Mercer is reassigned. Simon delivers the sealed case. Mercer stops them. Body camera is manually turned off. Their questions become obstruction in the final report.
Voss files a motion to disqualify them. Denise studied the timeline. If Voss didn't create the case, he took advantage of knowing it was coming. Maya looked at the board. He did more than take advantage.
Lena waited. Maya pointed to the first two events. He couldn't control whether someone inside Apex decided to release records. Then she pointed to the courthouse advisory, but he could influence what happened when those records reached us. Denise understood.
He didn't build the evidence. No. Then what did he build? Maya turned from the board. The reaction to it.
Lena opened Simon Vale's interview notes. He said the woman who gave him the case never mentioned police or courthouse security. That supports the possibility that the delivery itself was legitimate. Maya said. Denise looked toward the evidence photographs of the charcoal case.
Then Elaine may really be the source. Maybe. And Voss learned there was a leak before we did. Yes, Denise stood. So, the real trap starts after Maya accepts the case.
Maya shook her head. The trap starts before that. She pointed to Keane's advisory. They knew we would receive something. They positioned Mercer where the delivery would happen.
Then they gave him instructions designed around refusal, Lena added. And once we asked questions, Mercer created the incident they needed. Maya looked at Mercer's report. The trap wasn't the case. Lena looked at her.
It was us touching it. No, Maya said it was what they planned to write after we did. That afternoon, the firm filed a request seeking communications between Keane, the private investigation firm, and anyone representing Apex Meridian concerning the expected transfer. Voss opposed it almost immediately. His response called the request speculative and accused Maya's firm of using a routine security incident to invade privileged defense communications.
Denise read the filing in Maya's office. He's fighting hard to keep those messages out. He should, Maya said, because they're privileged. Because they may explain why Mercer was waiting. Lena entered with another document.
There's one more thing. She placed Mercer's assignment sheet beside the incident report. The advisory says document any refusal. Mercer's final report says we repeatedly refused lawful commands. Maya looked from one page to the other.
What does his first draft say? Lena opened it, questioned basis for detention. Denise let out a quiet breath. Maya did not react. The sequence was becoming clearer.
A warning had become a police operation. Questions had become refusal. Refusal had become obstruction. Obstruction had become the basis for removing three lawyers from a case. They still did not have every connection, but they no longer needed to guess what the structure looked like.
Someone had known real evidence might be coming. Instead of stopping the evidence directly, they had built a legal problem around the people expected to receive it. The pressure increased before Maya's request for broader communications discovery could be heard. Adrien Voss filed a supplemental brief asking Judge Price to decide the motion to disqualify Williams, Carter, and Brooks before allowing any further inquiry into contacts between Apex Meridian's legal team and the police department. His argument was direct.
The three women were now participants in the courthouse incident, possible witnesses to disputed events and subjects of an ethics complaint. According to Voss, allowing them to continue investigating the circumstances of their own detention would only deepen the conflict. Denise finished reading the filing at the conference table. He wants us removed before we can get the communications. That would solve several problems for him, Lena said.
Maya turned to the final page. He's asking the court to treat Mercer's report as reliable before we're allowed to test how it was created. Denise looked at her. Can Price do that? She can decide the motion whenever she believes the record is sufficient.
And is it not yet? A second development arrived that afternoon. The Riverton Police Department released the conclusion of its preliminary internal review. Sergeant Mercer, the statement said, had acted within department policy based on the security information available to him at the time. The statement acknowledged the body camera interruption, but described it as a separate administrative matter that did not alter the department's assessment of Mercer's conduct, Denise read it from her phone.
They know the camera was manually stopped. "Yes," Lena said, and they still call the detention proper. Maya took the phone and read the statement herself. Keane's name appeared at the bottom. He needs this conclusion in the record before the court hearing.
Denise frowned. You think this is for Price? It's for anyone who needs an official document saying Mercer acted properly. Lena pulled up the first and final versions of Mercer's incident report. And once they have that document, they can say any disagreement is just our interpretation.
Maya did not respond immediately. For the first time since the courthouse incident, the problem was no longer limited to what they could prove. She had to consider what the growing dispute was doing to Harold Bennett's case. That evening, she asked Denise and Lena to remain after the staff had gone home. They sat in Maya's office with the door closed.
I want to discuss replacement counsel. Denise stared at her. For Harold? Yes. No.
Maya expected the response. Hear me out. I heard you. then hear the rest. Denise leaned back but said nothing. Maya continued, "Voss has turned our detention into a disqualification issue, an ethics issue, and now a dispute over police conduct. " Harold's claims are getting buried under questions about us.
That's what Voss wants. I know. So why give it to him? Because our obligation is to Harold, not to proving that Voss is wrong. Lena had remained quiet.
Maya looked at her. If another firm can continue the Bennett case without carrying this conflict into every hearing, we have to consider it. Lena closed the file in front of her. If you leave, Mercer's report becomes true enough for what they needed. Maya's expression changed slightly, Lena continued.
They don't have to prove obstruction. They don't have to prove the case was improper. They only need the incident to create enough difficulty that we remove ourselves. Denise nodded. Then Voss gets the result without ever defending the setup.
Maya looked toward the window. "What if staying hurts Harold? What if leaving hurts him more? " Denise asked. "He already told us what he wants. That doesn't remove our duty to make an independent judgment. " "No, but it matters. " Lena pushed Keane's internal review across the desk.
They positioned Mercer before the delivery. He manually stopped his camera. His report changed afterward. Keane accessed it. Voss filed to remove us.
Now Keane has issued a review saying Mercer acted within policy. She paused. If we step away now, none of those facts have to be tested. Maya looked at the documents spread across her desk. She had spent years telling clients not to confuse persistence with judgment.