“I was aware of an incident that resulted in his suspension, if that’s what you’re referencing.”
“What was that incident?”
“Aaron was accused by a teacher of cheating on a test. It led to a confrontation in which he pushed the teacher. He was suspended for four weeks, I believe.”
“And when you approached Tidalwaiv, were you not trying to determine whether that violent incident came before or after he initially downloaded the Clair app?”
“That would have been one of a number of things I was interested in.”
“And when you were able to access his devices, did you learn that Aaron Colton downloaded the Clair appafterthatviolentincident involving his teacher?”
“I don’t know if I would describe the incident as violent, but yes, it occurred before he started using the Clair app.”
“If it got him suspended, how else would you describe the incident other than violent?”
“It was a push. I talked to the teacher after I learned about it and she did not use the wordviolentto describe it.”
It might have been a tiff about semantics, but it was a skillful opening to Mason’s cross-examination. He scored points right away, and I confirmed this as I watched the jurors lean in during the back-and-forth with Clarke. Mason also revealed what the defense strategy was likely going to be: Blame the killer. Establish that Aaron Colton was violent before he ever met the AI companion he called Wren.
It was the already-on-the-path-to-destruction defense. And now that I’d seen the direction Mason was going, I would be ready for it.
Mason kept Clarke on the stand for nearly two hours, but his best points were scored in that opening exchange. Clarke was a veterandetective and experienced witness, primarily in criminal court, where cross-examination was no-holds-barred and confrontational. He held his own and didn’t give Mason any further ammunition.
But what Mason did accomplish with his lengthy cross, whether knowingly or not, was the disruption of the rollout of my case. My plan had been to use Detective Clarke as the starting point, then move into the emotional wave of testimony by the parents whose children had killed or been killed. This would lead to a crescendo of technical, scientific, and psychological testimony from the experts in artificial intelligence about the guardrails that Tidalwaiv should have had in place to protect customers, particularly minors.
But I had a key witness who didn’t want to testify. Who would be doing so reluctantly. By using the morning up, Mason had put me in a corner. If I rolled my case out according to my original plan, there was no way I could get Naomi Kitchens on the stand before the next day or quite possibly—based on Mason’s lengthy cross of Clarke—the day after that.
I couldn’t risk waiting that long with Kitchens teetering on the brink of a meltdown and looking to run away from testifying. I had no choice. I had to reshuffle my cards.
As soon as court was recessed for lunch, I walked into the hallway and called Cisco. When he answered, I could tell by the background noise that he was in a car. I had given him the use of the Lincoln for transporting witnesses during the trial.
“Where are you?”
“We’re five out.”
“Is the daughter with you?”
“Yes, she’s here.”
“Redirect to the Redbird for lunch. I’ll meet you there. Naomi testifies after lunch.”
“What?”
“I’ll explain why later. Don’t tell Naomi. I will. Just get to the Redbird and I’ll meet you all there.”
I disconnected and turned to find Lorna standing in the hallway.
“You have to edit the PowerPoint,” I said. “I’m putting Naomi on the stand next.”
33
MY EYES WEREon Marcus Mason when the judge told me to call my next witness. When I said the name Naomi Kitchens, he leaned back in his chair as though he were dodging a roundhouse punch at his chin. He was clearly surprised, but I realized I couldn’t tell if that was because he wasn’t expecting the former ethicist to be my next witness or because he wasn’t expecting her to testify at all. The latter would have confirmed that he was aware of and had sanctioned the intimidation tactic initiated against her the night before. But when he was finished dodging the invisible punch, his hands immediately went to the stack of files on the defense table, and he went three deep to pull an inch-thick file I assumed contained his prep material on Kitchens.
There was no thicker file in the stack, and the fact that it wasn’t on top told me that Marcus had simply not been expecting Kitchens at this point in the trial. That further suggested that he hadn’t been aware of the events of the night before. This was good, because the move at the hotel had been a critical misstep by whoever was responsible. It had failed to stop Kitchens from testifying, and it was going
to help me avoid being waylaid by whatever was in that fat file Marcus had just pulled out.
After Naomi was sworn in by the court clerk and asked to spell her name for the record, she took the stand and immediately glanced out at the gallery, where her daughter sat next to Cisco. She nodded slightly and steeled herself for what was coming next. At the Redbird we had gone over how it would go from my side of the lectern. It was the defense side that was the unknown. I had told her to find Lily in the gallery and use her as a focal point when things got stressful on the stand.
