Outside the courtroom, a man who sat in the back gallery approaches Haller. He introduces himself as Jack McEvoy, a writer who covers technology’s dangers and wants to discuss something mutually beneficial. Haller senses this might be promising and agrees to meet for 10 minutes in a vacant attorney conference room for privacy.

In the attorney room, Haller recognizes McEvoy as the author of three nonfiction books about technology misused by criminals: The Poet, The Scarecrow, and Fair Warning. Haller remembers Fair Warning, which dealt with the unregulated DNA industry. McEvoy now writes a Substack column covering technology’s follies, also titled “Fair Warning.” McEvoy explains that Haller’s case could become a book, podcast, or movie about generative AI. He offers his research and expertise in exchange for inside access, promising not to publish until after the verdict.

Haller internally acknowledges being overwhelmed by the technical discovery and needing help, but outwardly maintains skepticism. He says he took the case on contingency with no money for researchers. McEvoy clarifies he wants only access, not payment. Haller says he must consult his client first. McEvoy gives Haller his business card, which highlights the letters “ai” in its Fair Warning logo, similar to Tidalwaiv’s branding. Haller promises to be in touch.

Walking to the Criminal Courts Building, Haller calls his investigator, Dennis Wojciechowski, known as Cisco, to update him on the hearing and request a background check on Jack McEvoy. Cisco expresses wariness about bringing a stranger onto the team, but recognizes McEvoy’s name, noting that his wife Lorna, Haller’s office manager and ex-wife, is a fan of the writer’s work.

Feeling paranoid about Tidalwaiv’s surveillance—founder Victor Wendt promised stockholders the case would go away—Haller looks over his shoulder. After slow elevators and security, Haller reaches the District Attorney’s Office and uses wanting to discuss their daughter as a pretext to see Maggie McPherson, his first ex-wife and newly elected district attorney. In her office, they exchange banter about their daughter, Hayley, who is taking a gap year in Hawaii.

Maggie deduces the visit is business-related. Haller brings up the juvenile case against Aaron Colton, which intersects with his civil suit. Haller explains Tidalwaiv’s AI chatbot allegedly incited Colton to kill his client’s daughter and that his civil suit represents a fuller justice. He requests access to Colton’s computer. Maggie firmly refuses, citing the ongoing juvenile case. Haller argues his case is the best way to prevent future harm from the AI. Maggie questions his motives, suggesting he seeks a large payout. Haller counters that his client rejected a seven-figure settlement because she wants to prevent future deaths. Maggie correctly intuits Haller wants the evidence covertly rather than through court order.

Haller removes a black external hard drive from his briefcase and places it on Maggie’s desk, asking her to download Colton’s laptop contents onto it. He leaves, asking her to “do the right thing” (24).

At 9:00 am on Monday, Judge Ruhlin emails her rulings. She allows Rikki Patel to testify but upholds the discovery redactions, leaving Haller to decide whether to delay trial by requesting a special master. Haller is surprised, having anticipated the opposite outcome.

Jack McEvoy arrives at Haller’s warehouse office at 10:00. He immediately identifies the secure, fenced-off workspace as a Faraday cage, or space that is protected from electronic intrusion. Inside, Cisco Wojciechowski and Lorna Taylor work with printed documents from an industrial printer Lorna calls Big Bertha. They use an air-gapped computer with a 12-terabyte external drive and take it home nightly in a locking Faraday bag. Haller explains they assume Tidalwaiv will use any means to gather intelligence, gesturing to the external drive, a duplicate of the one he left for Maggie.

Cisco’s background check confirms McEvoy’s trustworthiness, noting McEvoy once served 63 days in jail protecting a source. Haller presents McEvoy with three documents: an NDA, a declaration that McEvoy is not working for Tidalwaiv, and an agreement giving Haller manuscript approval. McEvoy objects to manuscript approval, citing journalistic ethics. Haller insists that as a member of the legal team, McEvoy is bound by attorney-client privilege and the terms are nonnegotiable.

After briefly considering consulting a lawyer, McEvoy signs. He notes the irony of signing an NDA when Haller argued against one in court. Haller places the documents in an old Mosler safe that is secretly nonfunctional. He welcomes McEvoy to the team and instructs him to work with Lorna in the cage, searching for what Tidalwaiv is hiding in the redacted documents.

Haller directs McEvoy to start reviewing documents related to training and testing the AI. He tells Cisco to accompany him to see Rikki Patel. Cisco’s reluctance reveals concern about leaving Lorna alone with McEvoy. Outside, Cisco admits his distrust stems from McEvoy’s history with women colleagues. Haller tells him to trust Lorna and focus on the case.

In Haller’s Chevy Bolt during the drive to Venice Beach—a far cry from his previous spacious Lincolns—Haller explains they must see Patel before the Masons can get a stay. Cisco monitors warehouse cameras on his phone. Haller receives a text from Lorna reporting the Masons filed an appeal and Ruhlin scheduled a 3:00 pm hearing. Haller decides to proceed as if he never received the message and turns off his phone.

Approaching Patel’s bungalow, Cisco smells death. He grabs decorative pillows from the porch for them to breathe through. Through the front door’s glass, they see a printed note reading rear bedroom. Cisco finds the door unlocked, and they enter, the full decomposition odor hitting them. In the dining room, Haller sees a computer and printer surrounded by papers. They proceed to the rear bedroom, where they find Rikki Patel’s body sitting up in bed, holding a cell phone. Cisco examines an empty OxyContin prescription bottle from a Dr. Patel, a dentist with the same last name as the deceased.

Over Cisco’s objections, Haller uses a tissue to take the phone from Patel’s hand, but the battery is dead. He replaces the phone. In the dining room, Haller finds piles of unpaid bills and a sheriff’s eviction notice. Cisco confirms the side door is dead-bolted from inside. The computer is password-protected. They go back outside. Haller states his intention to attend the hearing and use the death to his advantage, though Cisco argues the death appears to be a days-old suicide.

Outside Patel’s bungalow, Haller calls the LAPD. Two patrol officers from Pacific Division respond, followed by Sergeant Finley, who recognizes Haller from his Lincoln Lawyer billboards. Finley quickly rules the death suicide and orders Haller to leave.

Haller threatens to tell the media at that afternoon’s court hearing that the LAPD is refusing to investigate the suspicious death of a key witness. Annoyed, Finley begins to arrest Haller, but when Haller instructs Cisco to call Judge Ruhlin’s clerk and report his illegal detention, Finley reconsiders. To give Finley a face-saving way out, Haller points out that the prescribing doctor on the pill bottle had the same last name as the deceased, a suspicious detail warranting investigation.

Finley accepts the pretext, tapes off the area as a crime scene, and calls for West Bureau detectives. He informs Haller he must remain to speak with detectives. When Cisco questions Haller’s actions, Haller explains that what matters for their case is not the outcome but that the death is officially under investigation.

At 4:15 pm, the emergency hearing on the defense’s stay motion begins. Three reporters anonymously tipped off by Lorna are present, along with McEvoy and Cisco. When Judge Ruhlin calls the proceedings to order, Haller immediately stands and asks to be heard. He announces that Rikki Patel is dead and characterizes it as a homicide investigation. Marcus Mason repeatedly objects as Haller implies Tidalwaiv is connected. Judge Ruhlin halts proceedings and moves the hearing to chambers. There, Marcus confronts Haller, calling his actions “bullshit” (49). A reporter asks if a witness was murdered; Haller gives an evasive but suggestive answer.

In chambers, Judge Ruhlin demands Haller explain what he knows without posturing. Haller recounts finding Patel and says police treated the death as suspicious. Marcus Mason refutes the story, claiming Haller broke in and that the police are treating the death as a suicide that occurred days earlier. Haller interjects that the door was unlocked, so he did not break in. Then Haller counters by asking how Mason knows so much.

Mason admits his firm was monitoring Patel, describing him as a disgruntled ex-employee. When pressed, Mason reveals they had a camera with audio recording on a utility pole outside Patel’s house. Haller asks if he or his team are also under surveillance. Mason denies watching Haller, his staff, or his client. Judge Ruhlin admonishes both teams for their tactics, warning against violating the law or courtroom decorum. Exiting chambers, Haller taunts Mason, who responds with an expletive.

Back at the warehouse, Haller instructs Cisco to sweep his car, Cisco’s motorcycle, and the entire warehouse with a bug detector, not trusting Mason’s denial. He has Cisco disable exterior camera feeds. Haller finds Lorna watching news about predicted powerful Santa Ana winds.

Haller enters the Faraday cage, where McEvoy reports finding something significant. He shows Haller 46 internal Project Clair emails. In each recipient list, one address falling alphabetically between Isaacs and Muniz has been redacted. Theorizing this person has detrimental information, McEvoy searched TheUncannyValley, a professional network for AI workers, for former Tidalwaiv employees. His search identified Naomi Kitchens, an ethicist whose name fits the alphabetical gap. They realize Kitchens has been completely scrubbed from all 12 terabytes of discovery.

Kitchens is now a Stanford professor teaching ethics in AI. Haller decides to fly to Palo Alto immediately to speak with her without calling ahead.

The next morning, Haller and McEvoy fly to Oakland and drive to Stanford. They arrive at Naomi Kitchens’s History of Machine Learning lecture just before it ends. She concludes by referencing IBM computer Deep Blue’s real-life victory over chess champion, Garry Kasparov. Haller approaches Kitchens alone while McEvoy waits. Kitchens reveals she recognized them as nonstudents and knows who Haller is from following his case. She immediately states she cannot talk because she feels threatened and believes Tidalwaiv is watching her.

Haller explains that her complete removal from discovery proves she is a threat to the company. Kitchens remains frightened but listens. She asks for time to think. When Haller points out the danger Tidalwaiv’s AI poses to other children, Kitchens bristles, stating that this is not her fault because she warned the company. She’s seen news of Rikki Patel’s death and fears a similar fate. When another professor named Moses enters, Haller instinctively steps in front of Kitchens protectively. Touched by his action, Kitchens agrees to meet them at Joanie’s restaurant.

At Joanie’s, Naomi Kitchens recognizes Jack McEvoy as the author of Fair Warning. Haller has McEvoy lead questioning, but when McEvoy asks why she quit Tidalwaiv, Kitchens shuts down, citing work-product restrictions. Haller steps in, but Kitchens remains wary, noting McEvoy is media. Haller changes tactics, arguing Tidalwaiv scrubbed her from records to make her the scapegoat for the AI’s ethical failures. He suggests that as an ethicist, she would have documented her warnings and likely kept copies.

Kitchens shows signs of stress. Haller proposes that if she provides her documents, he can introduce them without revealing her as the source, noting she need not testify. Kitchens wants to talk to her daughter before deciding. Her 19-year-old daughter attends USF, studies psychology, and wants to be a social worker. Haller gives Kitchens a burner phone with his number preprogrammed for secure communication. He and McEvoy leave the restaurant.

Outside, Haller returns Maggie McPherson’s calls. Maggie is panicked; her Altadena home is in a mandatory evacuation zone due to massive wildfires fanned by the Santa Ana winds. She confirms she is heading to Haller’s Laurel Canyon house for safety. Maggie informs Haller that Burbank Airport is closing due to hurricane-force winds. Haller and McEvoy discover all flights to Southern California are canceled or full. Haller decides they will drive the six hours back to Los Angeles.

Haller and McEvoy drive toward Los Angeles on the I-5, listening to nonstop radio coverage of catastrophic wildfires. Maggie calls from Haller’s house, upset that sheriff’s deputies blocked her from retrieving belongings from her own home. Haller and Maggie’s daughter, Hayley, calls from Hawaii, worried about the fires.

As they descend into the San Fernando Valley, Haller and McEvoy see the sky glowing from a massive fire in the Santa Monica Mountains. McEvoy identifies it as the Palisades fire. The sight makes Haller recall lyrics from a Dave Alvin song about California burning. They drive in awed silence toward Sherman Oaks.