Chapter 4 - The Silence After the Storm.
The laughter was dead.
The courtroom was silent, but it wasn’t a peaceful silence.
It was the thick, heavy quiet that precedes a storm.
Latham looked at the pile of papers as if they were poisonous snakes.
Hale was staring blankly at the wall, his hands shaking slightly on the edge of the table.
Judge Vance leaned forward in his bench, his stern gaze now fixed on the defense.
“Mr. Latham,” the judge said, his voice dangerously low, “it appears there is significant evidence that has not been produced by your client.”
Latham opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
He tried to look dismissive, to spin some legal jargon that would make this all go away, but the evidence was undeniable.
I turned back to my mom.
She had her hand covering her mouth, her eyes wide with a mixture of shock and overwhelming relief.
She didn’t need a fancy lawyer.
She just needed her daughter.
I walked back to our table, pulling out my own copy of the papers as I sat down.
The judge looked at his clerk.
May you like
“This court is now in recess,” he stated, his gaze not leaving Headmaster Hale.
“We will resume in thirty minutes, at which time I expect to hear a full explanation regarding this highly concerning documentation.”
