Chapter 6 - The Subpoena Room
The federal courthouse in downtown Boston was a monolith of gray granite and towering marble pillars, smelling faintly of old paper, floor wax, and tension.
It was three months later. The spring thaw had finally broken through the lingering winter chill, casting bright April sunlight across the plaza where a dozen news vans idled with satellite dishes raised toward the sky.
I walked up the grand stone steps wearing a tailored charcoal trench coat that hid the compression sleeves on my arms, my hair styled in a sleek, asymmetric bob that artfully framed the healing skin along my jawline. I didn't look down. I didn't flinch when camera flashes popped like strobes in the morning light.
Inside, the courtroom was packed to capacity. Journalists, financial analysts, curious onlookers, and legal observers filled every wooden bench.
At the defense table sat Caleb Sterling.
He looked a decade older. His tailored suits were gone, replaced by a standard charcoal defense attorney’s suit that hung loosely on his frame. His hair was grayer at the temples, his eyes hollow and bloodshot. He didn't look at the gallery when I entered. He kept his gaze locked on the polished mahogany tabletop, his hands clasped tightly together as if praying for an earthquake to swallow him whole.
Beside him sat his new lead defense counsel, a shark-like attorney named Henderson who looked ready to tear me to pieces on cross-examination.
I took my seat in the witness waiting area, my heart beating in a steady, powerful rhythm.
"Ms. Hayes?"
A federal bailiff in a crisp uniform tapped me on the shoulder. "The prosecution is calling you to the stand."
May you like
I stood up, smoothed down the lapel of my coat, and walked through the swinging wooden gate toward the witness box. Every eye in the courtroom followed my every move—the slight stiffness in my right shoulder, the quiet, deliberate pace of my stride, the unyielding look in my eyes.
I placed my left hand on the Bible, raised my right hand—firm, scarred, but steady—and swore to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
