Barry kept a close eye on Rick because what he saw next to him was a man who seemed to have lost all hope. He knew that something was wrong but he just couldn't place when the transition took his friend over. But he had other things to worry about other than his friend being let down.
"All rise." The bailiff announces.
With a nod from the judge as she walks to her chair, the bailiff continues.
"The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is now in session. The Honorable Judge Judith Bellows presiding."
All participants and observers remain standing until the judge is seated.
The judge takes her seat and again nods to the bailiff again.
"Be seated." The bailiff finally says.
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Calling the case of the Black Pawn Publishing versus Richard Castle aka Richard Alexander Rodgers.
"Are both sides ready?"
Barry responds: "Ready for the defense, Your Honor."
Hal DeMarino responds for Black Pawn: "Ready for the plaintiff, Your Honor."
"Will the bailiff please swear in the jury?"
The bailiff walks over to the just box and starts the swearing-in process.
"Will the jury please stand and raise your right hand?
Once they comply the bailiff continues.
"Do each of you swear that you will fairly try the case before this court and that you will return a true verdict according to the evidence and the instructions of the court, so help you, God? Please say "I do".
Everyone agrees.
"You may be seated.
"Mr. DeMarino you may start." The judge says.
"Your Honor and ladies and gentlemen of the jury: The defendant has been charged with breach of contract. The evidence I present will prove to you that the defendant is guilty."
Once Hal is finished Barry addresses the jury.
"Your Honor and ladies and gentlemen of the jury: Under the law, my client is presumed innocent until proven guilty. During this trial, you will hear no real evidence against my client. You will come to know the truth that Richard Castle had every intention of honoring the contract he signed. Therefore my client is not guilty."
Once opening arguments are finished,
"The prosecution may call its first witness." The judge announces.
"Your honor, we call Gina Cowell to the witness stand."
The bailiff walks up to where the witness is standing in the witness box and says,
"Raise your right hand."
Gina does and the bailiff continues.
"Do you swear that the testimony you shall give in the case before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you, God?"
Gina replies with a firm yes.
"You may be seated."
The bailiff returns to her seat.
"Miss Cowell, it's my understanding that you have demanded the return of the entire advance and all gratuities included for Mister Castles's current contract is that correct?"
"Yes."
"Can I ask why?"
"Well, it seems that Mr. Castle has decided to procrastinate more than usual. He was to have a working title and outline for his last and final book in the Storm series. When he informed us that he no longer wanted to write this character we gave him a little leeway in order to come up with a new character. If that was the case we would roll over his prior contract into a new one if we liked what we saw. We're still waiting."
"I see. Can I ask what the current advance was on his contract?"
"We advanced him five hundred thousand dollars for the last Storm book. He also received travel expenses for an upcoming final book tour in the Storm series."
"Alright. Your honor, I have no further questions for this witness." Hal states as he returns to the plaintiff's table.
"Does the defense have any questions?"
"We do your honor."
"You may proceed."
Barry walks up to the witness box and starts his defense.
"Miss Cowell are all book contracts issued as a blanket contract so to speak?"
"I'm sorry I don't follow."
"What I mean is when you issue a contract to an author you usually ask for a set of books to be written. In this instance, it was three. It was for a Raging Storm, a Bloody Storm, and Storm Front. My question to you is why was there a separate sum of money given for just one book? I find it hard to believe that you would negotiate for one book at a time."
"Mister Castle has a clause in his contract that granted him an advance for a new book if his last Storm book sold over a million copies. He decided to kill off his main character and start a new series. Since he has not given us a new character to invest in we are requesting our initial advance to be returned."
"There is where there is a flaw in your contract Miss Cowell."
"What?"
"The contract states explicitly that once the advance has been issued the author has up to one calendar year to produce the next set of novels. Any monies or advances for travel are covered under the same clause in this contract."
"No, it's not! I wrote the contract I should know." Gina replies.
"Your honor may I present to you exhibit B-16. It is a signed contract between Black Pawn and Richard Castle. And in it on the fourth page is the section about advances for future work. It's easy to see how Miss Colwell could have overlooked this section of the contract. It's worded in a way that only she would understand."
"OBJECTION!" Hal shouts out.
"Your honor, I have not seen this part of the contract. I request a short recess to speak with my client and review this contract."
"Mr. DeMarino seeing that it is close to lunch, the court will break for lunch and return in one hour. That should give you enough time to speak with your client and review the new evidence. The witness is excused. The court is in recess." The judge states as she slams her gavel against the sound block.
18 hours prior to Kate leaving the loft…
She had many ideas on how to get Rick writing again but one, in particular, jumped out at her. So she decided to run with it. She knew that leaving his loft would be the starting point as she walks down the hallway to the elevator. When she arrived at the lobby she held a very short conversation with the doorman in his native tongue and he was surprised that she did so again. He was happy when she left because no one talked to him in his native language Kate leaves the front door of Rick's lobby and makes a left. Her idea has her showing up at a police precinct in lower Manhattan about fifteen blocks from the loft.
Just as she's about to climb up the stairs to the precinct she sees a woman who ironically looks a little bit like her but with longer brunette locks exit the double doors that lead to the building. This is her chance she thinks. Kate makes her way halfway up the stairs almost walking directly into the person walking down the stairs who looks exactly like her. She stops before she does run into her and the person who sees her at the last minute stops as well.
Detective Kate Beckett looks up at the last second before she collides with the person coming up the stairs. She does a double-take as she looks at the woman in front of her feeling that something is off.
Before she can say anything the woman speaks.
"Hi. I was wondering if you had some time to talk?"
Kate who'd just been called out to a murder wanted to blow off this woman's request.
"I'm really sorry but I need to do my job."
"I know and it's what I wanted to talk with you about. My name is Kate, what's yours?" As she extends her hand to shake.
Kate Beckett stared at her not knowing if she was pulling her leg or not. Deciding to get this over as quickly as possible she obliged her and shook her hand.
"It's a funny coincidence," she said, "My name is also Kate."
The second Kate touches the detective's hand, everything plugs into her head. She knows everything about her in that one simple touch. She realizes that this woman has been through so much emotional turmoil it's a wonder how she's even standing up straight.
"I'm sorry what did you want to talk to me about?" Detective Beckett asks the woman in front of her.
"I'll make this quick Detective since I know you're very busy. My question is, I'm not too sure who to go to since I'm new in this city. Two days ago I was robbed and I just don't know who to see to follow up with." Kate explains.
"It's not a problem. You need to go to the second floor. That's the robbery division. See a man by the name of Lieutenant Collins. He will give you an update on your investigation." The detective explains.
"Thank you very much detective you've been a very big help!" Kate responds
Detective Beckett sidetracks the woman and finishes her descent down the stairs. As she does there's something niggling in the back of her mind that she doesn't know how to explain. It's like she was invaded so to speak. Her every thought was laid out right in front of her and then everything went blank. It was like a computer reboot if you will. For a second she forgot why she was outside but then slowly all of the information that was once housed in her mind returned. Really weird! She shakes it off and walks down to the sidewalk and out onto the street to get into her unit. She starts the car up and drives off not giving the woman or what had happened another thought.
Kate was amazed at the information she had just received by simply shaking hands with the police detective. She was steadfast in her duties and she would give her life to save that of her two partners. In this aspect she was in itself was something no one else in this city would probably do. But there was a dark side to this detective as well. She was so close to finding out who killed her mother. Kate thought that if this woman did make a run at who killed her mother when she jumped into the deep end, there would be no getting out. She has an idea but it would take a lot to pull it off. Right now she needs to find a second idea for Rick.
"Rick, I really think that we have this case buttoned up. We have them over a barrel and I'm going to take advantage of it. Gina was foolish not to read the entire contract when she wrote it up. How can you write something into a contract and forget it?" Barry asked.
"Barry, I'm just thinking if you say that this is a slam dunk in my favor how much longer will we need to be here?"
"Rick where we are now is crucial. Gina perjured herself to make you abide by a contract that she altered. I already have the original contract something that she will need to admit to her counsel that was not legal."
Barry watched his friend for a sign of bliss on his friend's face, but all he was met with was a grave look on his face.
"Rick, what's wrong?" Barry asked.
"It's nothing Barry never mind. Certain things are better left unsaid. Now if you don't mind I'm going to grab something to eat with my daughter before we have to head back into court." Rick said as he walked toward Alexis.
Once they exited the courtroom they had very limited options to select from. To their left was a hot dog cart, and to the right was a Falafel cart. He could have eaten either but he was more worried about Alexis.
"Sweetheart, what do you feel like eating?"
Alexis looked at her choices and she immediately went to the left. Dirty water dogs are always a safe bet in New York City. They walk up to the Sabrett's cart and asked for two hotdogs with everything.
Along with their hot dogs, they each have a soda to wash them down with and they find an empty bench to sit down to eat their lunch. They're halfway through eating their hot dogs when they see a very frantic woman running up the pathway to the courthouse.
She practically runs past them before she realizes that it's them that she was here to find. She doubles back just as Rick places the last bite of hot dog into his mouth.
"Kate?" Alexis asks.
"I'm so sorry for missing the start of your trial. Please believe me that I had every intention of getting here on time but I ran into the most interesting people! I ran a little late getting some new material for you. But I did it!" Kate exclaimed.
Rick just looked at her with a questioning look. New material he thought. What in God's name was she talking about?
"What is it exactly that you did Kate?"
"Listen, Rick, I promise to tell you everything. But can we please focus on the matter in the courtroom?" Kate says.
Reluctantly Rick sees her logic.
"Okay, Kate. We'll talk after the next court session is finished."
Rick was still upset that she had never made it to court when she promised. He walked away from her not saying another word.
She is not sure what just happened. One minute he looked glad to see her, but then it had all changed. He just walked by her without saying a word taking Alexis back into the legal building.
Alexis barely had time to toss her garbage from lunch into the trash bin before she was pulled back into the legal building.
TBC