Finally, I asked, “Why were you smiling?”
Melissa looked confused.
“In court.”
Understanding appeared.
“When Victor called you a pack mule.”
“Yes.”
She looked down.
“I wasn’t laughing at you.”
“Then what?”
“I knew what was in Grace’s folder.”
For the first time that day, I genuinely smiled.
Melissa did too.
“I was thinking,” she said, “‘You idiot. Keep talking.’”
A laugh escaped me.
Then another.
Suddenly I was crying.
And laughing.
Grace handed me a tissue.
“Please don’t ruin your makeup before my favorite part.”
I looked at her.
“There’s more?”
Grace’s expression became unreadable.
“Yes.”
The hearing resumed at two.
Victor had changed.
His tie was gone.
His collar was open.
Gerald Pike sat farther away from him than before.
Two unfamiliar men now sat in the rear of the courtroom.
Grace noticed me looking.
“State’s attorney investigators.”
My stomach tightened.
“Because of the recording?”
