The courthouse was wrapped in a silence that almost felt rehearsed, nothing moved unless it had to.
Marble floors stretched like still rivers under the ceiling lights, and every door closed with the sound of something decided. Folders waited in neat, accusing rows, their contents already decided by ink that would not fade.
Merlina sat on the wooden bench outside Courtroom 2B, her palms pressed together, the same way they had been the night her mother died. She hadn't realized she was doing it until her fingers started to ache.
Four weeks.
Four weeks since the second worst day of her life and somehow, she still couldn't answer Craig's phone calls. It wasn't that she didn't want to, it was that she didn't know what to say anymore.
Because every time her phone lit up with his name, she heard another voice in her head.
"Don't let your mother's death be for nothing, Merlina."
"If there's even a tiny bit of truth in what I'm telling you, then it's worth testifying."
