I glance up. When our eyes meet, my face registers for him. For the past seven months, Lawrence has been distracted; or maybe it started earlier, when I jetted off to school the year before. Though he looked at me, it was clear he wasn’t seeing me. Before that, he was always aware of my presence. There was a pulse in the air, a live wire joining his body to mine.

Now I feel like we’re reconnecting again, which makes me unreservedly blissful. At the same time, I hear the type of porn Billy was watching before the party on March 24. “The defendant focused on subjects like Gangbang, Hardcore, and Dominance,” the IT guy says. He gets nervous, starts spelling out words he’s unable to say. “Videos called U-g-l-y B-i-t-c-h Gets F-u-c-k-e-d and Drunk Girl Gets a Mouthful.”

Fear blooms in my chest. My heart starts to race. You’re repulsive. A man’s hand reaches down; I see a flash of naked skin. Blue sheet with tiny pink flowers. A patch of wiry hair.

“You okay?” Lawrence’s whisper is thick with emotion. “Sweetheart?” His hand reaches down, he touches my own naked skin. Every nerve feels electrified. “Cass?”

My chest flutters. A cyclone whips up inside me. Dizzy, I shake with its force.

“Fine,” I say.

I’ve split. One me is here. The other has taken off. Calm down, I coach myself. Slow and steady. Just breathe. My head is buzzing. Light flashes in my eye.

“Fine, fine, fine,” I assure Lawrence. “I swear.”

Next up is Dr. Helmsley Fordyce, renowned psychiatrist, porn expert, Cambridge scholar, and Harvard professor whose bona fides make even Eleanor sit tall and take notice. Dr. Fordyce is a silver fox, a charismatic man in his sixties with a plume of gray hair and a British accent that makes him sound simultaneously wise and ironic.

After offering a lengthy intro and résumé, Anderson digs in. “Dr. Fordyce, what can you tell us about men like the defendant who start watching porn at a very early age?”

Dr. Fordyce nods. “Approximately seventy-three percent of males who start watching porn before age ten are more prone to erectile dysfunction than males who start watching when they’re older. Similarly, of these men, sixty-eight percent admit to having negative feelings toward women. And ninety percent admit to harassing, abusing, and committing acts of violence, specifically against women.”

“Ninety percent,” the DA says. “Ninety percent of young men who watch porn admit to committing acts of violence against women.”

“Objection!” DeFiore shouts.