4th of July

Chapter 98

I HEARD YUKI SAY, “Redirect, Your Honor.”

Then she approached me, moving quickly. She waited until I was looking into her eyes.

“Lindsay, when you fired on Sam and Sara Cabot, was your life in danger?”

“Yes.”

“What’s proper police procedure for that situation? What’s ‘by the book’?”

“You shoot to center mass to alleviate the threat, and once the threat is alleviated, you cease firing. Often those center-mass shots are fatal. You can’t take any chances by shooting at extremities. You could miss. The individual might still be able to shoot, and you’ve got to make sure the shooter can’t hurt you or other people.”

“Did you have any other choice but to shoot the way you did?”

“No. None at all. Once the Cabots introduced lethal force.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant. Now we understand exactly what happened.”

I was weak with relief when I stepped down from the stand. As soon as I took my seat, I heard the judge dismiss the court.

“See you all tomorrow at nine,” she said.

Yuki and Mickey and several attorneys from his office formed a buffer zone around me as we left the courthouse by the back door and entered the black Lincoln Town Car that was waiting for us on Polk.

Through the car’s smoked windows, I saw the angry, chanting crowd holding posters with my picture and the slogans “Loose Cannon” and “Dirty Harriet.”

“You did great, Lindsay,” Mickey said, reaching over from the front seat and patting my arm. But his brown eyes didn’t smile, and the lower half of his face looked frozen.

“I shouldn’t have hesitated. I—just didn’t know what to say.”

“No harm done. We’re going to dinner now. Yuki and I have to spend some time going over her closing. You’re welcome to come with us.”

“If you don’t need me, why don’t you drop me off at Yuki’s place. Let you guys work in peace.”

I clutched Yuki’s keys in my hand and watched the city I knew so well fly by the darkened car windows. I knew that I’d blown it. A few seconds of hesitation and everyone in the room had read my mind.

The impression that jury walked away with today was that I’d shot those kids to kill.

And, of course, they were right.