4th of July

Chapter 92

AS THE COURTROOM EMPTIED, Yuki directed her full five-foot-two presence toward the judge.

“Your Honor! Move for a mistrial,” she said.

The judge waved her to the bench, and she and Mickey as well as Broyles and his second chair clumped up to the front.

I heard Yuki say, “The jury had to have been prejudiced by that freaking alarm.”

“You’re not accusing the plaintiff of deliberately setting off that ‘freaking’ alarm, are you?” asked the judge.

“No, of course not, Your Honor.”

“Mr. Broyles?”

“Pardon my language, Judge, but shit happens, and what the jury saw is an ongoing feature of Sam Cabot’s life. Sometimes the ventilator malfunctions and the kid could die. The jury saw that. I don’t think it made our case any stronger than the fact that Sam’s in that chair and his sister is dead.”

“I agree. Motion denied, Ms. Castellano. We’re going forward tomorrow morning, as planned.”