A Time for Mercy (Jake Brigance #3) - John Grisham Page 0,95

paid by Jake Brigance. He submitted a two-page report summarizing what Mr. Nickel had told him.”

Gilder paused, rather smugly, and looked at Jake, who was trying mightily to conjure up a believable lie that would extricate him from this catastrophe. But his brain was frozen and all efforts at creativity failed him miserably.

Gilder went on, sinking the knife deeper. “And so it’s obvious, Your Honor, that Mr. Brigance found the eyewitness, Mr. Neal Nickel, and once he realized that the witness was in no way favorable, but actually quite adverse to his cause, he conveniently tried to forget about him. He violated our rules of discovery by trying to hide a crucial witness.”

Harry Rex was far more crooked and devious than Jake, and turned to him and said, “I thought you supplemented those responses.” It was the perfect, and perhaps only, statement to interject. Answers to interrogatories were routinely amended and supplemented as more information became available.

But Harry Rex was a divorce lawyer and thus accustomed to bluffing around judges. Jake, though, was an amateur. He managed to mumble, “I thought so too.” But it was a pathetic effort and not at all believable.

Sean Gilder and Walter Sullivan both laughed, and the other three dark suits on their side of the table joined in the awful humor. Judge Noose held the motion and looked at Jake in disbelief.

Sean Gilder said, “Oh, right! I’m sure you wanted to supplement and hand us Neal Nickel, but you forgot, and you’ve been forgetting for five months now. Nice try, gentlemen. Judge, we have the right to depose this man.”

Judge Noose raised a hand and demanded silence. For a long moment, maybe two or three, or it could have been an hour as far as Jake was concerned, he read the motion for a continuance and began to slowly shake his head. Finally, he looked at Jake and said, “This appears to be a rather obvious effort on the part of the plaintiff to hide a witness. Jake?”

Jake almost said something like “Not at all, Your Honor,” but he held his tongue. If the investigator was sleazy enough to reveal the name of the lawyer who hired him, then he probably sent Sean Gilder a copy of his report. When Gilder produced it, the ax would fall. Again.

Jake shrugged and said, “Don’t know, Judge. I thought we supplemented. Must’ve been an oversight.”

Noose frowned and fired back. “That’s hard to believe, Jake. An oversight for a witness this important? Don’t feed me a line, Jake. You found a witness that you wished you hadn’t found. Then you violated a rule of discovery. I’m appalled by this.”

Not even Harry Rex could rescue him with a snappy retort. All five defense lawyers were grinning like idiots as Jake slid lower into his chair.

Noose tossed the motion onto the table and said, “Certainly, you have the right to depose this witness. Any idea where he might be?”

Quickly, Walter Sullivan said, “He left for Mexico on Saturday. For two weeks.”

Harry Rex blurted, “Courtesy of Central & Southern Railroad?”

“Hell no. It’s his vacation. And he said he’s not giving depositions down there.”

Noose waved a hand. “Enough. This complicates matters, gentlemen. I’m going to allow this witness to be deposed at a time that’s convenient for everyone, so I’ll grant the motion for a continuance.”

Gilder pounced with “Judge, I’ve also prepared a motion for sanctions. This is an egregious breach of ethics on the part of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, and it will cost money to reconvene somewhere to have a chat with Mr. Nickel. They should be required to pay for it and cover the expenses.”

Noose shrugged and said, “But you’re getting paid anyway.”

“Just double-bill them,” Harry Rex said. “Same as always.”

Jake lost his cool and said, “Why should we be required to hand over information that you couldn’t find if you’d hired the FBI? You guys sat on your asses for the first seven months and did nothing. Now you want us to feed you our work product?”

“So you admit you concealed the witness?” Gilder asked.

“No. The witness was there, at the scene and at home in Nashville. You just couldn’t find him.”

“And you violated the discovery rule?”

“It’s a bad rule and you know it. We learned that in law school. It protects lazy lawyers.”

“I resent that, Jake.”

Noose raised both hands and settled things down. He rubbed his jaw and after some serious thinking said, “Well, obviously, we cannot proceed today, not with such an important witness out