When they returned to court, the room was a lot more packed than it had been earlier that day. The fireworks with one of the witnesses caught their interest and there was almost no seating left for anyone. Russell and Xander sat at their desk and were eager to proceed, but Dick Burgess was rattled to the point where he was looking to make a tactical retreat. He was uncharacteristically quiet at his desk as everyone wait for the judge to return from her chambers. When the bailiff called out for everyone to rise, Judge Marshall was quick to get to her seat and order everyone to sit down. She went through a few papers on her desk, and then turned to face Mr. Burgess.

“Mr. Burgess,” the judge called out, “Call your next witness.”

“Your honor,” Burgess said, as he stood up. “The people need to request a recess until tomorrow morning. We require a bit of time to reassess our case before proceeding.”

“Seriously?” the judge asked, “We’ve barely started.”

“I’m inclined to agree, your honor.” Russell said, standing up. “It’s a little early in the game to be calling time outs.”

“I apologize to the court,” Burgess continued, “But we need time to reassess our case and get it back on track.”

“What say you, Mr. Benson?” the Judge asked Russell.

“I’m a little annoyed,” Russell answered, “But I’m not worried about giving him one extra afternoon to get his act together. I’ll still be ready to kick his arse.”

“That’s mighty generous of you, Mr. Benson.” The judge said, looking over at Burgess. “You had better be prepared to move ahead tomorrow, Mr. Burgess.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Burgess said, letting out a sigh of relief.

“I mean it,” The judge scolded him, “If you try this again tomorrow, I will not hesitate to dismiss with prejudice. We clear?”

“Yes, your honor.” Burgess said again.

“Then we’re adjourned until tomorrow morning,” the judge said as she slammed her gavel down a few times to close the current session.

Everyone stood up in the courtroom as the Judge left her perch and went right back to her chambers. Russell was tempted to ask Burgess what was going on, but the big lawyer had already packed up and made a b-line for the door with out as much as a whisper, which was very uncharacteristic of him. Even when Russell was kicking his ass the man always had a glib remark to rebound with, but not this time. Rather than speculate about what was going on, Russell grabbed Xander’s father and that caught Jefferson’s attention.

“Something’s happened,” Russell started, “There’s something going on we’re not aware of.”

“What do you need?” Jefferson asked.

“Get everyone back to the house,” Russell ordered, “We’ll meet back up same time tomorrow. I’ll have someone call you if there are any updates.”

“Thanks,” Jefferson said, but he reached out and grabbed Russell’s arm so he couldn’t walk away. “Just one more thing, Russell.”

“What is it?” Russell asked, hoping it wasn’t something bad.

“Look,” Jefferson started, looking a little nervous. “Despite our many conversations, and the numerous stories I’ve heard, that was the first time I’ve seen you work a witness in court. You fucking annihilated him. That was amazing and terrifying at the same time. You are definitely the right man for this case. If I ever get accused of something I didn’t do, you are going to be the only man I call.”

“Thanks, Jefferson.” Russell said, as that was the kindest thing a lawyer could say to someone also in his profession. A most sincere compliment.

“What do you think is going on with Dick?” Jefferson inquired.

“I’m not sure, but Mac is going to find out.” Russell answered, “I don’t like not knowing what’s going on, so we’ll find out before we’re back in court. Get some rest and we’ll go for the throat again first thing in the morning.”

“Sounds good,” Jefferson said, as he let go of Russell’s arm and gave him a friendly pat. “Glad to be on your side.”

“You’d be surprised how often I heard that,” Russell replied, “Never gets old.”

Jefferson didn’t respond and instead walked away. Russell didn’t care that much as he also walked away in the opposite direction as he was also eager to speak to someone else. Mac was in the lobby on the main floor talking to Allister as Russell descended down the massive staircase to join them. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what they were talking so passionately about.

“This doesn’t make sense,” Allister said, “Burgess is the kind of guy who has his schedule airtight, and ready to go on day one. Asking for this delay is suspicious.”

“As much as I hate to admit it,” Russell said as he came into earshot, “But Allister is correct. Dick doesn’t ask for time to regroup. Something’s happened, and we need to know what it is asap.”

“Alright,” Mac said, as she knew what he meant. “I’ll get right to it. I have a few ideas what it could be so I’ll find some answers.”

“In the meantime,” Russell said, turning back to Allister. “See if your inside man has any clue to what’s going on with Dick. If this is half as bad as we think it is, those offices are probably in panic mode right about now.”

“Alright,” Allister said as he liked the idea too. “I’ll give my man a shout.”

“Mac, hold on.” Russell said, “Come with me for a second.”

Both Mac and Russell walked away from Allister who was using his phone anyway so he didn’t much care as they left him. They strolled across the lobby because Russell spotting someone that he wanted to speak to. He had a hunch this man might have the answer they were looking for.

“Virgil,” Russell said, strolling over. “How did you find this morning’s action?”

“Quite exciting,” Virgil said, “Your reputation is well earned.”

“Uh huh,” Russell said, as he didn’t give a shit. “Well, I’d like to set up an appointment to talk about a settlement.”

“Wait, you do?” Virgil said, rather surprised.

“You do?” Mac repeated, also surprised.

“Yes, I do.” Russell said, “I’ll have one of my interns send you copies of the papers we intend to file next week when I counter sue your client for defamation of character and extortion. I thought you’d like to get together and talk settlement to avoid litigation.”

“You’re suing us?” Virgil asked, to stunned to say anything else.

“I suggest you speak to your client,” Russell said, as he paused for a moment. “Do you even know where your client is right now?”

Virgil didn’t say another work and instead decided to walk away, which was petty much the answer Russell was expecting.

“Shit,” Mac said, as she took the cue. “He has no clue.”

“No, he doesn’t.” Russell agreed, “She’s running.”

“You bet your ass she’s running,” Mac said, smiling. “Bus or train?”

“I’m old school,” Russell answered, “My money’s on the bus.”

“Well, I’ll check both.” Mac said, as she started to walk away. “I’ll update you the moment I have something.”

“What about my ride back?” Russell asked.

“Take an uber!” she called back.

Russell took a deep breath and knew she was right. It was wise to stay out of her way when Mac was hunting for something, or someone. Before he could start to order a car from uber, Allister was there to pat him on the back.

“The car is right around the corner,” Allister said, motioning to the main door. “I’ve got an update from my source. We can talk about it while on our way back.”

“Sounds good to me,” Russell said, “Lead the way.”

They were able to get back to the office rather quickly, and when Russell returned to his office, Shaw was in there working on something. Normally Russell would be irritated that Shaw was using his office as if it belonged to him, but odds are Shaw was working on a case that was supposed to be his so having him working on it in there saved him the time of looking for him to check in on it. Shaw saw his boss arriving and stood up to greet him.

“I heard you smoke Janssen in court this morning,” Shaw said, “Wish I could have been there to see it.”

“It was fantastic,” Russell said, sitting down behind his desk. “That was not the result Dick was expecting. I torched him like a redneck turkey.”

“Sweet,” Shaw said, “I was just working on one of your delegated cases. We’re moving along, but not as quickly as your case it.”

“Let the wheel grind slowly,” Russell advised him, “And if this goes the way I think it does, you’ll get reinforcements before it’s over.”

“Now that would be epic,” Shaw said, as he could picture it. “They get cocky taking me on and then the great Russell Benson shows up to mop the floors with them. Forget the client, I’d pay to see that happen.”

“Not necessary,” Russell said, “We’ve got a free afternoon to clean up some paperwork while we wait to hear back from Mac. So, get me up to speed here.”

This was a good chance for Russell to go over Shaw’s work to see how well the young associate was doing, and to his surprised, Shaw was doing just fine on his own. They were still working on it close to suppertime when Mac came back with the news Russell was hoping she’d come back with. Turns out his instinct was right, and that caused Russell to contact the courthouse himself and request an emergency meeting with her honor before trial resumed at nine the next morning. He had a feeling this was the kind of information the judge would want before staring the next round. With the proof he needed in hand to drive the final nail into the coffin, Russell decided to head home and rest up for the big face off the next morning. As he was heading home to rest, he got a text confirming that the judge’s office agreed and booked him and Dick to meet with the judge at eight am, an hour before court was supposed to resume. Russell had a drink, some leftover pasta, and a sleeping pill to help him crash that night. He was able to get some decent rest but was back up and on his way to the courthouse very early that morning. Once he was through security, he b-lined for the judge’s chambers where both her honor and Dick Burgess were already present.

“Good morning, councillor.” The judge started, “Want to share with us why you wanted to meet before court resumed this morning?”

“I have information that might explain why we may not be resuming at all,” Russell said, “We have discovered evidence that shows the people’s lead witness has fled the state.”

“What kind of evidence?” the judge asked.

“I have video,” Russell said as he took a tablet out of his briefcase and handed it to the judge.

The judge sat there and watched the video which showed the alleged victim and her mother boarding a bus that departed soon after.

“As you can see your honor,” Russell continued, “This is why the people were not able to continue yesterday afternoon. Their witness made a run for it.”

“Is this true, Mr. Burgess?” the Judge inquired. “Was this lady supposed to be your next witness?”

“She was,” Dick answered, “She was the reason we had to delay. Apologies.”

“No need,” the judge said, handing the tablet back to Russell. “What was going through that girl’s mind that made her want to run?”

“After her associate was arrested,” Russell answered, “Chances are she was afraid she was going to be arrested as well after she testified. Just like our previous witness, Ms. Edwards also has outstanding warrants in various states.”

Russell then passes copies of some of the warrants over to the judge, who then took a few minutes to read them while both men remained standing patiently.

“This doesn’t look good, Mr. Burgess,” the judge admitted.

“Apologies, your honor.” Dick said, obviously rattled. “We are looking for Ms. Edwards and intend to get her to testify…”

“Don’t bother,” the judge interrupted, “Citizens have the right to face their accuser and yours just skipped town! Combined with these warrants, I have reason to believe you either had no clue about them, or you knew and were withholding them.”

“Your honor,” Dick said, “I would never withhold anything from the court.”

“Very well, we’re going with incompetence.” The judge said as she laid the warrants down on the table. “Mr. Benson, anything else you’d like to add.”

“The defense moves for an immediate dismissal.” Russell said, unsure if the judge would give him one. Given the mood she was in, Russell didn’t want to waste the request being made and decided to toss a Hail Mary to see how she’d respond.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Burgess,” The judge said as she was clearly ticked off, “But you shouldn’t have rushed this case to my court without all the relevant details in hand. I’m granting the defense’s motion, and this case is hereby dismissed… with prejudice.”

Burgess looked like he wanted to respond, but adding prejudice basically made anything he wanted to say irrelevant. He simply said nothing and waited to be dismissed from the room.

“Both of you get out of here,” the judge finally said.

“Thank you, your honor.” Russell said, as he started to back out of the room.

“Out!” the judge repeated.

Russell said nothing else and vacated the chambers and walked back out into the hallway. He was expecting Burgess to say something to him out there, but the man had already walked away and was probably already on his way back to his office to hide away to lick his wounds. Russell didn’t care as he pulled out his cell phone and quickly dialed a number. After a few rings, someone finally picked up.

“Hello?” the voice on the other end answered.

“It’s me,” Russell said with a wide smile on his face.

“What’s going on?” The voice on the other side asked.

“I have good news,” Russell answered, “Tell everyone to stay where they are. There’s no need to come back to court. It’s over.”