Chapter 22: It Is Due Now

Nadine's POV

The sentencing hearing started at nine, and by ten past every seat in the courtroom was taken.

The old couple sat in the front row again.

Behind them were Marwick's finance chief, half of the Lanternfield floor and two reporters with notebooks.

Bernie sat on my left in her church cardigan with her handbag on her knees.

Thane sat on my right.

Cassidy, in the grey suit, sat on the other side of Bernie with her hand tucked into the old woman's elbow.

Trevor came in wearing a suit his lawyer had picked out, and he had gotten thinner.

He did not look for me.

The judge from Friday took her seat.

"Before I pronounce sentence, the defendant has asked to make a statement," she said. "Mr. Dunleavy, keep it relevant."

Trevor stood.

He unfolded two pages, and he smiled at the gallery the way he used to smile at a front table.

"Your Honor, I stand here a man who loved his wife," he said.

"I'd like the court to know why my marriage failed. For six years Nadine Prewitt has been involved with her employer, Thane Rayburn."

The gallery stirred.

"The Denver trip on March fourteenth was not a business trip. I have information that they shared a room."

I did not turn my head.

Under my hand on the bench, Thane's fingers closed around mine.

"Mr. Dunleavy," the judge said.

"Your Honor, I'm only explaining a motive."

"I have the rental receipt, the lot camera, the parking stub and the badge scan from that day," the judge said.

"I read them last week."

"They show two colleagues at a client meeting and an argument about a contract in a parked car."