Page 71 of The Better Sister

I was almost done with my wine when my cell phone rang. It was Olivia. Sometimes I wondered if she had wired me with surveillance equipment.

“Did something happen?” I asked.

“The judge’s clerk called. She wants me there tomorrow at nine thirty.”

“The jury’s back?”

“They never say, because they don’t want it to leak. But, yeah, that’s my expectation.”

“Okay, I’ll be there.” I would cancel my meeting with the board and instead email the statement I had prepared for the occasion. If they couldn’t understand my decision, I didn’t want the damn job anymore.

“Are you all right?” Olivia asked.

I paused, thinking about those eight yellow lined pages of Adam’s notes. I was the one who had introduced Adam to Bill Braddock. I was the one who pushed him to work for that firm. I was the one who said we wereluckyto have someone like him on our side.

Bill had had Adam killed, and it was all my fault. And if I told Olivia, maybe the police could actually prove it. Adam, with his white-hat ways and meticulous record-keeping, would solve his own murder from the grave.

But all that mattered now was Ethan.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Do you want to ride out with me in the morning?”

“No, I’m good.”

I got into my car five minutes later. I wanted to be with Nicky.

Judge Rivera may have tried to keep the fact of the jury’s decision a secret, but her efforts had failed. There were more film trucks outside the courthouse than any other day of the trial, and courthouse security was operating the elevators to cut off access to the third floor. The courtroom was officially full.

When Ethan walked out through the side door and saw the scene, he froze for a moment. He hadn’t seemed so scared since he was first arrested. This was the juncture when we’d find out whether this was the end of a temporary nightmare or the beginning of a future that would be even worse.

Olivia whispered something to the deputy who walked them to counsel table, and the deputy nodded. She turned to Nicky and me and waved us forward, allowing each of us to give Ethan a quick hug.

The courtroom silenced as the bailiff announced that the Honorable Judge Rivera was presiding. She then announced what we had all anticipated—that she was bringing in the jury to read the verdict.

Once they were seated, Judge Rivera asked the foreperson to stand.

I recognized the man who rose from his chair as the retired owner of a masonry shop on the North Fork. I thought he had scowled a few times when I was testifying, but I hadn’t been sure about it. I had been rooting for the outlet-mall woman, but tried not to read into the decision.

The judge asked him if the jury had reached a unanimous decision.

“We have, Your Honor.”

“Will the defendant please rise?”

As Olivia and Ethan stood, Nicky reached for my hand and grabbed it. It was finally happening.

“Will the foreperson please read the verdict?”

“On count one, murder in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant not guilty.”

Ethan said something to Olivia that I couldn’t hear. She answered, and then he turned to look at me and Nicky. I reached across the bar and hugged him, then felt Nicky’s arms around me, too. This time, we didn’t need the deputy’s permission. We would stay like that as long as we wanted.

When our huddle finally broke up, Ethan looked toward the judge’s bench expectantly. “What happens to me now?”

“We’re going home,” I said. “Let’s get out of here and never come back.”

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