Five Hours a Year novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: Alec's POV: The Hearing

Alec's POV

The hearing room held a long table and five panelists.

The gallery was packed so tight that my own partners sat on folding chairs in the aisle.

I sat at the respondent's table with my hands flat on the wood.

Leah sat beside me and did not look at me once.

I had watched her win once, from a church basement gallery.

I had been married to a trial lawyer for six years, and that was the only time I had seen her try a case.

Desmond took the stand at ten.

He wore his navy suit, and he looked sorrowful.

His own lawyer led him through it in twenty minutes, and it was beautiful.

He described a devoted partner, a protégé in crisis and an audit done in love.

Then the chair said, "Mrs. Kittridge. Your cross."

Leah stood and buttoned her jacket.

"Mr. Marr, good morning. I'll be brief."

"I'd welcome any question, Leah."

"Mrs. Kittridge is fine." She picked up a single page. "You told this panel the Brandt entries were Alec's."

"I told the panel what the records show."

"Whose initials are on the entries?"

"The entries are his approval."

"I asked whose initials are on the entries."

He paused.

"Mine."

"All 212."

"As the supervising partner, yes. It's routine."

"For six years, you billed Brandt Industries for what you called urgent calls." She laid the page on the rail. "Brandt's general counsel is in the gallery. Could she stand?"

A woman in the third row stood.

"Ma'am, in six years, how many urgent calls did Mr. Marr place to you?"

"Two," the woman said, and the room made a noise. "One in March, which closed. And one about a lunch."

Desmond kept his smile.

"The calls may have been to other officers."

"Then you won't mind if the panel reads the phone logs." Leah lifted a second page. "Next. The approvals. You told the panel Alec approved the entries from his own login."

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