Old fashioned

Bret sinks back down into his chair, knowing he’d been foolish and feeling stupid for it, though still angry at the situation.

Feeling the touch to his leg, he sees Charlotte withdraw her hand, reveling the coin. He quirks an eyebrow, somehow a slight sense of humor entering in. He obeys Angelica and remains quiet, biting his tongue from further outbursts.

Listening to Charlotte speak, Bret has to admit he’s impressed. She held herself well in the courtroom with the same confidence she showed otherwise. The flirtatious spark wasn’t here, but the fire was, and it grabbed his attention. His eyes shift to the judge, watching for reactions.

As Charlotte concludes, the judge spends what seems like an eternity, contemplating the case.

“You’re Honor…”

The judge holds up his hand to cut off the prosecutor. “I’ve heard enough.” Shifting through some papers and reviewing more evidence, he finally looks at the lawyers present, and at Bret. “Many times, in cases of accidents, someone is to blame. Whether it was due to negligence or stupidity.”

He pauses, shaking his head. “In this case we’ve got three different sides. We’ve got an individual being blamed, a company being blamed, and an office that threw out an accusation before they could be blamed.” He shakes his head again. “This has been handled backward from the beginning – it’s obvious that the surveyor’s office jumped the gun because they knew they should be the guilty party.”

Thinking for several more moments he finally nods. “This was a tragic accident where someone died. But as Miss Lockheart pointed out – there was slim chance that those caves could have been discovered. As such, I can’t see that Titan Inc. can be blamed either. For that matter, if discovery of the caves were impossible before a cave-in, then how can the surveyors even be blamed?”

The judge gives a sigh. “My ruling is for the best interests of all involved, and I hope that this does not happen again. In the future I hope to never have such a tangled and backward case on my desk again. This case is dismissed.”

…Bret takes his eyes off the ground to look up at both Angelica and Charlotte as they reach the vehicles parked out front. “Thank you…both… I apologize for my outburst. I couldn’t have gotten away with this without you two.”


Scott gives a little groan, his face red from embarrassment. Taking Katie’s hand, he picks himself up off the floor. “Yeah, handsome alright… I made a handsome mess, that’s for sure.”

He bends over to start picking up some of the papers, and retrieves the phone to put it back. Pausing, he tilts his head, tossing Katie a smile. “And good morning to you too. I was going to come see if you wanted to do lunch today.” The tone of his voice indicates that he wants to talk to her, and he knows that the subject on his mind would be obvious. He didn’t want to pressure her, but she’d said a day and he wasn’t about to neglect asking her again.


Jason grins a little at Nate’s enthusiasm. “I thought you might like this. The only drawback is that I have to win.”

His eyes show the humor that he isn’t releasing. “I’m on a case to take down an underground racket of street fighting. Local cops have been unsuccessful in finding them and taking them down. I figure to go in the old fashioned way.”

Moving around to the cubicle opening, he leans on the wall, explaining what he’d already planned out in his mind. “They’ve already got some names of some rough guys that frequent a bar downtown. The cops are pretty sure they’re involved in the racket. What I’d like to do is give them a nice show. I’ll head down, spend some time there, then you show up. We get in a nice brawl and I show off enough to catch someone’s eye. Throw a few comments around and see if it’ll get me an invitation to a real fight. After that, I’m in. I figure having a partner would be good for this, and I’m thinking about Misty. She knows the rough side of things, and would be better cover than a second man.”

Jason pauses, trying to think if he left anything out. “So…what are you plans for tonight?”