(Cole)
After Lena and Diane left, I stayed at my desk longer than I needed to.
The door had closed behind them, but the room still felt changed. Diane had walked in ready to challenge me and left with rules she didn’t like but understood. Lena had sat beside her, quiet in the way she got when she was taking in more than she wanted to show.
I looked down at the Calloway file and opened it again.
The case was in order. The evidence was in order. The hearing date was set for three weeks from Friday, and Gerald had already been notified. Everything that mattered on paper was exactly where it needed to be.
That should have been enough.
It wasn’t.
Ryan knocked once on the doorframe and stepped inside. “They’re gone?”
“Yes.”
“How did it go?”
“Diane understands the rules,” I said.
Ryan
