Chapter 10
The trial began eleven months after the dinner.
I wore a navy suit and kept my hair pinned back so the scar near my temple was visible.
Rebecca asked if I was sure.
“Yes.”
I wanted the jury to see what Adrian called an accident.
Eleanor arrived in white.
Bold choice.
Harold looked old.
Adrian looked smaller.
Maya sat with Lila, Nora, Danielle, Sophie, and Eli.
The first day was opening statements.
The prosecutor described my dinner table.
The plan to move Eleanor into my condo.
The plate.
The 911 call.
Then Maya’s six words.
Tell them to check the basement.
The jury leaned forward.
On day two, the body camera footage played.
Officers entering the basement.
The locked room.
Lila blinking against bright light.
Sophie crying.
I heard people in the gallery sob.
Eleanor stared straight ahead.
No tears.
No shame.
When I testified, Adrian would not look at me.
The defense asked if I had been angry about the proposed living arrangement.
“Yes,” I said.
“Angry enough to exaggerate a family argument?”
I touched my scar.
“No. The plate did not exaggerate.”
The prosecutor played the dining room audio from a relative’s phone.
Adrian’s voice.
You provoked me.
Eleanor’s voice.
Don’t ruin the family over an accident.
Then my voice.
My husband just attacked me. There are twenty witnesses.
May you like
The room went silent.
This time, silence was useful.
