I didn't rise to any of it.
But I clocked every word. Filed it the way Adaeze had taught me to file things, not for today, for later, for the version of this conversation that might matter in February if Catherine's name came up in any context relevant to the hearing.
She stayed another twenty minutes, working through her own drills on the next court over. Every so often a comment floated across the divider — same careful warmth as always. I answered what needed answering and let the rest go.
When my session ended, I packed my bag slowly. No rush.
I didn't look back at her court on my way out.
What I didn't see — what I learned about only because one of Maria's assistants mentioned it in passing the next day, the kind of detail that arrives sideways and lands harder for it — was Cathe
