Free Powerful Men 2: Four More Alphas Who Seize Control by Carla Kane Page A

Stetson.
    She waited until the Texxon people had entered the courtroom and then stepped out of her car.
    In the lobby she met with the community representatives of Prudence and they went over the matters of the day. After that Clara continued on into Judge McKennedy’s courtroom. The hearing was about to begin.
    ‘Please rise for the honorable Moses McKennedy,’ the officer announced and the room stood to attention.
    Moses McKennedy walked in, sans the hat – which had probably pained him to give up, Clara observed.
    ‘Be seated,’ he grunted in his deep masculine voice. He had an intonation that sounded like it had been forged in the fires of a bottomless steel mill.
    Texxon’s lead attorney stepped forward and started the proceedings. Clara arched her fingers together and braced herself for action.
    The case was going smoothly enough, if somewhat slowly, (but then if stalling the process was the best Texxon’s lawyers could do then they probably didn’t have much else to go on) when Clara called Ace Cooper to the stand. This was where things would get interesting.
    ‘State your name for the record,’ Clara commanded.
    ‘Well they call me Aces Cooper little darlin ,’Ace grinned, his voice sounding like a jolly old gold prospector. Clara couldn’t believe it, but people around there really seemed to buy that bullshit. There was nothing ordinary or humble about the head of Texxon – he’d spent his whole life with a silver spoon in his mouth.
    ‘Mr. Cooper,’ Clara asked, ‘if you would, could you please state for the court what your opinion on this current case is?’
    ‘Certainly,’ Ace said, ‘it’s a crock of hooey. A political fix-up of some sort I’d guess, but then you probably know that already, don’t you missy?’
    ‘A political fix-up that began over thirty years ago?’ Clara asked, a sly smile on her face, ‘by planting Texxon -marked waste on the community of Prudence? Don’t you think that’s a little farfetched, Mr. Cooper?’
    Ace Cooper narrowed his eyes. ‘I ain’t got a notion what you mean girl,’ he said.
    ‘Oh come on,’ Clara snorted, ‘you’re not an idiot, are you? I mean you’re the head of a multinational corporation, you must understand the charges that have been brought against you?’
    ‘I understand the charges,’ Ace said, ‘I just don’t buy em.’
    ‘And the evidence?’ Clara asked, ‘you do understand that the evidence against you is so great as to be pretty much completely disprovable, right? I mean, even a total imbecile could see that.’
    Ace leaned forward angrily in his chair. Clara could tell she was getting through to him.
    ‘Now gosh darn it!’ he barked, ‘I won’t just sit her and be insulted like this.’
    ‘Miss Silverman,’ Judge McKennedy ordered in his deep voice, ‘ reel it in.’
    Clara glanced up at him, slightly wounded by the rebuttal. ‘I’m only speaking the truth your honor,’ she said.
    Cooper’s head lawyer stepped forward. ‘That should be stricken from the record,’ he said, ‘this is a courtroom, not a schoolyard.’
    ‘Granted,’ Moses said and banged his gavel. He looked down at Clara, his dark furious eyes almost piercing into her soul. ‘That will be all Miss Silverman,’ he said, ‘I don’t know how they do things in New York but down here we have manners. If you can’t learn to conduct yourself properly then things will not go well for you.’
    A spark of irritation flashed through Clara’s head and she gritted her teeth. ‘Yes your honor,’ she said and returned to her seat.
    Ace Cooper stood up from the stand and, chuckling to himself, walked back to his people.
    The rest of the session crawled along without any further progress at all. By the time Judge McKennedy banged his gavel to close the day’s proceedings they were in the exact same place they had been when they began. Clara gathered up her things and left, inwardly cursing the phony shtick of Ace Cooper.
    Out in the lobby she met