The camera stayed on the desk lamp. After a long moment, the small hand came back into the frame. It picked up the T-rex. Then the camera shook, as if someone small had grabbed it and was holding it very tightly.
Then Nolan’s voice, very quiet, almost a whisper.
“That’s not true,” he said. “Mom doesn’t take stuff. Grandma irons everything.”
EzoicThe video ended.
Nobody spoke for a long time.
Judge Halloway took off her reading glasses and set them
on the desk. She looked at Grant. She looked at him the way you’d look at something you found on the bottom of your shoe.
Then she turned to Mr. Carroway.
“Counsel,” she said. “Did you know about any of this?”
Mr. Carroway’s face was gray.
“No, Your Honor,” he said quietly. “I did not.”
He turned and looked at his client.
“Mr. Bellamy,” he said, “I’m going to need to speak with you privately. And then I’m going to need to speak with my firm.”
Grant finally opened his
eyes.
He looked at me across the room. For the first time in two years, he actually looked at me.
“Laurel,” he said. “I can explain.”
“No, you can’t,” I said.
It was the calmest I’d felt in months.
Part Eight: The RulingWhen we came back into the courtroom, Nolan was waiting at our table with chocolate around his mouth and a half-colored picture of Yellowstone in front of him.
