Fall and Rise

Chapter 22: At the Hearing

A/N: still remember that I'm not good with Court terminology. So correct me if I'm wrong.

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John clicked on the remote control and stopped the CCTV footage of David going to the pharmacy, playing on the screen in the courtroom. He then turned to the judge with a serious face.

"Now, Your Honour, I have a few questions," he announced firmly and raised a few printed pages up. "The defendant has clearly indicated that my client has signed the power of attorney that gives all of his wealth to Mr. Shepherd and Miss Sanders in a meeting held the exact day that this footage has been recorded and at the exact time."

He paused a moment before continuing. "So how come my client was not in that important meeting? Besides the fact that it is so out of mind to imagine Mr. Miller giving his whole fortune to one of his personnel without any relations, is it not odd that he was not present in such an important meeting for more than 45 minutes?"

"Objections!" yelled Carson.

This time, even David let a small smirk show on his face at seeing Carson's frustrated red face. Carson couldn't find a way out of it. He was for sure trapped.

"Mr. Miller was not feeling well that day because of all of the stress he was carrying so he went to buy medicine while I explained things to Mr. Shepherd and Miss Sanders."

"So why did you explicitly write in the first report that Mr. Miller had been present the whole time in that meeting?" yelled John above Carson's yelling. "Do you say your law firm had made such a big mistake in presenting the reports?"

"Please respect the order of the meeting." the judge slammed his gavel a few times before turning to Carson. "Objection overruled."

Carson huffed in annoyance and leaned back into his seat angrily. The judge then turned to John. "Do you have more evidence, Mr. Samuels?"

"I now want to summon a fact witness, your honor." he said and turned to Annie. "I summon Miss, Annabell Davis to the stand of witness."

Soon Annie sat on the witness seat and did the oath-taking process before John began his questioning which was mainly about introducing her and about David and his schedule and if she knew anything about such an important meeting.

"So Miss. Davis, you say if Mr. Miller had such an important meeting he should have informed you about it? Even if the meeting sounds so personal?" asked John after a few 

"Yes, sir." nodded Annie firmly. "Mr. Miller always asked me to schedule all of his meetings from personal to official because of his tight and always busy schedule. He wouldn't remember all of his meetings and so wasn't able to do something without me scheduling all of his days. He would even schedule his dates with me. He was kinda clumsy for managing his timetables."

"And you didn't know anything about the supposed meeting?" asked John.

"No, not at all."

"Great. Only one more question, Miss." said John, walking closer to Annie and talking loudly so everyone could hear him. "You were Mr. Miller's PA for two years. Have you seen any friendly relationship between Mr. Miller and Mr. Shepherd? Have their meetings increased in the last few months before the incident?"

"Not at all." Annie shook her head. "All of Mr. Miller's schedules have been documented by me and saved in an outsourced database. You should be able to find at least the last six months' reports if they have not been deleted. Besides I have never seen Mr. Miller talking with Mr. Shepherd out of companies financial matters that would be weekly or even monthly meetings with other managers. I don't think they were friends by any means."