We went into chambers. I remember the sound of the door closing behind us. The atmosphere changed immediately, the way atmosphere changes when the formal structure of a courtroom is replaced by the smaller, more exposed space of an office where there is nowhere to project and nowhere to hide. The judge sat behind a desk. Harper, with trembling hands, gave her the tablet.
“It’s in the folder that says ‘For when I no longer believe you,’” she whispered.
The judge opened it.
The video was blurry, slightly tilted, clearly recorded from a shelf or a high surface by someone small enough that reaching the device had been an act of physical effort. It took me two seconds to recognize the room. Our living room. The low table. The gray armchair. The window that looked out over the garden. The date stamp in the corner read three weeks before Caleb had filed the divorce papers.
