“As a community, we crave fairness. We crave justice. We want someone to pay for this awful crime. It’s only natural. But in a civilized society—in the kind of society we all pray will come our way again—the justice itself needs to be fair.

“And there is no fairness in convicting a man of a capital crime in the absence of even a scintilla of hard evidence that he is the perpetrator.”

“Bring that asshole on up and have him explain himself, then,” Mr. Jake said through his giant beard from the back of the room.

Victoria hammered the lectern. “You’re out of order, Mr. Jake. That’s not how it works. That’s not how it has ever worked. Guilt must be proven against a backdrop of presumed innocence. As judge in this case, even if Mr. May wanted to testify, I would not allow it. As far as I know, the Constitution is still a viable document. The Fifth Amendment protects against self-incrimination.” She gave a nod for Rory to continue.

“Thank you, ma’am. Truth be told, I don’t have a lot more to say. You heard the witnesses. Not one was able to even place a weapon in the defendant’s hands, either in the case of Ryan Hamilton or in the case of the shootout on the mountain. Did Brandon-Lee May do bad things? Maybe. Hell, probably. Does he hang around with unsavory company? To my eye, yes, but perhaps not to his own. Is he a thief? I don’t know. Was the Grubbs gang a gang of thieves? Circumstantial evidence would lead me to say yes, but hard evidence would require us to say we don’t know.”

“You can’t let that son of a bitch go without punishment,” someone said.

Victoria didn’t see the source, but she gaveled the speaker out of order, whoever she was.

“That’s not for me to decide,” Rory said. He turned and started addressing Victoria directly. “That’s for you to decide, ma’am. My job was a very specific one—to examine the legitimacy of the accusations against Brandon-Lee May. I’ve done that job, and I think that as to the charges he faces—theft and murder, and assault and battery—the court has no choice but to find the defendant not guilty.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

VICTORIA DECLARED THE TRIAL TO BE IN RECESS WHILE SHE CONSIDERED the verdict. As she moved away from her stool and lectern, she beckoned Rory and McCrea to follow her. When she was close enough to Maggie to speak softly, she said, “Do you mind if we chat in your place?”

“Not at all. Do you want me there, or would you prefer to be alone?”

“Is it okay if I say alone?”

“Absolutely. Something tells me I don’t want to have nothin’ to do with what y’all are gonna talk about.”

McCrea and Rory seemed nervous, too.