A dark caption.

Christine Reinhart was set to testify today and the prosecutor was a confident. She had built up the case, laid the groundwork for all of the misdeeds of this company, all of the ethical lapses, all of the corporate sins. It was an extensive list, from bribery and corruption going up to things like breaches of medical ethics and criminally negligent homicide.

That last one, to which most of the charges revolve around, involve the company in some secretive and irresponsible research. The short of it was they were experimenting on people without their consent and several of them were either seriously injured, incapacitated, or dead and the company did their best to cover it all up, and Mrs. Reinhart was the linchpin in all of this.

When she came in, she made for an impressive showing, her calm, cool, professional personal on display, her outfit immaculate, and her appearance measured, all despite the obvious. It was impossible to miss those staples in her head or the long incision around her temple. A failed attempt to silence her, and one that made her only more willing to testify today.

When she was called, she got up to the stand, swore to tell the truth, and the cross-examination began. It went well, her answers careful, pointing well to the lesser charges of bribery and some of the less serious corruption charges. The prosecutor smiled, relieved at this. At least with that, the company would be on the hook for something. That was made. Now to hook the bigger fish. She started to question Mrs. Reinhart on the bigger things, what she knew about why the corruption and bribery took place.

At first it seemed to be going fine, but as Mrs. Reinhart spoke, the prosecutor noticed an error or two, differences in Mrs. Reinhart's testimony now than in her sworn statements. She asked about those.

It was here that things took a strange turn. It seemed like Mrs. Reinhart was getting confused, details she could recall with total clarity just a few days prior. The prosecutor thought it strange. She wasn't lying, at least she didn't think Mrs. Reinhart was lying, but her testimony seemed off, disjointed, unclear on key points, especially the ones that would have sealed it for the larger players here.

Finally, the prosecutor had to change tack and hand it to the defense, realizing as she did that the most serious counts would likely be found not guilty. She hadn't made the connection well enough and she knew it. She sighed as she watched the defense attorney strike at the witness, Mrs. Reinhart holding her own very when discussing what she knew in regard to the smaller stuff but again having difficulty with answering sufficiently questions on the worst offense the company had committed. Soon, it was over and the witness was dismissed. The prosecutor resisted the urge to watch her leave. She had bigger things on her mind now that the most serious charges would certainly not stick.

Pete smiled a small, prim smile as he walked out of the courtroom, feeling on top of the world as he did. It had gone off perfectly. The prosecutor, the judge, even the defense attorneys, none of them suspected a thing. Sure, everyone knew that without that testimony only the smaller charges would stick for the company, but the way it was done and what poor Christine had gone through to get here, no one would suspect the truth, that the time on the stand was nothing more than a way to poison the case. He had done well to convince everyone of that and now, thanks to the company he got to leave this courtroom and enjoy the fruits of his labor!