I feel good about DeFiore’s statement. Though it was shorter than Anderson’s and less dramatic, it was unpretentious and credible. His job is to pull apart Diana’s accusations and show an alternative argument. We don’t have to prove anything; we only have to provide reasonable doubt.

We spend the rest of the afternoon listening to the State’s first witness, a woman who worked in the lab with Diana and Billy. Her wire-frame glasses and no-nonsense haircut make it easy to picture her in a white coat. Anderson leads her through a series of science-related questions that have no point, but luckily, McKay calls him out. “I trust you’re going somewhere.” As it turns out, Anderson goes nowhere, and court is dismissed.

We leave the building in high spirits. Day three is over, and still no sign of Greg Haggerty. Good news, I tell myself, clutching at anything.

42

OVER THE NEXT WEEK, THE STATE CONTINUES TO PRESENT its case. Each morning, we eat breakfast, don our trial personas, and drive to the courthouse. Despite having four cars at the hotel, plus the Bowtie’s Bentley, we cram into Lawrence’s Mercedes for the first few days. After that, we start traveling in different cars, in various combinations. The most frequent is me with Lawrence, Billy with Nate, and Eleanor with the Bowtie. But we always gather in the parking lot and walk to court as a family, a united front.

The protestors still show up every day, blocking the sidewalks and filling the streets. As the trial continues, both sides grow louder. An anti-porn splinter group has arrived, too, mostly middle-aged women in pink pussy hats. They yell pervert, pervert, pervert and wave signs saying PORN DEGRADES US ALL. Given the severity of the charges against Billy, these women seem to be missing the point.

According to Nate, I’m the one missing the point. “Porn is easy,” he explains on the fourth day of the trial. Entering the lobby, we try to ignore the hordes on the courthouse steps. “It’s shorthand for male dominance. Or female powerlessness. Or whatever dynamic puts Diana in a one-down position. For them, porn is a symbol of Billy’s debauched mind and our culture’s indifference to violence against women.”

“Listen to you.” I’m amused. “Did you just pull that out of your ass?”

“I read an op-ed. But it sounds good, right? I mean, it could be true. Then again, what do I know? You’re the scholar. I flunked out of three colleges.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. Besides, I’m so far behind in my classes, I’ll never catch up.”

“You’ll be fine. Haven’t you heard? We’re worth seven hundred mil.” He puts his arm around my shoulders. “Rich people get all the breaks.”