THE GEARS IN WILL’S MIND WERE STILL WHIRLING at high speed as he walked back to his counsel’s table. He felt someone touch his shoulder. It was his client.
“Will, my boy,” Angus MacCameron said with a furrowed brow, “are you alright? Who accosted you?”
“Accosted? You know, Angus, that word doesn’t begin to describe my last forty-eight hours. But, miraculously, I am fine. Thanks for asking,” Will responded.
MacCameron had a large manila envelope in his hand. His face suddenly broke into a beaming smile as he waved the envelope in front of Will.
“You will never guess what I have here!” MacCameron exclaimed. “Praise God, this is the beginning of the end for Reichstad’s lies.”
“What is it?”
MacCameron put the envelope in front of Will, who noticed the airmail markings on it. Then he noticed the sender’s name: Judith Hunter—and a London address.
“Dr. Hunter’s sister?”
“Precisely. God’s timing is brilliant, don’t you think?”
“Yes, but what is this about? Is it something we don’t want Sherman to get wind of? Perhaps we should step outside the courtroom.”
MacCameron agreed, and he and Will made their way out to the lobby and over to a corner where there was a bench.
“Okay, go ahead,” said Will.
“Judith sent a short note. Saying that she thinks often about my friendship with her late brother. How hard his murder has been on her, the poor dear. And then, at the very end of the note, she hits the jackpot!”
“She writes that, since his death, she had not done much with the flat where she and Richard had lived. But recently she decided to move into a smaller flat, because she’s now living alone. She hired some men to come in and move her furniture. As they are moving the living room sofa, they see an envelope on the floor where Richard must have put it. It was addressed to me in the United States. He obviously intended to mail it to me, but was murdered first.
“So Judith simply took the envelope, put it in another envelope, and mailed the whole thing to me. I received it in the mail on Saturday. I was so ecstatic that I immediately called your office, but you weren’t there. I tried to contact you at your apartment, but you weren’t there either.”
“I was tied up over the weekend,” Will said with a wry smile. “So, what was in the envelope Hunter had addressed to you?”
“7QB!” MacCameron cried out, so loudly that several people who had been talking on the other side of the lobby stopped their conversation and stared over at Will’s client.
“Just a minute—7QB?” Will asked.
“The very thing. There it was, tucked inside a little plastic baggie inside a plastic zip bag, and that inside a padded envelope. No note from Richard. He must have been in a hurry. He must have known they were closing in on him.”
“What does it say? What’s on the fragment? Does it match with the edges of 7QA? Was it part of the same piece?”
“Well,” MacCameron continued, “I couldn’t reach you—I hope this was all right—but I knew where Dr. Giovanni’s office was and that she had agreed to testify as our expert. So I took this 7QB fragment over to her, to see if she could verify my initial reading of its language.”
“And?”
MacCameron pulled out a piece of paper. It had the 7QA wording on the left side—and then, on the right side, the translation by Dr. Giovanni, of the Greek words of 7QB.
“I took a copy of the actual-size photograph I have of 7QA from Reichstad’s magazine, and cut around the edge of that fragment,” MacCameron continued. “Then Dr. Giovanni and I simply lined up the edge of 7QB with the edge of 7QA and they seemed to match perfectly! Of course, you will need to have the materials engineer examine it to make absolutely certain the edges were, at one time, joined. But when we joined them together, this is the message we saw created.” He handed the paper to Will.
MacCameron was studying Will’s reaction to the translation. Will handed the piece of paper back and turned to his client.
“Do you know what this means?”
“Of course!” MacCameron answered. “It is proof that Richard Hunter’s fragments were part of 7QA. Which means that Reichstad unquestionably came into possession of the fragment—which we know now is 7QA—that had belonged to Hunter and Azid before their deaths. Furthermore, 7QB is strong support for the fact that there may be a third fragment. There is still a 7QC fragment out there that must match up with the right hand edge of 7QA, and the top edge of 7QB.”
“I can’t argue with you, Angus,” Will said. “But there is a huge down side to this 7QB fragment coming into your hands.” And with that Will put his finger on the words of the 7QB translation—“AT THE EAST GATE OF STEPHEN.”
“Do you know where that is?”
“Certainly,” MacCameron answered. “That is one of the ancient gates of the old city of Jerusalem, along the wall that faces the Mount of Olives. It’s also called ‘the Lion’s Gate.’ But it is really known as the spot where they think that Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was stoned to death.”
“The same one as in the book of Acts?” Will asked.
“My boy, you are getting to be a Bible scholar!”
“Are you familiar with any tombs there?”
“Well, I did some thinking about that over the weekend. Actually, there is an old Arab cemetery located in that spot today. It’s just to the side of an eastern gate into the old city. But I don’t know of any ancient tombs ever excavated there.”
“Well,” Will countered, “you are about to see an excavation there, and it’s going to grab the attention of the entire world.”
“Oh?” MacCameron replied, “how do you know that?”
“Because what you have shown me, here, is new evidence. When the judge comes back in, I will have to advise him about it, as well as Sherman and Reichstad. When Reichstad sees what 7QB says, watch him scramble to get over to Israel and start digging.”
“Well, I have thought about that,” MacCameron said. “But I know that if they find some tomb there, it certainly won’t contain the body of the Lord Jesus. The Word of God is sure, certain, and perfectly clear about that!”
“I wish I had your faith,” Will said. “The way I see it, we are about to play right into Reichstad’s hands. I think this may have been the real reason that he sued you in the first place. To use you like a dog that brings the newspaper to his master—the way Clarence used to do it for me. To use you to locate 7QB, and then fetch it back to him. And with 7QB he gets the location of the occupied tomb of Jesus of Nazareth—which would be Reichstad’s ultimate trump card to demolish the idea of the resurrection forever.”
Will glanced at his watch. “We’d better get back in there. I’d rather not make another late entrance today.”
Shortly after Will and his client had reached their table, the door of Judge Kaye’s chambers swung open and the judge mounted the bench.
“All rise!” the clerk shouted out.
Judge Kaye waited until everyone in the courtroom was seated, and then he began speaking. He initially described the legal standards that apply to a judge’s decision on a motion for Summary Judgment. The purpose, he pointed out, was to spare the effort of a full-blown jury trial in those exceptional cases where there is no real dispute about the underlying facts, and where the law is clear enough to permit the court to rule on the case in advance of the trial.
“On the issue of recklessness,” Judge Kaye began—Chambers, Sherman, and their clients stopped breathing—“I find that defendant Reverend Angus MacCameron has failed to point to any adequate facts that could have served as a reasonable basis for his extreme accusations against Dr. Albert Reichstad, the plaintiff. I find that he showed a reckless disregard for whether his allegations against Dr. Reichstad were, or were not, accurate and truthful. There is no need for a jury trial on that issue because I find that there is no material dispute on the facts—and those facts, and the law, all point in favor of the plaintiff Dr. Reichstad, and against Reverend MacCameron.”
Will heard Reichstad clap his hands together in joy at the other counsel table. Will glanced over and his eyes met the eyes of J-Fox Sherman. Sherman was gloating.
“On the second issue of the defense of truth,” the judge continued, “while I find the poetic argument of Mr. Chambers to be enticing, and eloquent, I do not find it to be persuasive on this second issue.”
It was at that point that Will began thinking that Sherman’s motion against him for attorney’s fees in the amount of $245,000 just might be granted.
“On that issue of the defense of truth,” Judge Kaye said as he went on, and then paused for just a few seconds—seconds that seemed like hours to the watching lawyers and their clients—“I find as follows: While the facts are not really in dispute, the inferences that this court could draw from those facts are conflicting. Mr. Chambers, the cases you cited in your brief are somewhat persuasive on that issue. The fact is, the court could draw two separate and contradictory conclusions from the same set of facts. One conclusion is that Dr. Reichstad had nothing to do with the two deaths at issue and that he was exemplary in his interpretation of the meaning of the 7QA fragment; the other conclusion is that Dr. Reichstad may have had some ‘connection,’ no matter how remote, with those deaths, and further, that he either knew, or should have known, that his interpretation of the 7QA fragment was not scientifically sound and reasonable. I cannot, at this stage of the case, decide where the truth lies. Mr. Chambers—you will get your jury trial on the issue of truth. Jury trial will commence exactly one week from today.”
Will attempted to rise to address the issue of the newly discovered 7QB fragment, but Sherman beat him to his feet.
“Your Honor, what about my motion for attorney’s fees against Mr. Chambers for having wasted our time in making us litigate this totally meritless issue of recklessness? Now that we have prevailed on that issue, we would respectfully request every single dime of the attorney’s fees that we have sought against Mr. Chambers.”
“Really, Mr. Sherman, you didn’t think I would grant that kind of motion in a case like this, did you? Your motion is denied, Mr. Sherman.”
“Well, Your Honor, I would really urge you to—” Sherman tried to counter.
“Is this microphone working?” Judge Kaye said to his clerk, who was attempting not to smile. “I could swear that the attorneys in this courtroom can’t hear me when I give a ruling. Mr. Sherman, this isn’t the Harvard debating club. The way it works in a courtroom is that you lawyers are supposed to argue before the judge makes his ruling—not afterwards. When I make a ruling, your job is to smile, nod politely, and sit down.”
“Your Honor,” Will said, “I do have some procedural matters to bring to the attention of the court regarding the upcoming jury trial.”
Judge Kaye nodded to Will to proceed and then leaned back in this chair.
Will described for the court how the 7QB fragment had just come into the possession of his client.
“Where is that 7QB fragment right now?” the judge asked.
“Reverend MacCameron has it right here with him, in the courtroom today.”
There was a movement on the other side of the courtroom, and Will became aware that Albert Reichstad was walking in front of the judge’s bench, heading over to him and his client.
“Your Honor, pardon me, but I would like to address the court as the plaintiff in this case. I do believe that you must order MacCameron to show that fragment to me immediately!”
By the time Reichstad had finished his words to the judge, he had made his way over to MacCameron’s place at the defense table and was grabbing for the envelope.
With his eyes fixed on Dr. Reichstad, Judge Kaye bellowed, “You, sir, have a lawyer. Who is a highly skilled, and—I am assuming—a highly paid one. Get back to your seat next to your lawyer and let him do the talking. That’s what you are paying him for.”
Reichstad lingered for a few seconds in front of Will’s table, his hand poised over the envelope.
“Now, Dr. Reichstad!” the judge yelled, his microphone shrieking with feedback.
As Reichstad walked back to his place next to J-Fox Sherman, who was struggling to hide his astonishment at his client’s conduct, Will gestured to make a final point.
“Your Honor, we anticipate that the court will order us to produce what we have called the 7QB fragment to opposing counsel and his client.”
“You have read my mind, counsel,” Judge Kaye responded.
Sherman was back on his feet.
“We object, Your Honor, to any reference to this alleged fragment as being ‘7QB.’ That is prejudicial to our case,” Sherman pointed out. “That reference assumes that it is connected in some way with 7QA. And we vehemently deny that it is.”
“Your Honor, how would he know that—until they examine it?” Will shot back.
“Okay. This is a tempest in a teapot,” Judge Kaye said with finality. “This court is not going to be prejudiced by calling it 7QB. And if you think the jury will be prejudiced, then at trial we can refer to it as the ‘X fragment,’ unless someone else has a better idea. Now, when can you get this fragment to Mr. Sherman’s experts?”
“This afternoon,” Will explained, “we had planned to receive 7QA from the plaintiff’s side. So at the same time, we will hand off 7QB to them. But we would ask that the court impose the same highly restrictive conditions on their examination of our fragment as they demanded for our examination of their fragment.”
“Fair enough. So ordered,” the judge said.
“I assume that this will require us to reschedule the trial date,” Sherman broke in, in his best voice of reason and calm. “There is no way that we can now be prepared for trial in a week, in light of this new evidence.”
“You assume wrong, Mr. Sherman. This trial date has been set for some time. You yourself pressed for the earliest possible date. We accommodated you. The trial date for next week stays. You and your experts will have to hustle a little, that’s all, in examining this new fragment. And Mr. Sherman, you just may have to cancel your luncheon at the White House, or whatever it is that you had planned for this week. This trial comes first.”
Then Judge Kaye turned to Will Chambers.
“And you, Mr. Chambers. You need to get a shave and a new suit.”
As the judge rose and left the bench, the courtroom rose with him.
Will turned to his client.
“From now until the end of your jury trial—this is when the fur really starts flying,” Will said.
“And I was just thinking of Exodus chapter 14, verse 13,” MacCameron replied.
“What’s that?”
“Moses and the Israelites were at the edge of the Red Sea. The Egyptian army, with their chariots and spears, was about to catch up to them, and it looked like they would all be slaughtered,” MacCameron explained with a smile. “But this is what Moses told the people of God.” And then he recited the verse from memory:
Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today.
From the other side of the courtroom there came the sounds of J-Fox Sherman and his associate attorneys snapping shut their oversized briefcases and gathering their black trial notebooks.
Will looked at his client and said, “I think I hear the Egyptians coming.”