Bennett was waiting inside a small conference room with the door shut. She had already contacted the court, requested preservation of the city's relevant systems, and prepared an emergency motion for further disclosure and a hearing outside the jury's presence. A clerk from the information-security office had confirmed that Richard Vance still worked for the city and could be reached through official channels. Bennett handed Elijah a clean copy of the motion and asked him to read it for factual errors.
He studied the first page. It did not accuse Pierce of criminal conduct, and it did not ask the judge to believe Elijah's analysis simply because he had worked harder than anyone else. It identified a specific late-produced email, an absent diagnostic attachment, and a conflict with testimony already presented to the jury. It requested time to authenticate the records and determine whether the government's presentation had been materially misleading.
"You're being careful," Elijah said.
"I am being dangerous," Bennett replied. "Careful is how you become dangerous in a courtroom without getting yourself thrown out of it."
She smiled for the first time he could remember. Then she grew serious and told him another fact: the state had listed no cybersecurity specialist among its expected witnesses. Keene was a forensic accountant who could trace money, not a technician who had examined the terminal. If Vance's report was confirmed, it could undercut the foundation of the prosecution's narrative in a way Pierce had not prepared the jury to understand.
Sarah arrived with the court officer shortly before the scheduled session. She wore the same navy cardigan she had worn throughout the trial and looked as though sleep had abandoned her entirely. Elijah stood when he saw her, then stopped because he did not want to appear unusually confident in front of the prosecutor's aides. He took her hand and told her he had found something important, but the court still needed to review it.
"Is it good?" she asked.
"I think it is," he answered. "I won't lie to you about the rest."
She searched his face. Then she squeezed his fingers and told him she preferred the truth, even when it arrived without a guarantee. Elijah remembered the words long afterward, because he had been about to go into a hearing where the entire case might turn on whether other people had been willing to say the same thing.
Pierce entered carrying two folders and wearing a cream-colored blouse beneath her jacket. She looked tired but pleased, the expression of someone who expected to finish a difficult assignment before lunch. When Bennett handed her the emergency motion, the change in her face lasted less than a second. Her hand stopped at the corner of the page where Richard Vance's name appeared.
"More computer speculation?" Pierce said. "The court has already ruled on this."
Bennett did not answer the insult. "This is a disclosure and evidence-preservation issue, Ms. Pierce. I recommend you read the attachments before court convenes."