Chapter 19: Palmer Takes the Stand

Willa's POV

The trial of Palmer Boteler and Gisela Hungerford opened on a Monday in November, and by Thursday the courtroom had no empty seat.

Palmer's lawyer stood up and called Finbar to the stand.

I sat in the second row with Theo's tiny sock in my fist.

Kylie sat at the end of the row in a gray suit, her hands folded in her lap.

She had pleaded the week before, and she had told her whole story to the jury on Tuesday without once looking at our mother.

"Mr. Lovelock." The lawyer held up a printed frame. "You posted a clip of the staircase online at two in the morning."

"Yes."

"You edited it."

"I trimmed it."

"You cut out something you didn't want the public to hear."

"Yes."

A murmur ran along the benches.

The lawyer smiled at the jury.

"What did you cut, Mr. Lovelock?"

"Half a minute of Mrs. Boteler speaking to me," Finbar said.

"And what did she say?"

"I'd rather play it."

The lawyer's smile wobbled.

"The court may have the full file," Finbar said. "I gave a copy to the prosecutor on Friday. It has not been touched."

The judge nodded to the clerk.

The big screen woke up.

It showed the living room at three-twenty, balloons and cake, my own voice low and clear over the party noise.

Keep your lens on the stairs, whatever happens. Don't look at me.

I heard it in the silence of the room, and I did not look away.

Then the screen cut to the ceiling camera, and my sister climbed the stairs alone.

Palmer's lawyer sat down very slowly.

"Mrs. Boteler knew," he said. "She wanted her sister to fall."

"No," said the prosecutor, standing. "She wanted the truth to fall where everyone could see it. Mr. Lovelock, who edited the original?"

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