I'm careful. There's a difference. What's the difference? Nervous is about what might go wrong. Emily said, "Careful is about making sure the thing that needs to happen actually happens."
She sat down her papers. "I've been careful about this for 6 weeks. I've checked everything twice. I've found the pieces. Now I just have to put them in front of the right people in the right order.
And if Ryan has a good lawyer who blocks you. Ryan's lawyer is good at protecting Ryan from questions about Ryan. Emily said, he's not prepared for questions about Daniel Cho because nobody has publicly connected those two yet except us. Ryan doesn't know what we have. Marcus looked at her steadily.
You're sure? The blog post is 4 years old and buried under hundreds of subsequent entries. Ryan has no reason to think anyone found it. She paused. People who frame other people always assume the framed person is too easy a target to dig out of it.
They assume that a man with tattoos in a Hell's Angel's past sits in a courtroom and the jury just agrees. They don't plan for the variable they can't control. What variable? Emily looked at him. The person who loves him enough to look harder than anyone else, she said.
The words landed quietly. Marcus sat down a sandwich. He didn't say anything for a moment. Then I looked for you for two days after that first night after I helped you get into the shelter. I kept thinking about you sitting in there wondering if anyone was going to actually follow through.
Emily was very still. I know, she said softly. I went back because I couldn't not go back, he said. It wasn't a decision I made. It was just something I couldn't walk away from.
Emily nodded slowly. I know that too. I want you to know that nothing that's happened in this courtroom changes how I see what you're doing. Marcus said, even if today doesn't go the way we need it to, even if the records don't. They will, Emily said firmly.
Emily, they will, she repeated. And the certainty in her voice was not bravado. It was not performance. It was the specific quiet confidence of someone who has done the work and knows what the work shows. I need you to trust me.
Not because you're my father and I'm your daughter and we love each other. Trust me because I am telling you that I have the evidence. I know how to use it and I am not going to let anyone take you away from me over a lie. The room was quiet. Marcus nodded once.
Okay, he said. Okay, she said. She picked up her papers. Ryan Mitchell was recalled to the stand at 1:53 in the afternoon. He had a lawyer with him now, now a compact, sharp-faced man named Victor Slade, who sat in the gallery directly behind Ryan's sighteline positioned so Ryan could find him with a glance if he needed grounding.
Ryan settled into the witness chair with the same surface confidence as before. But Marcus, watching from the defense table, could see something different underneath it. A slight tightness around the eyes, the way his hands rested on the arms of the chair with the deliberate calm of someone who had practiced looking relaxed. He was prepared. He just didn't know for what.
Emily approached the stand with the climate tech records in her hand. Mr. Mitchell, she said, I'm going to show you a document that was admitted into evidence this morning. It's an environmental monitoring log from the server room at Meridian Technologies for the night of March 14th. She placed it on the stand in front of him. Can you see that document clearly?
Yes. The log shows 11 door events in a 40-minute window. Does anything about that number concern you? Ryan looked at the document with the careful neutrality of a man who had been told by his lawyer not to appear surprised. I'm not familiar with how this system works.
That's all right. I'll walk you through it. Emily pointed to specific entries. Each notation represents a door opening or closing in the server room. The system records these events using air pressure sensors integrated with the building's HVAC management.
There are 11 events here, but the badge access log shows only one badge scan during this window, my clients. I see that, Ryan said. So, someone or multiple someone's entered and exited that room without using a registered badge. Does that concern you as someone who worked in that facility? Objection, Re said.
Calls for speculation. I'll rephrase, Emily said smoothly. Are you aware of any way to access the server room corridor without a badge scan? Ryan paused. There's a fire exit that can be opened from inside.
From inside, Emily repeated. Meaning someone would have to already be inside the server room to use it. Or the adjacent corridor, which also requires badge access. Ryan nodded carefully. Yes.
Emily set the log down. I'd like to direct your attention to entry 7, 11:54 p.m. The system recorded a floor mat activation, a weight sensor embedded in the entry mat just inside the server room door. The recorded weight is approximately 220 lb. She looked at Ryan directly. How much do you weigh, Mr. Mitchell?