Now she was sitting across from Howie Levine in the small room reserved for lawyers and their incarcerated clients.

“I’ve got to tell you, Hannah,” Howie said. “I did some research last night and it doesn’t look good.”

Howie was frowning deeply and Hannah’s heartbeat accelerated rapidly. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“I mean that you are clearly at fault.”

Hannah couldn’t help it. Her mouth dropped open in surprise. “But it was an accident! I couldn’t help hitting that man. I wrote it all out for you to explain it.”

“And I read it. I understand exactly what happened, Hannah. But I’m still telling you that you were clearly at fault when you killed that man.”

“How can that be? I couldn’t avoid him. There was no way! Are you saying that I should have run into that branch in the road?”

“No. I’m not telling you that at all.”

“Then how can it be my fault that I hit that man and he’s dead?”

Howie snapped open his briefcase and brought out a pamphlet. He flipped through the pages, stopped at one, and said, “This is the Minnesota Drivers’ Manual. I’m going to read the pertinent section.”

He cleared his throat and began to read aloud. “ ‘Your headlights, by law, must be used at times when you cannot see more than five-hundred feet ahead, and when it is raining, snowing, sleeting, or hailing.’ Did you turn on your headlights, Hannah?”

“No, but it was morning.”

“Could you see at least five hundred feet ahead?”

“Well, no. But . . .”

“Was it raining, snowing, sleeting, or hailing?”

“Yes. I told you it was raining.”

“Let me reiterate. It was raining and you could not see five hundred feet ahead. Is that correct?”

Hannah didn’t want to answer, but Howie was her lawyer and she had to be truthful. “Yes.”

“And yet you neglected to turn on your headlights?”

Hannah took a deep breath and nodded. “It wouldn’t have helped if I’d turned them on, but . . . yes, I neglected to turn on my headlights.”

“Thank you. Now on to the second part of the paragraph. The Minnesota Drivers’ Manual reads ‘If you cannot see a safe distance ahead, pull off the road and stop until visibility improves.’ Did you do that, Hannah?”

“You know I didn’t.”

“All right then. Do you see why Chad Norton had reason to file charges against you?”

“I admit he had a right to file charges, but give me a break, Howie! There were extenuating circumstances.”

“What were those extenuating circumstances?”

“Lightning was striking all around us when we were driving past Winnie Henderson’s pasture. The truck was the tallest object around and I wanted to go around the bend and pull over under the trees. I figured that if lightning continued to strike around us, one of the trees would be hit and not us. I was in reasonable fear for my life, Howie. And it wasn’t just my life. Lisa was with me in the truck, and I was in reasonable fear for her life, also.”