Chapter 28: The Trial

The young mechanic turned the phone so the whole counter could see.

"She's lying," he said. "We all saw the video. Four hundred people saw the video."

"Four hundred people saw a hand on a wheel," Raymond said. "Her lawyers will spend all summer saying whose."

Stool Nine put his cup down.

"That woman would sell her own shadow," he said.

In June Daniel stood in a courtroom in San Francisco and pleaded guilty.

Accessory to a hit-and-run causing death. Obstruction. Planting evidence.

He agreed to testify. His sentencing would wait until after her trial.

He never came back to my door.

In July Lily's left eye got its turn.

In August she got pink glasses, and the menu board stopped being a smear.

The trial started the last week of September.

The courtroom was bigger than the family court, all dark wood and cold air.

The gallery was full every day.

The church sat behind the prosecutor, in Sunday clothes on weekdays.

The crew sat in the front row, the young one in his borrowed tie.

The assistant sat alone at the end of the second row with his lawyer.

Vivian sat at the defense table in a cream suit, with her hair pinned up and soft.

On the first day she wore the pear diamond.

On the third day she didn't.

I testified on Tuesday.

I told the jury my mother's last words.

I told them about 2:10 in the morning, the wet coat, the glass in the sink.

Vivian's lawyer stood up to cross-examine me.

He was the one from the courthouse steps.

"Mrs. Chen. You hate my client."

"Yes."

He blinked.

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