"We just have to prove that Simeon is not insane. And even if he is, he is capable of driving, regardless of his disease.”

“Is that possible?” Mr. Schimberg asked.

“Yes, I’ve had a similar case before. And I won that one.”

“Really? Well, that’s good.”

They talked while they waited for their supper.

**************

Next day, Stephen was waiting outside Spaceys’ bungalow, hiding behind a tree waiting for someone to come outside.

Somebody stepped out of the house and Stephen peeked to look closely, it was Simeon. Behind him, he saw someone following him. It was probably a servant. Stephen captured a video with his phone.

The servant held Simeon tightly from behind and his behaviour was quite strange. Stephen whispered to himself:

Oh my God… He really is insane.

Simeon was talking and behaving like a ten year old; Stephen stopped the video capturing and pocketed his cell phone.

A minute later, a car came from inside the house and within a few seconds, Simeon walked towards the car, opened the door, and sat in the driving seat.

Oh no! Stephen uttered taking out his phone from his pocket. The guy that claims to be insane drove away quite fast than normal speed. Stephen yelled angrily:

Damn it…Why couldn’t I capture this? This was my perfect evidence. And I lost the my chance.

Regret engulfed him as he walked away from his hiding place.

**************

Benjamin was sitting in his room when he saw his mother standing outside, looking at him.

“When did you come?”He asked her.

“It’s been a few minutes.”

“Oh.”

“Your father told me about the incident.”

“I know. Thanks for coming,” he answered formally.

“So, this girl…”

“Evelyn.”

“Yes Evelyn, how close were you two?”

“Please just forget about it. I don’t want to talk about this.”

“Why not?” She asked entering inside his room.

“Because you and I were never too close. Because you never really cared about me when I was a child.”

“My dear, I’m a writer. I have a tough career. My profession requires a lot of traveling. I do come and pay a visit after every two months.”

“And yet you hardly talk to me.”

“Look Benjamin, I know that our divorce has been really hard on you. But it was a long time ago. By now you should get over it.”

“I have, dad has been very supportive throughout.”

“Good. I’ll see you later.”

“Okay.”

She left his room. He looked at her go and realised how his real mother never really cared about him and all she ever chose before him was her career.

**************

It was the day of the court hearing, Benjamin was seated next to Stephan on the plaintiff’s table.

“So do you have any strong material evidence today?”Benjamin asked.

Stephen didn’t respond for a while.

“Tell me please, what is your progress for this case today?”He asked again.

“You’ll see, don’t worry about it.”

Benjamin wasn’t satisfied with his answer. He happened to ask another question when quite unexpectedly he heard the bailiff’s voice:

“All rise!”

Benjamin stood up seeing everyone else stand up.

As the judge of honour sat on his chair, everyone in the room sat down.

“You may begin prosecutor,” said the judge of honour after writing for a few seconds.

“Thank you your honour. On our last session, we came to this conclusion that the person driving the vehicle was not Simeon but probably one of their servants. So in order to proceed I would like to call Dr. Attwell on the witness stand, Stephen started.”

“Permission granted.” the judge responded.

“Thank you your honour.”

A forty year old man walked towards the witness stand and stood there.

“So Mr. Attwell, could you please state your name and occupation to the court?” Stephen asked walking towards him.

“My name is George Attwell and I’m a psychologist.”

“Psychologist or a psychiatrist?”

“Psychologist.”

“Mr. Attwell, could you please explain the difference between the two? The psychiatrist and a psychologist.”

“Objection my lord,” Roald said standing up. “Everyone in the courtroom is aware of this difference.”

“It needs to be clarified today, your honour.”

“Overruled,” the judge replied, “you may proceed.”

“Okay your honour,” the psychologist replied. “The psychiatrist is someone who specialises in medicine in order to prevent or treat mental disorders.”

“And a psychologist?” Stephen asked.

“Psychologist is the one who studies human behavior, human mind and emotions. And also the situations that affect our minds.”

“That’s it? Is that the entire definition of a psychologist?”

Dr. Attwell looked at Roald before answering the question. Roald nodded his head slightly.

“Yes, that’s it,” Dr. Attwell answered.

“Great,” Stephen said turning towards the jury. “So everyone here heard, according to him, a psychologist is someone who studies the human mind, emotions and behavior. And he has nothing to do with the disease as per his definition.”

“I object your honour,” Roald interrupted.

The judge looked at him.

“Mr. Stephen is just trying to play with words. He knows that the definition includes diseases as well,” said Roald.

“Objection sustained,” the judge announced.

“Alright,” Stephen said anyway, “but I’m going to prove something today.”

“Please tell the court about Simeon’s disease,” he asked Dr. Attwell.

“He’s suffering from autism.”

“Okay, and what exactly is autism?”

“It is a developmental disorder.”

“In this disease, a person is capable of driving. No?”

“No, he’s not,” Dr. Attwell replied.

“Is that so? Then would you please tell us about John Campbell.”

“Who?”

“John Campbell”

Dr. Attwell remained silent for a while.

“Or do you want me to tell everyone who he was?” Stephan asked.

“Okay.”

“He was a great psychologist of the last century. A lot of present day psychologists refer to his work before conducting research, any am I right?”

“Yes,” Dr. Attwell responded.

“Then let me tell everyone that according to his research, a person suffering from autism is perfectly capable of driving.”

“Objection my lord,” Roald said, “what is Mr. Stephen trying to prove here?”

“What I’m trying to prove…” Stephen said as he turned and walked towards Roald, “is that the doctor you’ve hired is either not educated or he is hiding facts from the court.”

“The truth is that the Psychologist John Campbell who was at least a bigger and better researcher than Dr. Attwell here has written in his research that a person suffering from this disease, if properly trained and taught can easily drive a vehicle,” Stephen said walking towards the jury.

“Do you have any evidence?” Roald asked.

“Order!” the judge said. “You are not allowed to speak like that.”

“Sorry,” Roald uttered.

“Yes I do have the evidence,” Stephen said changing his direction.

He walked towards the plaintiff’s table and took out a printed research paper from his file. He walked towards the judge of honour and handed it over to him.

“So to conclude, I just want to ask that if this research clearly proves that a person suffering from autism is capable of driving and if it was really Simeon who was driving that vehicle the other day, then who is responsible for it, Simeon himself or his father Mr. William Spacey? That’s all, my lord,” he said walking back to his chair.

The judge of honour noted down something in his diary.

“Do you want to cross question now, or should we take a short recess?” He asked Roald.

“I’d like a recess,” Roald answered.

Two minutes later, during recess, William and Roald were seated outside on the bench. Roald was a bit tensed.

“Look, they must never find out that we have hired someone who is not really a psychologist,” William said to Roald.

“They won’t. Trust me.”

“I don’t think so. Stephen was asking such questions from Attwell, that he didn’t even understand them. He could never answer those questions.”

“But he did, didn’t he?” Roald replied.

“I don’t think the jury is convinced.”

“Don’t worry, Stephen has nothing. As long as he doesn’t prove that the person driving the vehicle was Simeon, there is no way he can win.”

“I don’t think that’s all he’s got. I mean he appears smarter and cunning. He will use some other technique.”

“Okay I’m going to stop you now,” Roald said getting enraged. “I was hired by you, not just to be trusted but also to get not insulted.”

“What?” William got confused.

“Look, if I you don’t trust me, then just fire me. Hire another lawyer. But the way you are insulting me, I will not tolerate it.”

“When on earth did I insult you? Are you out of your mind?”

“No, but what you said is usually degrading for lawyers.”

“What did I say?”

“You said Stephen appears smarter and cunning. That’s a degrading statement for me, because he’s my opponent.”

“Oh come on Roald, now you’re just being extra sensitive.”

“No, this is not just with me.”

“Alright just forget it. The recess is about to end.”

Ten minutes later inside the courtroom, Roald was walking. Everyone was waiting for him to speak.

“Your honour, I’d call Benjamin on the witness stand,” he finally said after a while.

“Okay,” the judge said.

Benjamin stood up and walked towards the witness stand. Roald came closer to him.

“So Mr. Benjamin… please tell us about your relationship with Evelyn.”

“Objection my lord!” Stephen exclaimed. “The witness’s personal life is not relevant here.”

“But the victim’s personal life is.”

“Objection overruled,” the judge stated.

“Thank you,” Roald continued, “so Mr. Benjamin, tell us. Tell us about your relationship with the victim.”

“We were engaged.”

“Engaged!” Roald repeated loudly.

Benjamin was provoked but controlled his temper.

“So tell us Benjamin, since how long have you two known each other?”

“Over two years.”

“And how did you two know each other?”

“We were colleagues.”

“Colleagues? You mean classmates?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, so you two used to hang around with each other? During the night?”

“No, that’s not true. We hardly met during the night.”

“Like the night of the accident,” Roald said smartly.

Benjamin did not respond and remained silent.

“So whom did you see that night?” Roald asked.

“Like I said the other day, it was Simeon.”

“Okay, right now just tell us what were you two talking about, the night of the accident?”

“I object my lord,” Stephen interrupted. “This conversation is not relevant.”

“It shall prove how honest this victim is,” Roald answered.

“Overruled, you may answer the question,” the judge responded.

“Thank you,” Roald continued. “Well Mr. Benjamin?”

“Well what?” Benjamin said back.

“What were you two talking about?”

“I was asking her about the marriage proposal,” Benjamin answered honestly.

“What marriage proposal?”

Stephen regretfully kept his hand on his forehead realising his how he had lost today’s session.

“I had proposed to her several days back,” Benjamin replied. “So I was just trying to get to know her answer.”

“Weren’t you two already engaged?” Roald asked cunningly.

Benjamin was speechless.

“Point to be noted my lord. Just a few minutes ago, when I asked him about his relationship status with Evelyn, he told us that they were engaged. And now when I got him confused, he said the truth that he was asking about the marriage proposal,” Roald said walking towards the judge.

“Your honour,” Stephen said standing up. “What is Mr. Roald trying to prove here?”

“I’m trying to prove…” Roald answered, “that your witness Benjamin is a liar. He clearly stated that he was engaged and now he has admitted that they weren’t. So likewise, when he stated that he saw Simeon stepping out of the car, he was lying then as well.”

Almost everyone in the courtroom was left stunned.

“Your honour, quite like our last session, Stephen has proved nothing. And I can assure you that he has nothing. So I would request him to stop wasting court’s time and come up with better and proper evidence. That’s all your honour,” Roald said concluding his speech.

The judge looked at Stephen hoping he would say something. But as he wasn’t really speaking, so the judge wrote something down.

“Your honour, I have seen Simeon driving a vehicle with my own eyes. I swear I have. I’m unfortunate that I don’t have the evidence right now,” Stephan said quite unexpectedly.

After listening to him patiently and thinking for several seconds, the judge made an announcement.

to be continued...