Chapter 78: The Hearing

 While still on stand, Maurice rose from his feet and walked up to Belinda.

"That was quite the interesting story there. But I don't like to beat around the bush so if you don't mind me, I'll start by asking the hard hitting questions"

" No problem" Belinda answered

" Let's go back to the day when your daughter went missing. According to your account and that of your husband, you both acknowledge that you had given her permission to sleepover at her friend's house, right?"

" Yes"

" So from the moment she left school to somewhere the next day if you both didn't receive any phone call or text from her, it wouldn't be much of a red flag? "

" Not entirely"

" Kindly elaborate "

" I mean, she knew that she had to call us at least once to know that she had gone to the friend's house or even gotten a call from the friend's parents letting us know that she was there"

" So, was it mandatory to get that phone call? " 

" Not exactly but it would've seemed a bit off if the call wasn't made"

" But my main point is that it wasn't mandatory "

" Correct "

" Can you clarify something from me? "

"Sure" she responded as Maurice pulled out a recorder and connected it to the speakers in the room. When he played it, it sounded like Mr Magraff on a phone call

'Hello and good evening, I'm sorry for this late update but we have a family emergency and unfortunately my daughter cannot make it to the sleepover, thanks'

The whole courtroom went quiet as this was played twice, first for listening and second for confirmation

"Your honours and people of the jury, this is a phone call recording that was submitted into evidence in this case. " Maurice said before he turned to Belinda

"Mrs Magraff, does this sound like your husband?"

" I can't say for sure" 

" Come on Mrs, I can say it sounds like him but you know him better than any of us in this room. Does this sound like your husband? "

" I can't really tell" Belinda answered now looking at bit uncomfortable with the question

"What's so hard about it? I'm sure anyone and everyone in this room can tell that this sounds like him. I just need to hear it from you. Is this your husband? Yes or no?" 

" Objection!!! Mr Maurice is leading the witness on into making a decision without giving her time to give it thought " Mikhail interjected

" Overruled. The question seems relevant to the case and I urge Mrs Magraff to answer the question posed by Maurice "

" And don't forget that you're under oath" Maurice reminded her before asking her the question again," does the man on the phone sound like your husband? Yes or no? "

Belinda looked at the brothers who couldn't help her no more then next to her husband who looked at her from across the room with the same gentle eyes that she had know and had grown to fall in love with. He gave her a reassuring nod. She could tell that he was signalling her to say what she thought and not what she wanted to think. He would never want her to lie just for his sake and she reluctantly nodded her head before saying in a low voice

"Yes"

"I'm sorry, you might have to say that louder so that the whole room can hear you."

" Yes, it sounds like him"

" Thank you so much Mrs Magraff for that clarification. " Maurice said as he turned to the audience and the jury," what you had listened to was a phone call recording that was made on the fateful day that Mr Magraff's daughter went missing only to be found dead later. This phone call was made from the Magraff's home telephone. And I'm sure I don't need to tell you that Mr Magraff did this so that he could have enough time to fetch his daughter and kill her. Not forgetting that she was the same daughter that at one moment he was made to believe that was not his"

With this, Maurice took his seat leaving the floor open to the brothers. Mikhail was the one who got up this time

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury and your honours, I won't deny that it does for a fact sound like Mr Magraff was the one who made the call. What I'm trying to figure out is how comes Maurice didn't address the discrepancies that were in the case files. In front of you there are the files that's were presented to you by the state and attached to them are the case files that LA Associates worked on. Take your time to go through them.

Another thing that I'm wondering is how comes Maurice didn't tell you that there were two phone calls made by the Magraff's home telephone. Listen to this"

As Mikhail was saying this, Djokovic was connecting their recorder to the courtroom speakers

'Hello, I hope everything is good'

Those were the only words spoken by what sounded like the same person in the first recording 

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure that you can all attest that that sounds like the same person. But know the questions start coming in. Why didn't Maurice tell you about the second call? And how comes one person can make two different phone calls a few hours apart just after canceling the sleepover? I'm sure you can all tell that something doesn't add up. In those files there is a file that explains everything from why Mr Magraff didn't kill his own daughter and how he cant possibly be the Serbian Slayer. But just to clear some dust, Mrs Magraff, do you mind if I ask some questions?" Mikhail asked her as he turned his attention towards her

"Go ahead"

"In the police statement, you told them that you are his alibi for being home the entire evening?"

" Yes I did "

" Did he at any moment leave the house or leave your sight for a long period of time? " 

" I don't think so, we enjoyed the evening with some couple's bonding through cooking and after that we went to bed early.".

" Could he have stepped out while you were asleep? "

" No he couldn't "

" Why's that? "

" Because he's a heavy sleeper. You can blow up a house next door and he wouldn't even flinch in his sleep "

" So you're saying that you were with your husband throughout the entirety of the night? "

" Yes"

" Objection!!! A spouse as an alibi in such a case can lie on behalf of their partner "

" Your honours, Mrs Magraff knows that she is under oath and if she lies under oath she knows that it means automatic jail time "

" Overruled." One of the judges said

" You do realize that you're on oath and a lie can lead to your arrest and prosecution? " Mikhail asked Belinda loudly

" Yes, I understand that"

"And you still stand firm by your answer that you were with your husband the whole time? " 

" Yes I do"

" No more questions your honours "

With this, Mikhail went and took his seat to let the jury and judges to absorb what had just happened in front of them for the past few minutes. It had been a back and forth argument between the brothers and Maurice and with every passing argument, each team rightly represented their clients making it harder by the passing second for the audience in the room have an idea on where the judicial favour leaned most

There was a brief moment of silence as the people awaited for the information to sink in fully so that they could make heads or tails of the situation and hopefully come up with the best judgement that would be fair and would be accepted global wise

During this silence, some of the jury members and the judges were going through the files that were presented to them by the LA Associates team.

At the back of the room, Jason could see and hear everything as they happened and was quite amazed by the skills of the brothers in delivering their message to the judges and jury. Despite this, he had high hopes that this would keep on going in the direction that it was heading. He could sense the stalemate and knew that things were bound to get more interesting from the looks of things.

The more it went on like this, the more chances that the case could be ruled either way and that was better based on the fact that Magraff would've been prosecuted and jailed a long time ago had it not been for the interruption by Jason and Tyler earlier on.

Deep down Jason wanted them to win this case not only for the sake of Magraff getting his freedom but also so that he could rub it in on their top three men who stood high in Sin City and Panem