Bocephus Aurulius Haynes took in a shallow breath and gazed at himself in the mirror above the sink. His eyes were bloodshot, and the dark brown skin on his shaved scalp glistened with sweat, but otherwise he felt that he looked presentable considering the circumstances. Like his head, his face was clean shaven, and he wore a custom-tailored gray suit with a white shirt and red tie. At six foot four inches tall and weighing in at a shade over 240 pounds, Bo had a hard time finding clothes off the rack that fit. This suit normally made him feel good, but all he could sense now was anxiety. His mouth and throat tasted dry, and his heavily calloused palms were clammy. Bo turned on the sink faucet and ran his hands under the cold liquid, washing them and then rewashing them. He splashed water on his face and looked at himself again, gripping the porcelain sides of the sink and trying to steady his nerves.

He thought about all the verdicts he’d waited on during his twenty-five-plus years practicing law. In the personal injury arena, there had been wheels cases, premises liability, product malfunctions, and medical malpractice. On the criminal side of the fence, he’d run the gamut early in his career, defending murder cases all the way down to first-offense DUIs and other traffic violations. He’d even been the defendant himself in a capital murder case a few years ago, though that matter had never reached a verdict, and all charges were eventually dismissed.

But never in all the time he’d spent in courtrooms across the states of Tennessee and Alabama had he ever been as nervous as he was right now.

He heard the entrance door to the restroom swing open and then the sound of loafers trudging over the worn tile. “Bo, it’s time,” a sharp voice said. “The judge has reached his decision.”

Bo squeezed the sides of the sink, and his heart began to pound in his chest. He turned to face his attorney. Burgess Cloud was a compact and trim man with curly brown hair and a pencil-thin mustache. He was widely regarded as the best domestic relations attorney in Huntsville, if not the whole state of Alabama.

“Already?” Bo asked, feeling a bit light headed. Judge Woodruff had asked the parties to hang around after the evidence had closed fifteen minutes ago, but Bo figured His Honor would have at least taken an hour to think about it.

“Yes,” Burgess said, and Bo noticed that his lawyer’s ruddy face had darkened.

“Awful fast,” Bo said. “That good or bad?”

“We’re about to find out,” Burgess said.