Nora sat beside me, feeding me files and checking off names.

“The grand jury just returned indictments,” Nora said one afternoon, dropping a heavy blue binder onto my desk. “Julian, Eleanor, and Gareth. Racketeering, tax evasion, money laundering, and kidnapping.”

I didn’t look up from my monitor. “What about the bribery charges?”

“They’re holding those for leverage,” she said. “The defense lawyers are already trying to negotiate a plea, but the U.S. Attorney isn’t biting. They want a trial.”

“Good,” I said, my fingers tapping the keyboard. “We want them on the record.”

The trial began in the dead of winter, when the streets outside the federal courthouse were slick with black ice.

I sat in the second row of the gallery, holding Clara’s hand.

She wore a simple grey wool dress, her posture upright and stiff.

Across the courtroom, behind the defense table, sat Julian and Eleanor.

Julian looked smaller without his tailored suits and custom watches. He wore a plain navy blue suit, his hair slightly unkempt, his eyes fixed on the mahogany table in front of him.