22.

The discovery phase of litigation was the most boring, and, of course, Brent's least favorite. Discovery methods included requests for admissions, which were used to ask the opposing parties to admit that a fact was true, interrogatories, which allowed you to pose written questions to them, and requests for production of documents and physical evidence.

The entire process reminded him of the cartoons where one character would throw in his line, and the fish would take the bait off, replace it with an old boot or tire, then tug on the line to make the fisherman think he had caught something. Responses to written discovery were inevitably filled with objections rather than information.

The most effective tool in discovery was the deposition, which allowed a lawyer to actually question a witness under oath, in the presence of a court reporter. Even if the witness was lying, you could still get a good look at his or her demeanor, and it was a good indication of how his or her testimony would play out in front of a judge or jury. Jack Ruder had been helpful in gathering evidence in the form of documents, which aided Brent in identifying witnesses and streamlined the written discovery process. At this point, Brent had exhausted all forms of written inquiry over the past two months, and it was now time to conduct depositions. First in line was the deposition of Steven Bernstein.

The small conference room in Brent's office, which was usually empty, was now brimming with activity. The court reporter had set up her recording equipment, and the videographer had set up his video camera. A wire with a small lapel microphone had been set out on the table in front of every seat. The only thing that was missing was Steven Bernstein, his personal lawyer, and the lawyer from Stein, Stewart and Rothstein.

Jack Ruder had already come and gone. He had a very small role in the deposition process, but it was a very important one. Bernstein's seat was right next to the court reporter, so she could take down every word that he said, and right across from the videographer's camera. It was a high backed leather chair; the kind that Bernstein had in his own office. But the point of having such a chair was not so Bernstein would be comfortable.

Normally, Brent would want him to be as uncomfortable as possible. Ruder had cleaned and outfitted the back of the chair with the smallest of electrical charges, designed to pick up any loose hairs, which would stick to the chair like iron fibers to a magnet. Ruder would come during the lunch break and after the deposition was over to sweep the chair back with an adhesive roller, to see if he could pick up any hair samples that could be used for DNA comparison with the hair fibers found at the Marsh crime scene. Since this was not a criminal case, Brent didn't have to worry about violating Bernstein's civil rights. April sat on Brent's side of the table. Her job would be to keep her eyes trained on Bernstein as an intimidation tactic. It was an unpleasant role for her, but her disdain for Bernstein gave her the power to fulfill it.

Bernstein walked in with his personal lawyer, William Black, who sat on the left side of him, and John Reiser, the junior lawyer from Stein, Stewart and Rothstein took up the other space next to him. Black looked to be in his 50's, dressed in the traditional lawyer uniform a two piece light brown suit. The junior looked about 35, and wore the same uniform.

Brent could be sure that they had both skillfully prepared Bernstein to keep him from answering any questions they did not want him to answer. But those types of questions were very limited. Brent had to tread rather carefully. If he pushed him too far, Bernstein could "take the Fifth;" claim his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination; and refuse to answer any question that could implicate him in the murder of April's mother and the attack against her father.

Bernstein leaned back into the tall chair, looking smug, moustache twitching. He had, no doubt, been through mock depositions with his lawyers, and was prepared for the scrutinous eye of the video camera. After giving a set of dry and boring instructions, and going through a huge set of equally boring documents to set a foundation, Brent embarked on a hunt to capture his prey. He went for shock value.

"Mr. Bernstein," said Brent, having placed several graphic photographs of April's murdered mother before him, "You do recognize this woman, don't you?"

April glared at Bernstein with burning eyes, as Bernstein avoided the photograph.

"Not really, no."

"Come on, Mr. Bernstein, you know that this is Elena Marsh, isn't that correct?"

"I can't really say."

"Mr. Bernstein, where were you on the night of November 25, 2008, from about 12 midnight through 3 a.m.?"

"I don't remember."

"Isn't it true that you were at the Marshes' home in Hope Ranch on November 25th, Mr. Bernstein?"

April's face expressed disbelief. She continued her stare down.

"No."

"Let me go back in time, a bit, Mr. Bernstein," said Brent. "Mr. and Mrs. Marsh were customers of Tentane Mutual, isn't that correct?"

"Yes, they were."

"And, in August 2006, you recommended a loan product to them, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Mr. Bernstein, this loan product had an initial interest rate lower than the prime rate at the time, isn't that true?"

"Yes."

"And it had an adjustable rate rider allowing the interest rate to adjust every year, isn't that also true?"

"Yes, it did."

"Mr. Bernstein, I'm showing you a copy of the note and deed of trust. Take a minute to look it over please."

Bernstein leafed through the copy. "Yes?"

"Does that look like the loan you sold them?"

"It looks like it could be, yes."

"And isn't it true that Mr. Marsh was worried that he wouldn't be able to make the payments in the event of an interest rate increase."

"That was a concern of his."

"And he was qualified for the loan based on the initial payments, correct?"

"Yes."

"Isn't it true, Mr. Bernstein that, in June 2007, the mortgage payments increased to $8,500 per month, as set forth in the tables in front of you, marked as Exhibit 34?"

"That looks about right."

"Mr. Bernstein, isn't it also true that, given Mr. Marsh's income when the loan was initialized, he would have not qualified for payments of $8,500 per month?"

"Objection, irrelevant," barked John Reiser.

"You can answer the question, Mr. Bernstein," said Brent. "There's no judge here."

"I don't know if he would have qualified or not," said Bernstein.

"Don't lie, Mr. Bernstein..."

"Objection argumentative," said Black.

"Join," said Reiser.

"The tables we've identified as Exhibit 31 were used by you to do rough qualifying, isn't that true?"

"Yes."

"And based on Mr. Marsh's income in Exhibit 26, there is no way he would qualify for the increased payment, isn't that true?"

"He was hoping for an increase in his business," said Bernstein.

"Mr. Bernstein, you know that is not true..."

"Objection, argumentative!" said Black.

"Join!"

"You knew that George Marsh's business was in the dumps, didn't you?"

"Objection!" said Reiser.

"It wasn't doing that well," said Bernstein.

"He told you that was why he needed the loan, isn't that true?"

"That was one of the reasons."

"And you told him not to worry about the increases in interest rates, didn't you Mr. Bernstein?" asked Brent, raising his voice an octave.

"I don't remember."

"Of course you remember, Mr. Bernstein," said Brent, raising his voice even higher. "In fact, you told Mr. Marsh not to worry about increases because you would just refinance the mortgage for him, isn't that true?"

"I don't recall. We may have mentioned some refinancing opportunities down the road."

"Of course you did, Mr. Bernstein."

"Objection, argumentative and asked and answered," said Reiser. "Counsel, are you going to continue this line of questioning?"

"Of course I am, Mr. Reiser, don't interrupt me. Mr. Bernstein, you told Mr. and Mrs. Marsh not to worry about rate increases because they could always refinance, isn't that true?"

"Like I said, I don't recall."

"Maybe this will refresh your recollection," said Brent, throwing down a new exhibit. "This is a sworn statement given by Mr. Marsh that, at the time of signing, he initially refused to sign and that you convinced him to sign by telling him that you could always refinance the loan to avoid higher payments, isn't that correct?"

"I don't recall."

"You also said, and I quote, 'Don't worry about an increase in payments. Let's get you into this loan, and you can always get into a non-qualifying loan in the next 18 months because your house is going to be increasing in value.' Didn't you say that to Mr. and Mrs. Marsh?"

"Objection," said Black. "The witness has already testified that he doesn't recall."

"And I'm refreshing his recollection. Didn't you say that to Mr. and Mrs. Marsh?"

"I may have said something like that, but I don't remember exactly."

Brent spent the morning grilling Bernstein on everything from A through Z on the Prudent Bank takeover of Tentane Mutual, including their late assignment of the Marsh deed of trust into the trust pool and the subsequent cover up.

After the break, Brent set up Bernstein for the real torture.

"Mr. Bernstein, in October 2008, you discovered, did you not, that Prudent Bank was under investigation by the FBI and a federal grand jury for alleged bank fraud, isn't that correct?"

"Yes, I did."

"And did you come to learn that the FBI had spoken to Mr. and Mrs. Marsh in connection with that investigation?"

"I don't recall."

"Come on, Mr. Bernstein, you knew that Mr. Marsh had made a complaint to the FBI about the way his loan refinance application was handled."

"I recall something about that, yes."

"And you spoke to Mr. Marsh about his complaint, isn't that correct?"

"I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help him."

"Mr. Bernstein, because Mr. and Mrs. Marsh were going to expose the illegal transfer of their loan to

Prudent Bank, you stood to lose your promotion to Vice President, isn't that correct?"

Bernstein clutched the armrests of the chair so tightly his knuckles turned three different shades.

"No!"

"Yes, Mr. Bernstein! Yes! And when you found out about what Mr. and Mrs. Marsh intended to tell the Grand Jury, you went to their house on November 25th..."

"No!"

"Let me finish! You went to their house on November 25th..."

"No I didn't!"

"And you killed Mrs. Marsh..."

April continued to look at Bernstein, although the sight of him made her sick. She couldn't take much more of him.