanted from her. "I could really do with you in court for the start of the Atkins trial." "Jo, I know I've been doing more and more criminal work recently, but you're still by far the better criminal QC out of both of us." "I don't mean on the defence bench," Said Jo with a smile. "I need you to be in the public gallery." "What on earth for?" Asked George, clearly intrigued. "Against my continuous advice, Karen Betts hasn't been brought up to speed with the exact details of how Fenner met his end. As far as I'm aware, everyone else who needs to know in advance of Monday does. But Karen doesn't." "And why is it so absolutely necessary that she be informed prematurely?" "Well, there's now no hope of her being told beforehand, but I think it's going to come as quite a shock to her. After having prized snippets of information out of John, I'm pretty sure that at the time, Karen couldn't entirely support what Lauren had done because Fenner had previously been her lover. You know how it is, George, when someone is suddenly removed from our lives, we initially remember only what was good about them, no matter how much we might have been hurt by them." "And you're guessing that's what Karen did when Fenner was killed?" "Yes. She'd never admit it, not to anyone, except perhaps John, but I think part of her missed what she'd once had with Fenner, even though it led to one of the worst experiences of her life." "Do you think this is why Yvonne hasn't put Karen in the picture?" "Possibly, but I think it's got more to do with what actually happened." "If I'm going to be in the public gallery supposedly for moral support, you'd better fill me in, though quite why you think Karen will take any offer of help from me, I can't imagine." "Whenever I've seen her over the last year, she's almost always asked after you," Jo said quietly, knowing that George deeply regretted questioning Karen so ruthlessly on that mid October day, even though George had never said so. "I don't know what for," George said with a frown, but Jo wasn't fooled. This was George's way of hiding how touched she was. "The first witness that Neumann Mason-Alan is going to put on the stand on Monday afternoon," Said Jo, returning to safer ground, "Will be the pathologist who did Fenner's postmortem. I think it's then that Karen will find out what Lauren actually did to Fenner. I don't think even Neumann would put something like that in his opening speech." "What exactly do I need to be prepared to deal with?" "I really shouldn't be doing this, George." "I know," George said softly. "Breaking client confidentiality just isn't you, which means that you obviously think there's a necessity for doing it. You've never discussed one little detail of this case, something which you probably ought to be proud of if it's that bad." "Lauren Atkins abducted Fenner at gunpoint, drove him to Epping Forest and made him dig his own grave." Here Jo stopped, and didn't continue until she'd lit herself a cigarette and taken a long drag. "She shot him, not to kill him but to stop him from defending himself. I'm certain Neumann will show the photographs, which might be what Karen will react to." "If the shot didn't kill him, what did?" "She buried him alive." George recoiled like she'd been slapped. "Jo, are you absolutely sure you know what you're doing in defending this case?" "There's no way Lauren Atkins was completely sane when she did it." "Well, I'll take that as read," George said in disgust. "I'm not doing this for Lauren Atkins," Jo explained, "I'm doing this for Yvonne." "I don't believe you," George announced, her voice rising with anger fuelled by her concern for Jo. "You're doing exactly what you did when you attempted to prosecute that case for Karen. You've got emotionally involved up to your neck in something that let's face it, is a bit peculiar to say the least. Karen's case did at least have merit behind it." "In case you've forgotten, George, all three of us, you, me and John, were all up to our necks in this case long before Yvonne arrived at my door. We knew precisely who had killed Fenner even before the police did. If any other barrister had taken on this defence, they'd likely have asked enough questions to find out that it was Karen who gave us Lauren's name. Yvonne still doesn't, and if I've got anything to do with it, she never will know that. Don't you remember just how much of your prosecution-style questioning it took to drag that all important piece of information out of Karen?" "You don't have to remind me of that day," Said George, self-recrimination dripping from every syllable. "No, I know I don't," Said Jo, calming down slightly. "But you have to understand that that's partly why I'm doing this. After having read Fenner's forensic report, there is absolutely no way that Karen could ever have entertained the possibility of doing what Lauren did, and you and me owe it to her to somehow support her through this trial. Not John, because in his infinitely bloody minded wisdom he believed her from the start. Not John, but you and me both thought Karen Betts if not actually guilty then at least possibly guilty of Fenner's murder. I can't be with her when she discovers how her once lover was killed, but you can. As for the reasoning behind what happened, if you come to court, you'll find out, and then maybe you'll understand why I'm doing this for Yvonne as much as for Karen." "Okay," George said quietly. "I haven't got much on this week, at least not on Monday and Tuesday, so I'll be there. It'll be quite odd, seeing Karen again," She ended somewhat meditatively, also thinking that Jo had just given her the perfect excuse she needed for having cleared much of this week of appointments in the first place. George knew full well that she would have been at court on Monday whether or not Jo had asked her to be. Karen would undoubtedly be there, and to see her again was an opportunity George just couldn't bring herself to miss. It gave her a nervous sense of adolescent excitement somewhere deep inside her when she thought of what it would be like to see Karen again after all this time, after the many times George had dreamt of her over the last year. When Jo left an hour or so later, George gave her a tight, half-impulsive hug. "Just be careful," She said in to Jo's hair. It was very rare that they touched like this and the contact was nearly always initiated by George, but Jo was nevertheless grateful for it and for George's sentiment. "Just promise me one thing," She said with a broad smile. "I don't want any audience participation from you if I screw up." "Well, there's an easy answer to that," George said with a mischievous grin. "Don't screw up. Though I might not be able to forego the pleasure of commenting on Neumann Mason-Alan's cross-examination. It'll be an interesting exercise being in the public gallery instead of on the bench for a change. But I mean it," She said, again turning serious. "Please be careful."
On the evening of Saturday the eighth of January 2005, Jo Mills knew that there was one last thing she had to do before the start of the Lauren Atkins trial on Monday. Jo had spent the last year getting to grips with Lauren's defence of diminished responsibility, obtaining reports from psychiatrists and witness statements from Lauren's mother, Lauren's closest friend and her cell mate Denny Blood. It had taken a lot for Jo to really get her head round what Lauren had done on the fifth of October 2003, and she couldn't be said to have taken up this case lightly. But she had come to the realisation a long time ago that she wasn't doing this for Lauren, her client, she was doing this for Yvonne. At the end of the day, Yvonne was a mother, just like Jo, and Yvonne was only doing the best she could for her daughter. But there was still one link in the network of communication, which had led to this crime that still hadn't been satisfactorily prepared for the upcoming trial. This pinnacle of all Jo's current worries was Karen Betts. As far as Jo was aware, Yvonne, Cassie Tyler, Denny Blood and Dr. Margaret Richards, were all acquainted with exactly what Lauren had done to James Fenner. These were Jo's four witnesses other than Lauren herself, Dr. Richards being a psychiatrist friend of Karen's. But Jo knew that Karen would without doubt be present at this trial, and that she didn't know just how Fenner had died. The first few times Jo had thought about what Lauren had actually done, she'd been unable to suppress a shudder, but she'd had a year to gradually become accustomed to the idea that she was defending someone who had not only shot a man to paralyze him, but who had buried said man alive. Jo had tentatively suggested that Yvonne put Karen in the picture before the trial, but Yvonne perfectly understandably had been unable to do it. Fenner had been Karen's one time lover, and even though he had raped Karen, one reason for which he had eventually been killed, the way in which he had died would still come as an enormous shock to Karen. But, as Jo wasn't about to break the rules governing client confidentiality, the only option left open to her was to make sure that there would be someone in the public gallery who could offer Karen some moral support. Jo would be utterly incapable of doing this as she would be in full flow defending her client, but she couldn't simply leave it to chance as to how Karen might react. She knew too much of what Karen had gone through at the hands of Fenner to simply allow her to find out how he had died without putting someone there who could try to do what Jo couldn't. Her thoughts naturally would have veered towards John, but as he would hopefully be presiding over the trial, if he could prize it away from Monty Everard, this was impossible. The only person left to her was George.
The last time George and Karen had been in the same room together, their meeting had been anything but amicable. George had been in the process of ruthlessly questioning Karen as to her own culpability in Fenner's murder. But this had been fifteen months ago, and they had all moved on a long way from then. With her visits to see Lauren over the last year, Jo had come in to contact with Karen on a number of occasions, the two women always making time to catch up with each other. Jo was also aware that Karen had seen quite a lot of John over this time. Quite when and how their friendship had begun, Jo didn't always like to contemplate. But she had no doubts that what friendship did exist between Karen and John was purely platonic. Jo privately thought that Karen was good for John, someone who would always give him nothing but the absolute unvarnished truth, no matter how much he might not want to hear it. Jo had no doubt that Karen was aware of Jo, John's and George's thruway relationship, but this didn't bother her. Karen knew how to be discrete having had too much of her private life brought out for all to see during the Merriman/Atkins trial. It was an odd thing, Jo thought to herself, that Karen usually asked after George when she saw Jo, and George occasionally asked after Karen, yet neither having had contact with the other for over a year. But Jo knew that if Karen reacted badly to hearing how Fenner had died, George would be able to handle the situation tactfully and sensitively. Good God, she thought, that really did show just how much things had changed between them all. Before the Merriman/Atkins trial, Jo would rather have spent an hour in the company of a poisonous snake than an hour with George. But since George had begun to remove some of her outer layers of scorn, pride and bitterness, and they'd begun on this arrangement by which John could continue to have a relationship of sorts with both she and George, though meaning that he was banned from chasing other women, Jo and George had slipped in to a closeness that Jo suspected neither of them had ever had in a friend before. The legal profession, especially in the days when they'd both entered it, hadn't allowed for female friends, it being a world of either domineering males or equally backstabbing females, all eager to reach the top by the fastest route. But here they were, fifteen months on, and all three of them were relaxed with this new arrangement. It had taken both Jo and George some time to get used to the idea, but they'd eventually overcome the awkwardness and could now freely talk about John, it no longer being taboo to mention and occasionally discuss the evenings they spent with John. Each in their own way had crossed a line, removed a barrier. Jo's being the hurdle of jealousy that John did sometimes sleep with George instead of her, and George's the burden of guilt that she was making John cheat on Jo, no matter how much it might have been Jo's idea in the first place. But they had gradually dispensed with these negative feelings, both having made a concerted effort not to tread on the other's toes, learning pretty quickly that communication was the way to avoid problems. For the first time in her life, Jo really was happy with the relationship she had with John, and the friendship she had with George. She was now able to feel that she could rely on John not to stray, not to wander off and pick up some nameless stranger. Jo had been right, on that Halloween evening when she had initially suggested this new arrangement. She did feel far more secure in the knowledge that although John might still sleep with George on a regular basis, he would never entirely go back to George, and that George would never try to persuade him to go back. This meant that Jo was finally beginning to trust him, which was still something of a novelty in her relationship with John. But this wasn't the only advantage of their little triangle. Both Jo and George were getting a great deal out of having a female friend, something neither of them would ever relinquish for anyone.
So, knowing that John was at the digs reading through the papers for the coming trial, still hopeful of getting it away from Monty Everard, Jo drove over to George's, wondering how she would take her request. In personality, George had changed quite a lot since this new arrangement with John and Jo had begun. She was altogether softer, a few of her sharper edges having been sanded down by a regular dose of expert loving from John, and by her gradually allowing Jo to get that bit closer to her. This didn't by any stroke of the imagination mean that George didn't still have the capacity to make verbal mincemeat of any opponent, it simply meant that she was able to drop this harsh facade behind closed doors. She had managed to regain most of the weight lost during that extremely serious bout of Anorexia that had so irrevocably removed any lasting barrier between her and Jo. She hadn't found this easy to do, but with the support and encouragement coming from both sides, she had at last managed to regain a size that whilst not ideal, was certainly no longer life threatening. It had surprised George more than a little that beginning the process of unburdening herself with Jo had been so good for her, and that even now, if she thought she was drifting back in to the cycle of depression and starvation that had almost killed her, Jo would be there to pull her out again. After the initial session of verbal purging Jo had put her through after she'd fainted in court, George had been reluctant to go through anything similar a second or a third time, but Jo had usually managed to coax her to do so.
George hadn't been unduly surprised to see Jo on the Saturday evening. The Lauren Atkins trial in which Jo was defending was starting on Monday, and George figured that Jo would likely want to talk about it. "You look incredibly stressed," Said George, after pouring Jo a Scotch and a Martini for herself. "I've got a problem," Jo said without preamble. "Well, that much is obvious," Said George, receiving a brief roll of the eyes from Jo. "How busy are you this week?" "That sounds like a loaded question," Replied George carefully. "It depends how much of my week you want to appropriate." "Certainly the first couple of days of it. After that, I'm not sure." "Start at the beginning," George said, having absolutely no idea what Jo wanted from her. "I could really do with you in court for the start of the Atkins trial." "Jo, I know I've been doing more and more criminal work recently, but you're still by far the better criminal QC out of both of us." "I don't mean on the defence bench," Said Jo with a smile. "I need you to be in the public gallery." "What on earth for?" Asked George, clearly intrigued. "Against my continuous advice, Karen Betts hasn't been brought up to speed with the exact details of how Fenner met his end. As far as I'm aware, everyone else who needs to know in advance of Monday does. But Karen doesn't." "And why is it so absolutely necessary that she be informed prematurely?" "Well, there's now no hope of her being told beforehand, but I think it's going to come as quite a shock to her. After having prized snippets of information out of John, I'm pretty sure that at the time, Karen couldn't entirely support what Lauren had done because Fenner had previously been her lover. You know how it is, George, when someone is suddenly removed from our lives, we initially remember only what was good about them, no matter how much we might have been hurt by them." "And you're guessing that's what Karen did when Fenner was killed?" "Yes. She'd never admit it, not to anyone, except perhaps John, but I think part of her missed what she'd once had with Fenner, even though it led to one of the worst experiences of her life." "Do you think this is why Yvonne hasn't put Karen in the picture?" "Possibly, but I think it's got more to do with what actually happened." "If I'm going to be in the public gallery supposedly for moral support, you'd better fill me in, though quite why you think Karen will take any offer of help from me, I can't imagine." "Whenever I've seen her over the last year, she's almost always asked after you," Jo said quietly, knowing that George deeply regretted questioning Karen so ruthlessly on that mid October day, even though George had never said so. "I don't know what for," George said with a frown, but Jo wasn't fooled. This was George's way of hiding how touched she was. "The first witness that Neumann Mason-Alan is going to put on the stand on Monday afternoon," Said Jo, returning to safer ground, "Will be the pathologist who did Fenner's postmortem. I think it's then that Karen will find out what Lauren actually did to Fenner. I don't think even Neumann would put something like that in his opening speech." "What exactly do I need to be prepared to deal with?" "I really shouldn't be doing this, George." "I know," George said softly. "Breaking client confidentiality just isn't you, which means that you obviously think there's a necessity for doing it. You've never discussed one little detail of this case, something which you probably ought to be proud of if it's that bad." "Lauren Atkins abducted Fenner at gunpoint, drove him to Epping Forest and made him dig his own grave." Here Jo stopped, and didn't continue until she'd lit herself a cigarette and taken a long drag. "She shot him, not to kill him but to stop him from defending himself. I'm certain Neumann will show the photographs, which might be what Karen will react to." "If the shot didn't kill him, what did?" "She buried him alive." George recoiled like she'd been slapped. "Jo, are you absolutely sure you know what you're doing in defending this case?" "There's no way Lauren Atkins was completely sane when she did it." "Well, I'll take that as read," George said in disgust. "I'm not doing this for Lauren Atkins," Jo explained, "I'm doing this for Yvonne." "I don't believe you," George announced, her voice rising with anger fuelled by her concern for Jo. "You're doing exactly what you did when you attempted to prosecute that case for Karen. You've got emotionally involved up to your neck in something that let's face it, is a bit peculiar to say the least. Karen's case did at least have merit behind it." "In case you've forgotten, George, all three of us, you, me and John, were all up to our necks in this case long before Yvonne arrived at my door. We knew precisely who had killed Fenner even before the police did. If any other barrister had taken on this defence, they'd likely have asked enough questions to find out that it was Karen who gave us Lauren's name. Yvonne still doesn't, and if I've got anything to do with it, she never will know that. Don't you remember just how much of your prosecution-style questioning it took to drag that all important piece of information out of Karen?" "You don't have to remind me of that day," Said George, self-recrimination dripping from every syllable. "No, I know I don't," Said Jo, calming down slightly. "But you have to understand that that's partly why I'm doing this. After having read Fenner's forensic report, there is absolutely no way that Karen could ever have entertained the possibility of doing what Lauren did, and you and me owe it to her to somehow support her through this trial. Not John, because in his infinitely bloody minded wisdom he believed her from the start. Not John, but you and me both thought Karen Betts if not actually guilty then at least possibly guilty of Fenner's murder. I can't be with her when she discovers how her once lover was killed, but you can. As for the reasoning behind what happened, if you come to court, you'll find out, and then maybe you'll understand why I'm doing this for Yvonne as much as for Karen." "Okay," George said quietly. "I haven't got much on this week, at least not on Monday and Tuesday, so I'll be there. It'll be quite odd, seeing Karen again," She ended somewhat meditatively, also thinking that Jo had just given her the perfect excuse she needed for having cleared much of this week of appointments in the first place. George knew full well that she would have been at court on Monday whether or not Jo had asked her to be. Karen would undoubtedly be there, and to see her again was an opportunity George just couldn't bring herself to miss. It gave her a nervous sense of adolescent excitement somewhere deep inside her when she thought of what it would be like to see Karen again after all this time, after the many times George had dreamt of her over the last year. When Jo left an hour or so later, George gave her a tight, half-impulsive hug. "Just be careful," She said in to Jo's hair. It was very rare that they touched like this and the contact was nearly always initiated by George, but Jo was nevertheless grateful for it and for George's sentiment. "Just promise me one thing," She said with a broad smile. "I don't want any audience participation from you if I screw up." "Well, there's an easy answer to that," George said with a mischievous grin. "Don't screw up. Though I might not be able to forego the pleasure of commenting on Neumann Mason-Alan's cross-examination. It'll be an interesting exercise being in the public gallery instead of on the bench for a change. But I mean it," She said, again turning serious. "Please be careful."