The amount is substantial. Litigation has risk. Staying with us may create additional delays while Voss keeps pursuing disqualification. And if I change lawyers, you may reduce that particular issue. But I also give up discovery.
Yes. And the sealed case under the proposed terms effectively. Yes. Harold looked down at the letter for several seconds. No one spoke.
Then he folded it once. When I worked at Apex, people learn to make bad decisions sound reasonable. They never told you to ignore something. They told you it was too expensive to examine. They never told you to stay quiet.
They told you speaking would damage the company. Maya listened. Harold placed the letter on the table. If I take this because things have become uncomfortable, then Voss gets to say the problem was solved. Denise said, "Comfort isn't always surrender. " "I know. " Harold looked at Maya.
"But if I trade the truth for comfort now, they'll call comfort the truth later. " Maya nodded. "So your answer is no? My answer is that I keep the lawyers I hired, and we keep asking for the records we were asking for before Mercer ever appeared. " Lena collected the letter. We'll notify Voss. Harold stood before leaving.
He looked back at Maya. They want you worried about your license, your clients, your name, everything you spent years building. Maya said nothing. Harold continued. Make sure you remember what they're trying to stop you from looking at.
After he left, Denise closed the conference room door. He's right about one thing. Maya looked at her. All of this started because someone knew that case was coming. Lena opened her laptop and Keane still hasn't told us who gave him the original warning.
Maya pulled Mercer's report closer. Then that's where we go next. By the end of the week, no one had openly ordered Williams, Carter, and Brooks to leave the Bennett case. Instead, the pressure had reached their clients, their reputation, and their professional standing. Maya understood the strategy. if they could not be forced out.
Someone was trying to make staying expensive enough that leaving would begin to look reasonable. Lena found the original security alert in a records production that arrived the following Monday. She called Maya and Denise into the conference room and placed a single printed email on the table. This is the earliest version I can find. Maya read the subject line first.
Potential unauthorized transfer Bennett matter. The message had been sent to Deputy Chief Keane the day before the courthouse incident. Most of the sender information had been redacted, but the text referred to a possible transfer of internal material connected to Harold Bennett's litigation. Denise read it carefully. Where is the emergency?
There isn't one, Lena said. No threat to the courthouse? No. No report of stolen property? No.
Maya looked at the attached records. What else did the department produce? Lena opened a second document. There was no emergency call, no request from Judge Price, no alert from the clerk's office, and no courthouse security report identifying us as a threat. Denise pointed toward the email.
Then this is what started it. It appears to be. Maya read the message again. The wording was cautious. It did not accuse anyone of a crime.
It simply warned that material related to Bennett might be transferred directly to council and described the transfer as potentially unauthorized. Who sent it? Maya asked. The department redacted the name as a confidential source. Can we identify the organization?
Lena turned the page. The domain was partially preserved in the metadata. Nolan traced the mail routing. It came from a private investigation firm. Denise's expression changed.
The same firm Simon had worked for. No, different company. Who hired them? Lena looked at Maya before answering. Outside council working for Apex Meridian.
Denise leaned back. So Voss knew. Maya did not answer immediately. Knowing about the possible transfer did not prove that Voss had arranged the delivery. In fact, the information pointed in the opposite direction.
If his team knew material might leave Apex, they may have been trying to stop it," Maya said. Denise nodded toward the email by calling Keane. "Possibly," Lena pulled another record from the file. "This was created later that evening. It was an internal police advisory issued under Keane's authority.
The advisory instructed courthouse personnel to monitor for three women expected to arrive in connection with the Bennett matter. It included basic physical descriptions and referenced a sealed charcoal colored case that might contain unauthorized corporate material. Maya read the description twice. He knew the color. Yes, he knew there would be three of us.
Yes. And this was issued before Simon handed me anything. Yes. Denise tapped the page. Mercer wasn't reacting to a suspicious package.
He was waiting for a specific delivery. Lena nodded. His assignment record confirms he was moved to courthouse coverage that morning. Maya looked at her. Was that his normal post?
No. The room became quiet. The information changed the structure of the incident. Mercer had not seen three women carrying an unknown case and decided to investigate. He had arrived with enough information to identify them and the container before either appeared.
What exactly was Mercer told to do? Maya asked. Lena opened the assignment note. Observe the subjects. Prevent unauthorized material from entering secure court areas.
Document any refusal to comply with lawful security instructions. Denise read the final sentence. Document any refusal. Yes, that explains why he kept trying to make us say no. Maya remembered the exchange outside the courthouse.
Mercer had repeatedly framed questions as refusals and requests for legal authority as interference. He needed conduct he could describe, she said. Denise looked at her, so they planned the obstruction charge. Not necessarily. Denise frowned.
Maya pointed to the assignment note. This does not tell Mercer to fabricate anything. It tells him to document refusal. That distinction matters. Keane knew what would happen.
Maybe. But we prove what the record supports, not what we assume. Lena agreed. Mercer may have taken an aggressive instruction and pushed it farther on his own. Maya stood and walked to the whiteboard.
She wrote the sequence in order. Possible internal leak. Apex outside council learns about it. Private investigator alerts Keane. Keane issues courthouse advisory.