Simone pulled out a document. "I have here your timecard from September 15th, showing you clocked out at 11:30 p.m. Can you explain how you saw someone at 11:45 when you weren't on the premises?"
"Objection!" Hale stood. "This document wasn't provided in discovery."
"Because the prosecution didn't provide Mr. Morrison's employment records as requested," Simone countered. "We obtained them through a subpoena last week."
Kessler scowled. "Approach the bench, both of you."
Simone walked forward, intensely aware of how young she must look next to Victoria Hale's polished professionalism.
"Miss Johnson," Kessler practically spat her name, "I won't have you playing games in my courtroom! This kind of ambush—"
"Your Honor," Simone interrupted, immediately regretting it as Kessler's face darkened, "the prosecution failed to provide requested documents. We followed proper procedure to obtain them independently under Rule 37—"
"Don't quote rules to me, young lady! I've been practicing law since before your parents were born."
"Then you know I'm right," Simone said quietly, holding his gaze.
The silence stretched for a moment before Kessler growled, "I'll allow it. But watch yourself, Miss Johnson. My patience has limits."
Back at the podium, Simone pressed on. "Mr. Morrison, would you like to revise your testimony about the time?"
The security guard glanced at Victoria Hale, who was writing furiously on a legal pad. "I might have been mistaken about the exact time."
"Might have been?" Simone pushed. "Just like you might have been mistaken when you claimed to definitely identify someone in conditions you previously described as 'too dark to see clearly'?"
"Objection! Argumentative!"
"Sustained." Kessler's tone could have frozen water. "Miss Johnson, conduct yourself properly, or this cross-examination is over."