Elijah listened with his hands folded in his lap. The same expert who had once sounded certain that his mother belonged at the center of a criminal conspiracy was now describing important limits on his own conclusions. That did not make Keene a villain; it made the incomplete information he had been given impossible to ignore. The truth was becoming less dramatic and more convincing at the same time.
When Mercer introduced the internal email archive, Harrison examined its authentication record. The file showed that the diagnostic report had reached the prosecutor's office through the secure portal and that its contents had been opened by an authorized account associated with Pierce's case team. A separate message instructed the liaison to describe the report as preliminary and avoid revising the exhibit summary before trial. The instruction did not explicitly say to hide the document, but it came after a request to disclose the technical findings to the defense.
Pierce's attorney, Philip Arden, objected to any inference that she had acted deliberately. He said prosecutors often receive tentative technical theories that turn out to be wrong and that an email's arrival in an office did not establish who read it. Harrison agreed that intent required evidence rather than assumption. He also noted that the record now included Pierce's own response acknowledging the security concern and asking whether it could be addressed without weakening the prosecution's principal exhibit.
The courtroom seemed to grow smaller. The judge asked whether Pierce would testify at the misconduct hearing or assert whatever legal protections her counsel considered appropriate. Arden requested a recess. When they returned, he announced that Pierce would answer limited questions concerning the disclosure process but reserved her rights with respect to any potential criminal inquiry.
Elijah leaned toward Bennett. "Can we call her?" he whispered.
Bennett looked at the judge's order and considered the situation. "If the court permits it, I'm the one who will examine her. You can help me select the documents." She paused, then added, "This is where you wanted to get. Don't ruin it by forgetting who's allowed to ask."
When Harrison asked the parties for their next witness, Bennett rose. "Your Honor, the defense requests that Dana Pierce be called for the limited purposes of this disclosure hearing. We have an authenticated communication addressed to her office and a response sent under her name. The question of her knowledge is now central to the court's inquiry."
The request passed through the room like a current. Elijah watched Pierce's face rather than the reporters, and for a moment he saw the precise expression that had haunted his imagination since her public mockery. She looked surprised that the proceeding could be directed toward her instead of toward the woman she had accused. Then the surprise vanished behind professional stillness.