(𝟝𝟘𝟝) 𝟝𝟘𝟛 𝟜𝟜𝟝𝟝 ～ 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘚𝘢𝘶𝘭

11.ii - "The Verdict Is..."

An hour and a half later...

Geneva walks back to her seat at the defendant's table with clenched fists and tensed muscles. The prosecution had grilled her on witness stand during the current cross-examination, claiming that she had nothing but bad intentions towards Professor Jansen Bilby.

They poked at the fact that she had a few non-official visits and time passes with the professor, completely platonic and only for her own gain of his understanding and expertise, but they posed it as being something scandalous and far more suspicious than it would have been. They linked it to the nervous demeanour Geneva portrayed in the fairly high-definition security footage.

"Who the hell do they think I am?!" She whispers furiously to her lawyer and he looks at her quickly.

"It's alright, they're getting to the dirty work right now because they have nothing to save themselves with," Saul answers back quietly and Geneva sighs.

The lawyer stands up and smiles, "I'd like to call the Professor himself to the witness stand."

Moments later, the 'witness' was seated down and Saul analyses him before organising the points he'll play out in his mind.

"So Professor Bilby, how are you doing today?" Saul asks as he runs a hand through his combed hair.

Jansen rolls his eyes, "Just get this over with Goodman."

"Alright, alright but don't hold it against me about not being considerate," He holds his hands out in defence then clears his throat, "How did you acquire the lovely house you live in?"

"I worked for it, my business practices have rewarded me with a high amount of income flow."

"And what are those business practices exactly?"

"Uh, I'm the founder of 'AltLife', an organisation that engineers and researching into alternate power sources and appliances that are energy efficient," The professor answers then shakes his head, "I'm sorry, how does this link to the case?"

"It has EVERYTHING to do with the case, don't you see?" Saul says then turns to the judge and jury, "AltLife has been having a tough time for the past couple of months. It's losing out on customers, people in the end have turned to the appliances they know well and which are cheap to come by."

"I still don't-"

"You have been up to some pretty interesting business dealings lately. While you try to alter energy usage and life, you've been altering your business environment, correct me if I'm wrong professor?" Saul pokes and raises an eyebrow.

The professor doesn't say a word and Saul looks to his shoes briefly to clear his mind. "You've got a family Professor?" He asks.

"Yes a wife and daughter."

"How's your daughter doing? She's not well right, something about her bones I've heard?" Saul questions and Jansen tenses up.

"Don't bring my diaghter into this," He warns and Saul shrugs his shoulders.

"I'm sorry but I have to. She has everything to do with this whole deal and she's the reason you signed up to the framing stunt my client is accused of for stealing one of your priceless artifacts, which is frankly absurd since she has no holding of any such item at her home-"