“Faking a sickness to get more time is a rookie play, Harold,” Helen said. “You’ve been doing this long enough to know that.” Helen rather enjoyed calling Page by his first name, which she regularly did when they weren’t in an official proceeding. Page had been on the bench so long, Helen figured his wife probably answered, “Yes, Your Honor,” when he asked for sex after turning off the lights in their bedroom at night. She knew that the informal address irritated him, and that was why she did it.

“We’ve both known Lou for an awful long time, Helen,” Page said, also forgoing formality. Helen could tell that it pained him to do so. “Have you ever seen or heard of him telling a lie to get out of court?”

Helen hadn’t, but she wouldn’t give Page the satisfaction of agreeing with him. “He looked fine this morning,” she said.

“Really? I thought he appeared a little pale.”

Helen chuckled. “That’s because he knows he’s going to get his butt kicked. There were a lot of pale faces in court today.”

Page sighed and pushed himself off the desk. “You may be right, but all the same, Lou’s never lied to me before. I’m going to continue the trial until nine in the morning.”

Helen gave him a tight smile, knowing that further argument would be fruitless. “Then I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Page walked around Helen to the door and, after twisting the knob, paused in the opening and gazed at her over his shoulder. “Any chance y’all might settle? Seems like there would have to be room for a deal in this situation.”

Helen shot a glance at Gloria, who was now sitting behind her desk. The assistant prosecutor crossed her arms and averted her eyes, making Helen wonder if the judge had planted the seed of a settlement with Gloria while pleas were being taken in the other cases. Helen gritted her teeth and turned back to His Honor. “Why is that, Harold? Because the defendant is rich and about to open an auto plant?”

The judge’s jaw tightened. “I was thinking more about the victim and her mother. This trial will be torture for them and . . . could air a lot of dirty laundry.”

Helen glared at Page, feeling sick to her stomach. “Not if the judge on the case follows the law.”