Mickey Haller 4 - The Fifth Witness

question.
    “I didn’t graduate because I was expelled.”
    “For what?”
    “Cheating. I hacked into a teacher’s computer and downloaded an exam the night before it was given.”
    Driscoll said it with an almost bored tone to his voice. Like he knew this was going to come out. I knew this was in his background. I told him that if it came out he had only one choice, to be absolutely honest. Otherwise, he would be inviting disaster.
    “So you are a cheater and a thief, correct?”
    “I was, and that was more than ten years ago. I don’t cheat anymore. There’s nothing to cheat for.”
    “Really? And what about stealing?”
    “Same thing. I don’t steal.”
    “Isn’t it true that your employment at ALOFT was severed abruptly when it was discovered that you were systematically stealing from the company?”
    “That is a lie. I told them I was quitting and then they canned me.”
    “Aren’t you the one who is lying here?”
    “No, I’m telling the truth. You think I could just make this stuff up?”
    Driscoll made a desperate glance toward me and I wished he hadn’t. It could be interpreted as collusion between us. Driscoll was on his own up there. I couldn’t help him.
    “As a matter of fact I do, Mr. Driscoll,” Freeman said. “Isn’t it true that you had quite a little business for yourself running out of ALOFT?”
    “No.”
    Driscoll demonstrably shook his head in support of his denial. I read him as lying right there and I realized I was in deep trouble. The severance package, I thought. The year’s pay. They don’t fire people and give them a year’s pay if they’ve been stealing. Bring up the severance package!
    “Were you not using ALOFT as a front to order expensive software, then break the security codes and sell bootleg copies over the Internet?”
    “That’s not true. I knew this would happen if I told anyone what I know.”
    This time he did more than look at me. He pointed at me.
    “I told you this would happen. I told you these people don’t—”
    “Mr. Driscoll!” the judge boomed. “You answer the question posed to you by counsel. You do not talk to defense counsel or anyone else.”
    Trying to keep her momentum, Freeman swooped in for the kill.
    “Your Honor, may I approach the witness with a document?”
    “You may. Are you going to mark it?”
    “People’s Exhibit Nine, Your Honor.”
    She had copies for everybody. I leaned close to Aronson so we could read it together. It was a copy of an internal investigation report from ALOFT.
    “Did you know about any of this?” Aronson whispered.
    “Of course not,” I whispered back.
    I leaned forward to focus on the examination. I didn’t want a first-year lawyer tsk-tsking me over a gigantic vetting failure.
    “What is that document, Mr. Driscoll?” Freeman asked.
    “I don’t know,” the witness responded. “I’ve never seen it before.”
    “It is an internal investigation summary from ALOFT, isn’t it?”
    “If you say so.”
    “When is it dated?”
    “February first.”
    “That was your last day of work at ALOFT, wasn’t it?”
    “Yes, it was. That morning I gave my supervisor two weeks’ notice and then they erased my login and fired me.”
    “For cause.”
    “For no cause. Why do you think they gave me the big check at the door? I knew things and they were trying to shut me up.”
    Freeman looked up at the judge.
    “Your Honor, could you instruct the witness to refrain from answering my questions with his own questions.”
    Perry nodded.
    “The witness will answer questions, not pose them.”
    It didn’t matter, I thought. He had gotten it out there.
    “Mr. Driscoll, could you please read the paragraph of the report I have highlighted in yellow?”
    I objected, stating that the report was not in evidence. The judge overruled, allowing the reading to proceed subject to a later evidentiary ruling.
    Driscoll read the paragraph to himself and then shook his head.
    “Out loud, Mr. Driscoll,” the judge prompted.
    “But this is all complete lies. This is what they do to—”
    “Mr. Driscoll,” the judge intoned grumpily. “Read the paragraph aloud, please.”
    Driscoll hesitated one last time and then finally read.
    “ ‘The employee admitted that he had purchased the software packages with a company requisition and then returned them after copying the copyrighted materials. The employee admitted he has been selling counterfeit copies of the software over the Internet, using company