“Uh, both people and cameras,” Mason said.
“Did you put a camera inside Mr. Patel’s house?” Ruhlin pressed.
“No, Your Honor,” Mason said quickly. “Of course not. Never.”
“Your Honor?” I asked.
“Not yet, Mr. Haller,” Ruhlin said. “Then, Mr. Mason, how did you accomplish your surveillance of Mr. Patel to the extent that you knew that his death was being investigated as a suicide?”
“Judge, we had a camera outside the house that recorded audio. It was not on his property. It was on a utility pole on public property. It picked up some of what the investigators discussed outside the house, and that information was forwarded to me. It was not illegal, and some might call it good lawyering.”
He threw my condescending look right back at me.
“I received the information just moments before the hearing began,” Mason said. “I would have brought the situation to the court’s attention at the start, but Mr. Haller jumped in before I could.”
The judge did another twiddle with the pen as she thought about everything she had just heard.
“Your Honor?” I tried again.
“Go ahead, Mr. Haller,” Ruhlin responded impatiently.
“Thank you. Your Honor, I would like opposing counsel to put on the record whether his firm or anyone working for his firm has me or anyone on my staff under similar surveillance.”
“That’s an outrageous claim, Your Honor,” Mason said angrily. “Tidalwaiv had every right to put a disgruntled and volatile ex-employee under surveillance for safety reasons alone. Mr. Haller is using this perfectly legitimate business practice to try to impugn opposing counsel.”
“That is a lot of words, Mr. Mason,” Ruhlin said. “But I did not hear you say that you do not have Mr. Haller or any of his staff under surveillance.”
“Sorry, Your Honor, I’m just very worked up,” Mason said. “The answer is no, we do not have Mr. Haller or any of his staff, or his client, for that matter, under surveillance of any kind. Period.”
“What about before this meeting?” I asked. “Have you been watching me or my investigator?”
“We have not,” Mason said. “There. It’s on the record.”
“Any other questions, Mr. Haller?” Ruhlin asked.
“I would like the record to reflect that the man Mr. Mason calls a disgruntled and volatile ex-employee, I would term a whistleblower,” I said. “But no, no other questions, Your Honor.”
I knew from Ruhlin’s countenance that I did not have to press the outrage button. She would handle that.
“Very well,” she said. “Gentlemen, I find the tactics and behaviors you exhibited outside the courtroom troubling and below the dignity of the court. I am putting both parties on notice that I will have little patience and show little sympathy should any of you or those working for you violate the law or the decorum of the US district court. That includes feeding the media unfounded claims or misinformation. This is not a street fight, gentlemen, and I do mean gentlemen. Be warned — conduct yourselves accordingly.”
Ruhlin got a chorus of Yes, Your Honors from the Masons and me. She then said the hearing was adjourned and dismissed us. We left silently and in single file behind the stenographer and headed back to the courtroom. I was last in line behind Marcus Mason.
“You looked a little stressed in there, Marcus,” I said to his back. “How’re you holding up?”
He didn’t turn around to look at me when he spoke.
“Fuck you, Haller,” he said.
“You sure that bow tie isn’t on too tight?” I said. “You don’t want to be cutting off blood flow to the brain. That’s not good.”
Now he stopped and turned. I almost walked into him.
“You know what you are, Haller?” he asked.
“I have a feeling you’re going to give me your take,” I said.
“You’re an asshole,” he said. “So fuck off.”
I smiled at him until he turned and went to catch up to the others.
9
When Cisco and I got back to the warehouse, I pulled the Bolt into one of the garage bays and lowered the door behind us.
“Cisco, you got your magic wand with you?” I asked.
“In one of my saddlebags,” he said.
The magic wand was a bug detector that picked up magnetic-field and radio-frequency signals.
“I want you to sweep the car and your Harley,” I said. “Then do the whole warehouse.”
“You think Marcus was lying to the judge about surveillance?” Cisco asked.
On the drive from the courthouse I had filled him in on what had been discussed in Judge Ruhlin’s chambers.
“I’m just not taking chances,” I said. “Mason spoke for himself and his firm. That doesn’t mean Tidalwaiv isn’t up to some shit.”
“Right,” Cisco said. “I’m on it.”
“And let’s cut the feeds on the cameras outside the cage. I know you won’t be able to watch Lorna and McEvoy, but too bad. She deserves your trust anyway.”
“I know. I know she does. What about the Wi-Fi in your office?”
“We’ll need that. But let’s turn it off until we do.”
“You got it.”
McEvoy had left the courtroom when I was called into chambers. I could see him already back in the cage. I first went to my office to check in with Lorna and put my jacket on a hook. She was in my seat at the desk, staring at the screen of her laptop. As I stripped off my tie, I came around the desk and saw that she was watching a news feed from KTLA Channel 5 and had her earbuds in.
“What’s up, Lorna?” I asked loudly.
She pulled out one of the earbuds.
“We’ve got some strong Santa Ana winds coming tomorrow,” she said. “They’re saying up to a hundred miles an hour.”
“No way,” I said. “That’s hurricane wind.”
“I know, but it’s what they’re saying. You want your desk?”
“No, I’m going to go talk to McEvoy.”
I hung my tie over the office’s doorknob.
“Did Cisco come back with you?” Lorna asked.
“Yeah, he’s out there checking my car,” I said.
“What happened?”
“Hopefully nothing. But he’s going to sweep it and the whole warehouse. The Masons knew we were at Patel’s house this morning. They claimed to the judge that they were watching him and not me, but I don’t believe it.”
Lorna, instead of being concerned that our opponents might have us under surveillance, thought about Patel. On our way back from Venice, Cisco had filled her in on our discovery of his death.
“That poor man,” she said. “Taking his own life...”
“If he did,” I said.
“What — you think he was murdered?”
“I don’t think anything until the cops confirm. But we are dealing with a company whose whole future is on the line, Lorna. They lose this case, and Musk, Gates, Zuckerberg — none of those guys will want to touch them. That makes it desperate times, and anything is possible. My advice is to look over your shoulder wherever you go until this is finished.”
“That’s not very comforting.”
“It is what it is. Stay close to Cisco.”
“I will.”
“Oh, and how are you doing with McEvoy?”
“Fine. He’s fine. Why? Are you thinking he’s a plant or something? I thought Cisco checked him out.”
“He did, so I’m not thinking anything. But right now, he’s in the cage by himself and is privy to every move we make. I’ll feel a lot better when it’s not a one-way street and he starts producing things we can use. I’m going to go check on him. You can keep the desk.”
I left the office and went through the copper curtain into the cage. McEvoy was at the computer terminal. I was too far away to see what he had on the screen.