She wanted to march across the well and punch him in the nose. It’d be nice to make a lawyer bleed—especially that one.
Memories assailed her of all the lawyers through the years, those working for the state, who wanted her to keep trying foster homes instead of living with her aging great-aunt, until Aunt Mae was the only option. They’d kept her from happiness.
Damn lawyers.
The judge whispered something to the two attorneys, then everybody dispersed as if they’d been in a huddle and called, “Go team.” She failed to read Scott’s expression as he returned to his seat behind the table. His tailored suit gave him the look of a model—one too smooth for her taste.
She liked broad shoulders and muscle. Period.
“Now, as I was saying,” the attorney for Mr. Dearth started. Named Lorraine Balbit, her style exhibited smoothness and calculation. Millie could normally anticipate the direction of an argument, so she tried to trace the pattern of the questions. It didn’t bode well for her.
Lorraine cleared her throat. “So again, you snuck into Werner Dearth’s place of business to spy on him for Julie Dearth and the government, correct?”
Millie swallowed. “No.”
Lorraine stepped back. “Wait a minute. You do work for the government, do you not?”
“Yes,” Millie said. She might lose her job, but she was not going to commit perjury.
“So why were you dressed as an air conditioning repair person on the day in question?” The lawyer pointed to a screen that showed a picture from the bank’s security cameras of Millie in her bulky uniform.
There was no way out of this. “I’m sorry,” Millie said, “but I am not cleared to speak about an ongoing investigation.” In the audience, Rutherford dropped his head to his hand.
“Ongoing investigation?” The lawyer pounced. “Please tell me more.”
“I just said that I couldn’t,” Millie said evenly. She’d never forgive Scott for this.
Lorraine looked at her client, then back at Millie. “Is the bank under investigation…or is my client being targeted?”
“Again, I do not have clearance to speak about an ongoing investigation,” Millie said.
Scott stood. “Objection, your honor. The defense is going beyond the scope of direct examination. The witness was subpoenaed to testify as to what she personally witnessed, more specifically that she saw the defendant engaging in oral sex with his secretary, in clear violation of the prenuptial agreement. Period.”
Oh, Millie never should have said a word to that asshat about what she’d seen.
“My client denies the slanderous accusation, and has a right to understand the reason for the witness’s presence in his building, and more importantly, why she’d lie for the plaintiff’s attorney.” The lawyer tapped very red nails on her lip. “My questioning directs toward bias.”
“Objection overruled,” the judge said, sounding bored.
Lorraine smiled. “Let’s see here, then. So we know from your earlier testimony, Agent Frost, that you work for the HDD.”
“Yes,” Millie said.
“And you’ve been known to work with Angus Force and his team, have you not?”
Millie didn’t like where this was going. “Yes, I have worked with many teams during my time with the HDD.”
“Many teams. How old are you?” Lorraine asked, her tone mocking.
“I’m twenty-nine.” She appeared younger than her years, but she figured someday that would be an advantage. Right now, it didn’t seem to be.
The attorney reached for a file and click-clacked on her four-inch heels across the well of the room. “Isn’t it true that the attorney for the plaintiff has also worked with Angus Force, and what I understand is informally called his Deep Ops team?”
“I believe so,” Millie said.
The lawyer looked up at the judge and then down at Millie as if she couldn’t believe it. “So you’re telling us that you and the plaintiff’s attorney were not working together in order to entrap my client or, to put it rather more bluntly, blackmail my client into relinquishing his rightful share of property in this divorce?”
“I’m not working, and I have not worked, with the plaintiff’s attorney in pursuit of this divorce case.” Even the judge displayed a frown.
