Chapter 6

Smooth Operator

"Miss Ashcroft. If you are not going to question the witness, why the hell did you call one?"

"Excuse me? Your honor, did you not hear what the defense just asked?" Then she whispered, "and in front of a child," before raising her voice up again and asking her competitor, "Has this courtroom become a joke to you Mr. Vector? And what about life?! Do you think it's okay to swear in front of little children?"

"Oh come on, Ashcroft! You've been pacing the floor for several minutes and wasting everyone's time, including that child!" Mr. Vector complained.

"Miss Ashcroft, though I do not condone Mr. Vector's use of the H word, or his general tone of condescension, I do believe he has a point. Were you or were you not going to ask a question of your witness?"

"Well, I. Of course, Judge Ashby," Karma said, fixing her hair and seeming apologetic like maybe she had lost the time or forgot herself. She played this card a lot but more-so lately. "Of course," she moved toward the witness stand slowly, taking care to place her feet far out in front of her when she walked and take her time. All of this time she'd been stalling for Liam. Liam was supposed to feed her a question but he failed. Worse yet, he didn't even look like he had tried. Usually Karma would stay up all night and think of these things but last night she was too depressed so she took a Vicodin and downed a full bottle of wine. She only had a few minutes to cry over the Kardashians before falling asleep quickly to sleep. They'd been working too hard and her life was falling apart.

In the court room with nothing to go on or no plan in sight, Karma looked to Liam Booker one last time. Their history was rocky and they weren't in a good place.

Anything? She suggested, by just the small lift of a single eyebrow. All she wanted was a clue. When Liam shrugged and looked perplexed, Karma let out a sigh and knew that it'd be up to her to fix this bloody mess of a case with nothing but her charms. Sadly enough, she wasn't even surprised.

A loud crash caused everyone to stare at the doors to the room. There was muttering while people clutched at their hearts and recovered from their panic. It was just a door. A loud door. Some of the court chambers were like still boxes with hot thick air that barely moved. Any sound was disruptive but this one was particularly unsettling.

Karma raised her head to see Lauren Cooper and Amy Raudenfeld enter the room. Secretly she felt relief. At least now, she'd at least have some help.

"Sorry we're late your honor. My car was in the shop."

"Don't worry Mrs. Cooper," Judge Ashby instantly smiled. "You haven't missed much, just your colleague's fine legs moving back and forth while the time ticks loudly by on the clock above your head." Judge Ashby liked Karma's legs. This wasn't the first time he had mentioned them and this wasn't the first time Karma specifically chose to wear a short dress with no-pantyhose and old-fashioned heels.

"Karma, is this true?" Lauren asked.

"Would the good judge tell a lie?" Karma flirted, sending Judge Ashby a trademark wink. Laughter was heard as the spectators all bought in on the show. Court rooms were usually dull but for some reason this country was obsessed with what went on inside.

Judge Ashby took a liking to this song and fun dance. Every time he was on an Ashcroft-Cooper case he went to work with a smile because there always was a show and he never left without a spring in his step.

What he wasn't expecting though was a third nameless beauty to grace his courtroom on this very day. A taller blonde who seemed young but rather serious, straight off the bat.

"And who is this?" The Judge called.

"Amy Raudenfeld, Your Honor. I've been newly assigned to this case." Her heels were already killing her and when she turned to Karma she saw her twitch slightly as if annoyed by her sight.

Karma shot a glance at Liam, an accusatory glance that Liam visibly ignored while playing it over in his mind. Liam was in his typical position, leaning back in his chair like he used to in school with his fingers on his chin and his stare almost cold in how vacant it was.

"Well, alright, Miss Raudenfeld, Miss Cooper, I'm sure your client is happy you decided to arrive." The stiff man to Liam's right looked over at them all with pleading eyes.

"Your Honor, I'd like to ask my question now, if that's alright," Karma phrased politely.

"Delightful Miss Ashcroft, delightful," the Judge teased. Karma took a step forward and approached the small child like she would approach her on any other day at the park or out with her Mom.

"It's not fun up here, is it?" Karma asked. She was speaking in a whisper so that almost no-one could hear. She leaned in to the child's ear and whispered "I don't like it either. My friend is a big ol' grump." She shot a look to Liam and the child began to laugh.

"Was there a question Miss Ashcroft?"

"Oh, yes. Seriousness," Karma teased. She made a face at little Julie, one which Julie mimicked before laughing again.

"Is your daddy a good daddy?" Karma asked, already sure of the child's answer.

"I love him," Julie beamed.

"And what do you love?" Karma asked, smiling bright and talking to kids as one always should.

"Daddy loves me and gets me ice cream and takes me on swings and we pet doggies and I love him. That's it."

"That's it," Karma asked.

"Yup, that's it!" The girl smiled.

"You heard her, Your Honor. That's it."

"That's it!" The girl repeated again, liking the nice lady who only ever inspired her to say nice things.

Surprising even her colleagues, Karma turned from the stand and walked back to her table, placing herself in the chair by Amy's side and resting there before saying, "No further questions," with a smile.

"What the hell are you doing?" Amy asked through a fake and forced resting face.

"Shhh." Karma said. She wasn't about to take tips from little-miss-nobody who didn't even know who she was.

Karma stiffened by Amy's side and tried not to enjoy the smell of her or the sight. It was a chore not to stare, a real pain. Walking back from the stand Karma even caught her eyes veering that way but she stopped it. Amy Raudenfeld was hotter than hot and everything about that sort of broke Karma inside. But she had no time for stupid thoughts. Her love life was a mess so she focused on her work.

"Alright Mr. Vector, cross-examine."

Feeling cocky and more than sure, Karma looked over at Amy with a haughty superiority she only reserved for situations such as these. Amy noticed and felt confused. Then Karma leaned in real close and placed a hand onto her shoulder, rubbing a thumb on Amy's bare skin while she whispered sexily into her ear.

"He's gonna fuck this up, just watch," Karma teased. Amy felt a muscle in her neck pull tight. She had to gather herself. Every time Karma came close to her it was like being shot with a taser. Amy felt frozen and then broken. She had to remember what it was like to have a head and thoughts and body parts that all moved. As Karma moved away, Amy let out a pained breath. Not even Reagan could do that to her that quickly. Amy went from 0 to 60 on the horny scale and it was hard for her to quell the insane desire she felt for a flash at Karma's side.

"Mrs. Oilridge," Morris Vector began.

"Counselor. Call her Julie, please," the Judge urged.

Karma shot Amy a told-you-so glance and Amy had to force herself to look away 'cause it was actually really difficult. Amy gripped tightly on the retractable pen in her hand and absent-mindedly clicked it a few dozen times in a row. Lauren hit her on the side to make her stop. Karma and Lauren exchanged a look and Amy tried to act calm but it was hard for her to even breathe or sit still.

Never-the-less, the case went on.

"Have you ever seen your Father do anything bad?" The lawyer for defense was obviously bad with children. He didn't even know how to ask a question that wasn't scary.

"Objection," Lauren said.

"For what?!" Mr. Vector turned and yelled.

"You're scaring the child," Lauren said flatly. Every time Lauren spoke she was sure of herself. Amy looked over and watched as Liam fought not to hold his head in annoyance at his own crew. It was absurd. These weren't normal things to do in court.

"Julie, he's just a mean man, don't worry," Karma said from half across the room. Julie nodded. "Do you want me to come hold your hand?" Karma asked. Julie nodded again.

"Objection!" Mr. Vector was pissed.

"She's a child, Morris," the Judge spoke quietly under his breath.

Karma got up and walked the length of the room hanging her head down as if this was all hurting her and who knows maybe it actually was. When she reached the booth Karma opened it and and squatted down. "Come 'ere you," she said, smiling softly. She held her arms out and Julie ran into them, hugging her.

The crowd murmured and awed. Karma stood up with the child in her arms as if it were her child all along, her child that she wanted to protect. She stood up and then sat on the stand with Julie in her arms. "It's okay sweetie, just tell the truth," she said, holding Julie and brushing her hair.

Liam was no longer annoyed but more wondering if any of it was ever real. Was this real? What about last month? He was so done with the way things were, with the dirty firm he built and the woman he once thought he knew. He was so done and almost ready to hop a jet to the UK. That's how frustrated he was with the circus his life had become.

"Mr. Vector, continue," the Judge urged.

"Your Honor, this is just-"

"What, Mr. Vector," the judge cut.

"Nothing," Morris grumbled. But it was dirty. It was just what he thought would happen. He hated coming up against Harvey, Ashcroft, and Booker. They were just that kind of stank.

"Repeat your question, Counselor."

"Julie," he tried. Morris formed a smile but it looked scary to Julie who was already confused about her position in some weird room where she couldn't even hold her Daddy's hand. "Have you ever seen your Father do anything bad?"

"Bad?" Julie asked, looking up at him from Karma's chest.

"Ohhh ho ho," Karma crooned. "I'm sorry," she said to the court, still holding Julie in a loving way that no-doubt made everyone like her. "She's just so cute," she mouthed, half the crowd smiled and laughed. From her place at the table, Lauren felt the case winning itself. It was strange how the law had very little to do with facts and so much more to do with perceptions. Karma wasn't book-smart, Liam's family had practically bought her through school, but she was street-smart for sure and at least she used what she had, at least she cared and actually tried, unlike Liam.

Where Amy could win this case on facts, Karma could win it on charm. Together they'd be unstoppable. But things weren't going too well between the two so far and Lauren wondered why exactly that was but she couldn't guess. Amy was hard to love, that was her only answer. You had to know Amy a while to get her. Lauren would explain this to Karma once they had some alone time but for now she was just waiting it all out and hoping she could lighten any storm that came along.

"This is bizarre," Amy whispered just loud enough so Lauren could hear.

"This is nothing," Lauren sang. "The entire firm is running on fumes." Lauren had been watching things collapse for a while now. They could win cases but their reputation was losing them cred. They had stopped even needing the law to win and that bothered a lot of people and some of the people were very important.

Karma turned to kiss Julie's head, and while she was there she whispered, "your Daddy's a good man," softly into her ear and kissed her again.

"My Daddy's a good man," Julie repeated.

"Objection!" Mr. Vector called but the Judge had missed if all from his angle up high. Mr. Vector had been standing in front of the stand so that no one else could see and the jury box was to Karma's left so they couldn't even see if she tried. Karma was that good. It was just that easy.

"This isn't television Mr. Vector and there's nothing to object," Judge Ashby warned.

"Leading!" Morris tried. "Miss Ashcroft was leading! She whispered something. To the girl!"

"Mr. Vector!" The Judge shouted. "I'll have none of this in my court, now stand down." The Judge turned to Karma and Julie. "Now Julie, thank you for being so brave today and talking with all of us." When Judge Ashby spoke to Julie he seemed a kind old man and he reminded her of her Grandpa.

"You're welcome," the little girl said.

Karma stood with Julie in her arms and gave the judge a sympathetic smile. "I'll take her to her mom," she said. Mrs. Oilridge was outside of the court and waiting in her car, supposedly because of some phobia that no one in the room had ever heard of before in their life. But all of that really was a damn lie. Karma wanted to seem maternal and kind. She knew it would go over-well and score them some points.

As she walked out the courtroom, like a mother gaining the passion to protect, the entire courtroom turned and stared. Karma had a reputation for being many things to the general public and most of them were positive, most of them were just like this.

The only two people annoyed by Karma today were Liam Booker and Morris Vector who exchanged interesting looks one of apathy and one of wrath. Where Liam just wanted to move away and never see her again, Morris wanted to find her in a dark ally, tie her up, and lock her away.