Rick and Barry are seated at the defendant's table waiting for the court to be called back in session after they had lunch. Alexis is sitting in the visitor's gallery watching with concern. Just before the judge walks in to sit down, the entry doors from the lobby to the courtroom open and close. Alexis turns to see Kate walking hurriedly down the aisle heading directly for the empty seat right next to her. Once she gets there she asks the teen if she can sit next to her.
"Alexis I know I'm not your favorite person right now but I do have good news. Would it be alright if I sit next to you?" Kate asks eyeing the empty seat next to her and hoping that she would say yes.
Knowing that she never could hold a grudge (she's a lot like her father) she forgives Kate for not being here on time this morning. In all actuality, she wasn't that late, and maybe what she says is the truth.
"So Kate tell me what caused you to miss the first part of Dad's trial?"
"Alexis I didn't do it on purpose I swear. Last night I met the most wonderful Detective. But she was what you on Earth call a hot mess. She's very pretty and would give her life for her job and the people that work with her, but on the inside, emotionally, I mean, she's a total mess. But I'll get into this more later after the case has concluded because I know that your father will do great this afternoon."
"Kate, how can you know this?" Alexis asks.
"Alexis, there are things that you will never know about me but trust me I can tell you that the outcome will be in your father's favor."
Rick was sitting at the defendant's table watching Gina's lawyer pulling his hair out of his head sitting at the plaintiff's table. It looks like the wind had been taken out of his sails for a case that he thought would be a slam dunk. Now it looks like he was heading for the gallows. Not a typical look for a lawyer of his stature. he thinks back to his decision on keeping Kate at bay. He knows he acted like an idiot earlier but he was upset. He had put a lot of faith in her being there when she said she was going to be and when she didn't show, sure he acted like a petulant child but still she made a promise to him. But then he thinks back to what she told him she's a muse. Maybe he acted a little too harshly and maybe she'll still listen to him as he tries to explain why he acted the way he did. He's all set to talk to her but someone's voice brings him back to the table.
"All rise." The bailiff announces.
Everyone does as asked and the judge takes her seat.
"Court is now in session. Counselor Have you had a chance to look over the contract?"
"I have your honor."
"Will the witness please return to the witness stand."
Gina gets up from the table and walks over to the witness stand dreading every step. She knows that this will not end well but she also has the thought that she'll be able to get away with it by explaining it away.
"Bailiff please instruct the witness." The judge requests.
"Since you have been sworn in earlier today you understand that you are still under oath. Do you understand?"
"I do," Gina replies.
The bailiff retakes her seat and the court continues.
"Mr. DeMarino you're up." The judge says.
"Miss Cowell, I'm sure that you realize that the contract you had initiated by your hand was a pretty much straightforward contract, is that correct?" Hal asked.
"It is. I remember distinctly adding in certain parts of the bonuses to Mr. Castle if he achieved a certain amount of sales. But I am at a loss where it states that he has one year to produce a new character or working title within that time frame. I'm trying to run a business here."
"And the contract that you see in front of you is the same one that you had him sign?" Hal asks as he points to the contract on the desk.
"I'm sure of it," Gina replies.
"No further questions your honor," Hal says as he turns and heads back to the plaintiff's table.
"Your witness Mr. Leventhal." The judge states.
Barry leans over and whispers something into Rick's ear. He takes his time gathering all the paperwork he needs to make his cross-examination worth the effort. He knows that Rick has given him everything he needs to make this undisputable. Once he is set he stands up and approaches the witness stand.
"Miss Cowell, I'm sure that while you have fashioned this contract to your every advantage over your client. You might have even lost sight or even every memory of certain aspects of this contract. I agree that you had written this contract with the clause that if Mr. Castle had sold a certain amount of books he would benefit from it as well as yourself. What you don't realize is that along with the clause for him to obtain the year-long break to construct his next character so to speak there would be monies obtained by you if his books sold more than what was advertised."
"I'm not seeing what this has to do with the contract and why he can skate away from it with no repercussions."
"It's very simple Miss Cowell. What you have written into this contract in the fine print buried on page thirty-six I might add, is that if Mr. Castle was not advised of his bookselling totals daily then he would not get that bonus for those sold books on that given day. And I'm pretty sure after talking to my client, he was never informed daily as to how many books were sold and what his bonus would be. What you had done was made it sound like he was selling the bare minimum just to get you your bonus. But I have recently been over the sales figures for the last two years for the release of his last book and the current one. There were many times when he had exceeded the daily amount of books sold which would have earned him the additional amount of one point one million dollars. So miss Cowell, can you please tell me in your own words where this money went?" Barry asked.
"I only deal with the contract before when it's been signed by our client. You would have to speak to accounting to find out if he is owed any monies for books sold more than what's in the contract."
"Your honor I would like to submit this ledger as exhibit 2A. In it, you will see that Miss Cowell's bank account has grown exponentially."
"Objection! Speculation," Hal yells out.
"Overruled counselor. Proceed, Mr. Leventhal." The judge says.
"As I was saying your honor, in the ledger you will see that over the last twelve months since the last Storm book has been released Miss Colwell has been depositing upwards of fifteen to twenty thousand dollars a week. Doing quick math, that puts the total amount in her account to be over one million forty thousand dollars. If I were a betting man which I am I would also assume that she has had monies from his prior novels as well. Miss Cowell, can you tell me why you decided to take advantage of my client's good nature?" Barry queried.
Gina just stared at Rick's attorney with a look that could kill. In her head, she was trying to figure out how he could get his hands on any kind of information that she had hidden away. It was then that she realized her longtime assistant who had a soft spot for Rick was the one to blame. Now she had to find a way out of this mess before she was thrown in jail.
"I've never seen a ledger like that. So without knowing what's in it I don't know how that could be associated with me."
"Well, Miss Cowell well it seems that your memory is failing you once again. If you direct your attention to the video screen right next to the witness box beside you will see how we obtained this ledger legally with a search warrant of course." Barry tells her.
Barry returns to his laptop on the defendant's table and presses enter on the keyboard. The second he does a video appears on the screen by the witness stand. In it, Gina is accessing a safe on her wall behind a picture she has hanging of Monet's Water Lilies. Her assistant is two steps behind her when she opens the safe so she won't be able to see the combination. She deposits the ledger back into the safe and secures it. What Gina doesn't know is that her assistant already knows the combination of the safe. The video screen fades to black but two seconds later the video returns with the assistant Kerri opening the safe. She opens the safe with the combination she knows by heart, pulls out the ledger, and hands it to Barry with the police detective from the court looking on documenting everything he sees. Knowing that she needs to explain to the attorney what he is seeing she does so. They now have concrete proof that Gina Cowell has been embezzling funds from Rick Castle's profits.
"Your honor, while my client might have writer's block he is well within his rights as put forth in his contract. By my calculations, he still had five months before he is in breach of contract at the time of these proceedings."
"With the evidence that you have presented Mr. Leventhal, I tend to agree with your assessment. You put on a good defense and now we're going to hear closing argument from the prosecution. Mr. DeMarino you're up."
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury as I stated earlier in my opening remarks Black Pawn has kept their agreement and are then the ones who were wronged here. It seems that the defense has found a loophole that neither management nor the contract initiator was aware of. Just because the defense found that loophole doesn't mean that Mr. Castle is not to be held responsible. The contract states that if there is no continuation of the storyline, new character or not he is in breach of contract. My client had no intention to inform Mr. Castle of his sales day to day. That would have been his responsibility to check in daily if he wanted his bonus."
The judge looks at Mr. DeMarino with disdain.
"We rest your honor." The lawyer for Black Pawn turns and walked back to the plaintiff's table not making eye contact with the jury.
"Mr. Leventhal, please give your closing arguments." The judge asks.
"Your honor, ladies, and gentlemen of the jury, I contend that Miss Cowell has gone above and beyond. And what I mean is that she knew exactly what she was doing when she added the additional requirements into the contract that have my client jumping through hoops to honor them. Nowhere in the contract does it state that he is the one to make assurances that his book sales are above the amount designated by the publisher. Not only is my client not in breach of contract but he is owed the amount of one million forty thousand dollars. So in closing, we are demanding that Black Pawn forfeits those monies after these proceedings."
The judge simply nodded her head at the end of Barry's closing argument.
"The defense rests your honor."
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury you are now to retire to the jury room to vote on a verdict. I won't stress you further to remember that you only base your vote on what you have heard here today in these proceedings. Bailiff, please escort the jurors to the Jury Room so they can deliberate."
The bailiff instructs all the jurors to rise and follow her. When she has them through the door to the deliberation room a second bailiff makes sure that no one comes between him and the jury.
Rick whispers something into Barry's ear.
"So do we stay here Barry or do we leave the courtroom?" Rick asks
"Rick, usually the jury is out for a long amount of time but I think they will be back in less than an hour. The judge hasn't dismissed the court yet so we're still in session. She is a good judge and she will know whether or not the jury will take longer than usual. It's just my gut feeling but I think that they will be back quickly."
Barry and Rick look over at the plaintiff's table and see that the attorney for Black Pawn isn't looking very confident. From what they can hear from where they sit, he's getting a lot of lip from Gina telling him that he didn't do his job that the best of his ability. An equal amount of whispering was going on between the both of them as well.
"So help me God Hal if they find out what I did with this contract you no longer be our attorney. We will pull your retainer and you'll be out on the street. You need to find a way to fix this so I don't go to prison."
"Gina, you should have thought about something else other than embezzling money from your clients to line your pockets!"
"If I go down I'm going to take you down with me Hal!"
"Not a chance in hell Gina! I'll exercise my fifth amendment right to not speak. You're on your own. Good luck!"
There was a lot of movement as the jury was brought back into the courtroom. Gina and Hal watched as they took their seats and they could tell instantly that it wasn't going to be good for Black Pawn and Gina Cowell.
The judge retakes her seat on the bench and makes the following statement.
"I'll remind everybody that court is still in session. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?"
"We have your honor."
"Very well. Jury foreman, will you please hand me the verdict."
The jury foreman stands at the end of the jury box and hands the verdict to the bailiff. The bailiff in turn brings the jury verdict to the judge which she reads and returns to the bailiff then returns to the jury foreman.
"Please read the verdict. The judge instructs.
"On the count of Richard Castle being in breach of contract, the jury finds the defendant not guilty."
Barry and Rick shake hands as Judge Bellows thanks the jury for their service. Hal and Gina both rise to leave the courtroom knowing that they've been beaten. But just before that happens the judge makes a statement.
"Not so fast Miss Colwell. There seems to be a little matter of you embezzling money from your client. If I read your bank statements correctly you have too much money. I know that your salary is only $460,000 a year. What I see is income far exceeding that amount by triple. You are to be detained until this can be sorted out. Bailiff take the accused into custody."
Rick looks over at Gina and can't believe that she is trying to make a run for it. Hal tried to grab her arm but wasn't fast enough so the bailiff got to her before she hit the doors leaving the courtroom. The tackle to the ground by the bailiffs was something that linebackers do on the New York Giants defensive line. She was immediately handcuffed and brought back to the holding cell downstairs.
As she's being brought back to the holding cell the judge has another few choice words for her.
"As I said Miss Cowell I'm going to assign an investigator from the court system to go over your finances with a fine-tooth comb. A forensic investigator. After they get done doing what they need to do I'm pretty sure that charges for embezzlement, fraud, and whatever other charges I can think up will be levied against you." The judge said. Then she turned to Rick and said,
"Mister Castle, you're free to leave."
The bailiff continues back to the holding cell with Gina while Rick and Barry get up to leave the courtroom.
"Well, there you go Rick. Now you have some time to figure out how you going to continue writing." Barry shakes Rick's hand and wishes him good luck. He turns and leaves the courthouse as Alexis comes up beside him in the lobby with Kate.
"So dad I have something to tell you that I think you might be surprised by. It seems that Kate knew that you were going to walk away from this not owing anybody anything and somebody anything and you still have five months to figure out how to get writing again. She has some thoughts on that subject and I'll let her tell you what she's thinking." Alexis told her father.
Rick took one look at Kate and could tell that he'd been acting like a total jerk before the trial started this morning. Now he had to make up for it.
"Kate, I know I acted like a total jerk and was not as considerate as I usually am and I do apologize for that. But if we're going to have this conversation I think we should do it over dinner. All three of us. Do you agree?" Rick pleaded.
Kate nodded her answer in the affirmative as did his daughter. They left the courthouse feeling a lot lighter than they entered.
He's about to unleash his fury upon these people. Not a single one of them who populate this puny planet can remember what they had for breakfast let alone remember seeing his daughter. He was able to recover all eight of his daughters so far. The last one, his youngest, was very elusive. He taught her well.
Zeus had been on this godforsaken planet for the past two months collecting most of his daughters. Each of his daughters tried to convince him that they wanted to stay on Earth, that they were needed here. But he didn't listen to their pleas he only wanted them back where he could keep an eye on them.
After searching for so long he thinks he has found where his last daughter might be. After checking all the obvious places and finding not a trace of her he decided to think as she did. He knew that she had become attached to these humans and this is what would do her in. He couldn't stand to be among them! Just being anywhere near them made him feel so inferior. He was a god and he deserved better! His search had led him to a city called New Yuck or New Yawk at least that's what he thought it was until someone tried to set him straight about how to pronounce it. He would have liked to blast them with a lightning bot but he kept his cool. That wasn't his concern right now he had to find his daughter. He could tell that she was close by because there were traces of her everywhere. He knew this because there were signs that she had been here helping these people which he abhorred. He would decide when they would need to go down and help these people he thought.
He'd found a trail of her essence where she'd helped someone in a park. Her presence was strong here and he could tell that she was able to keep someone from doing something bad to themselves. But then the trail that she left behind almost disappeared. It wasn't until he started walking South towards the heart of the city that he picked up a faint trace of her once again.
He found himself standing in front of what could be the equivalent of the Parthenon. He really can't understand these Earth people because they fashion what he thinks is their legal system based on Greek culture. He notices the pillars that hold up the roof above the entryway to the building; they resemble everything Greek. Even the script inlaid in the awning is based on Greek design. He can tell that she's been here very recently now all he has to do is locate where she went next. If his luck holds out he will have her back very quickly.
He follows the trail that she has left behind and he moves back towards the North. He can tell the trail is getting a lot stronger he sees a faint trail of where she was and knows that he can likely have her back soon.
Kate Beckett was sitting at home dressed in a pair of comfortable sweats and an old threadbare NYPD T-shirt after another uneventful day at the 12th precinct. It had been four days since they closed their last case and now with all this free time all they could do was complete some outstanding paperwork and work on the backlog of cold cases. She sits on her couch trying to think of something to do. Everything she thinks of sounds lame. Her mind wanders back to earlier the other day when the young woman who looked coincidentally a lot like she did, shook her hand to thank her for the information she gave her. At first, she thought nothing of it and she was just appreciative of the information she was given. But now she sits there thinking about it and something was off. Not off in a weird way just off in the feeling that she got when they made contact. Kind of like the Invasion of the Body Snatchers weird but she feels like herself. She's in control of her facilities but there are parts of her that want to do different things other than solving murders with the homicide squad.
But as she sits here she has lingering thoughts of a writer that she has read often. This can't be a coincidence. But in a way, she feels as if she's connected to the person she met about a day ago, and for her, a woman who does not believe in things like this, like the supernatural is not something that can wrap her head around.
TBC