YOUR Honor, I am Antonio Bembe, Ph.D.
“Born in Latin Colombia and trained as a pure chemist here in the Caribbean Isles. Precisely at Cannon University of the West Indies.
“I happen to lecture at the same university as an Associate Professor of Chemistry.
“It’s my 25th year teaching college students this year. Then, I am in my mid-50s.
“This is all of Antonio Bembe, Your Honor.”
Professor Barbar picked it up right there, and added what he’d forgotten to say.
He addressed the judge.
“Well, Associate Professor Bembe also happens to be the one heading Cannon’s Department of Basic Sciences. It is his second year in the office.
“Now it is Dr. Bembe’s voice we just heard over the tape.”
Some murmurs went wild in the courtroom. As Barbar’s words came unexpected.
Peter was shocked at the new twist. But he enjoyed it, too. So he just sat there watching the old man’s show.
Now Barbar turned to his witness and began the questions.
“You claim it is your voice we have in this audio? How is that?”
Bembe had a confident smile. “Yes, it is my voice. And that conversation was the last I had with Lucius before he died.”
There was a big uproar that lasted a moment. Even the judge couldn’t believe this thing.
But then, he knew Professor Barbar to be a man of incredible wits. He also trusted him to be sane enough to not ruin himself.
So he stilled the audience and watched the game.
“How do you know Lucius Barnabas?”
“He was a student at my department and a friend.”
“How did you two become friends. He was a lover of art, so we share same interest in acting.”
“Can you explain the conversation we just heard?”
“It is Lucius and I regarding some lines of a play I wrote. This is the play.”
The man handed a bounded play to the court.
The defense attorney went on.
“Did you know that Mr. L. Barnabas was on drugs?”
Bembe answered. “I had no idea. If I had, I wouldn’t have worked with him.”
Barbar turned to the court and picked spoke on this.
“So, we have our answers!
“But again, the plaintiff’s lawyer might come up to say Mr. A. Bembe was the one who brainwashed his client.
“So I will question the witness to give us a clear picture, too.”
He dropped the questions for him.
“How did you know June Martinez?”
“She was a Ph.D. student of Pure Chemistry. And since she was a star in the field, everyone knows her.”
“Did you supervise her thesis?”
“No, I was only a friend. I helped her with her research. So I shared my knowledge with her, and gave pieces of advice.
“Then, I also corrected her mistakes.”
“Her mistakes? Are you saying the genius June Simeon do make mistakes?”
The man smiled. “No one is above mistakes. Yes, she is a genius. But probably because she went through school at a very young age, she does make some oversight while working.
“Still, she always ended up with great stuff all the same. So it wasn’t something serious.
“At first, I thought she was skipping those steps because she knew better. But later I saw that she didn't know those things.
“They are just basic tips any chemistry beginner would know.
“But like I said, she went through school at a young age. And she’s a genius. So she just grew and flied without having to walk first.
“Now to put it simple: it is this walking that Cannon taught her.”
Barbar picked up then. “Here, we can see that Mr. A. Bembe only nudged Mrs. J. Martinez on with words of counsel.
“But I put it to you that those words have absolutely nothing to do with brainwashing the genius.
“They were simply words of a teacher to a student.”
He faced the judge. “But then, Your Honor, before I go on, I will tell you about Antonio Bembe, Ph.D.
“Well, Mr. Antonio Bembe is a respectable man since he was young.
“He was the best graduating student of his set alongside his twin sister whom he says drives his ambition.
“Now because of his competitive spirit, the man has thrived in fields his peers wouldn’t venture in.
“And that is why he developed interest in drama and acting.”
At this point, Pedro couldn’t hold it in anymore. So he burst in a big laugh.
He’d wondered what Barbar’s plan was to bring all cards to desk. And here it was… Drama.
No, the man laughed really hard. So much he got a warning from the sitting judge.
Then, Barbar resumed.
“Professor Bembe took interest in acting for some time. So he looked around and saw Lucius, a fellow lover of drama.
“And the two men became friends, and practiced scripts together.
“Now anyone would ask why the lines they practiced looked more like the real life.
“That is because Mr. Bembe also loves writing. So he was inspired by the psychomicide case, and then he wrote the script. And practiced it with Lucius shortly before he died.
“He never knew the young man was on drugs. He never knew that he would get excited over the acting role and resort to hard drugs.
“He only did his bit because he shared the same interest with the young one.”
Barbar rested his case there. And then, Peter Pedro was called to cross examine the witness.
So Pedro stood to talk. He was still going to drop the suit as planned.
But then someone raised his hand amid the crowd in the court.
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