Gloria handed her a stapled packet filled with the names of the defendants who were on this week’s trial agenda. Helen scanned the list for show. She had meticulously gone over the docket in her office for the past hour and knew exactly what she wanted to do with every case.

“General, can we talk?”

Helen recognized the voice without turning. She spoke while still gazing at the list of cases. “What do you want, Lou?”

“A second of your precious time,” Lou said, not feigning his irritation.

She turned and bore her eyes into his, and the large, plump man whom she had waged battle against in this very courtroom for almost three decades held her gaze. “OK,” she said.

“Zannick.” Lou spoke the name as if it pained him to say it. “Can’t we reach a resolution?”

“I’ve made my final offer.”

“Ten years with no possibility of parole is worse than what he’ll get if the jury convicts, General. Be reasonable, please.”

“He raped a fifteen-year-old girl, Lou.”

“He thought she was eighteen, and it was consensual. There are extenuating circumstances. Please—”

“No. The fact that Mr. Zannick is a wealthy playboy who’s donated a truckload of money to Martin Methodist College isn’t an extenuating circumstance.”

“I’m not talking about that, General. The girl . . . the victim may have only been fifteen, but she was sexually promiscuous. I have witnesses who say she was giving out blow jobs for one hundred dollars a pop in the boys’ locker room.”

Helen glared at the defense lawyer, not believing what she’d just heard. “Lou, under the rape shield rule, evidence of a victim’s other sexual behavior is strictly prohibited. Even if your witnesses were telling the truth, which I doubt, those facts don’t come in, and you damn well know it.”

Lou crossed his arms over his chest, undeterred. “I suppose not, but good luck finding any jurors who aren’t aware of Amanda Burks’s reputation at Giles County High. This is a small town, Helen. And while Mandy’s sexual exploits might not come in, the fact that she waited a month to report the alleged crime will.” He paused. “Do you really think a jury will believe anything she says?”

“Yes, I do. She was in ninth grade, Lou. The victim was a child, and Mr. Zannick, despite how he dresses and how much time he spends with college students, is a thirty-seven-year-old man.”

Lou took a step closer and spoke in a low whine. “General, do you want the town to lose the Hoshima contract?”

Helen folded her arms but said nothing.