The Littlest Prosecutor novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: A Whole Line
The school gym smelled like floor wax and hot chocolate.
I stood behind the paper curtain in a black robe that was three inches too long, holding a wooden spoon.
My teacher had drawn a gold sticker on it and called it a gavel.
"You don't have to say it loud," she whispered. "Just say it nicely. It's only one line."
It was six weeks since the night of the suitcase.
I had signed up for the pageant myself, in my best handwriting.
They were doing a play called The Three Little Pigs on Trial.
I was the Judge.
I peeked through the gap in the curtain.
The gym was full, and the folding chairs went all the way to the doors.
There were parents and grandparents, and a baby somewhere who would not stop yelling.
In the very first row, with his coat folded neatly on his knees, sat my father.
He had been there since twenty minutes to five.
He had saved eight seats with scarves and gloves and a thermos.
Behind him, in the second row, were all five uncles.
The fifth uncle had brought a sign.
It said OBJECTION in glitter, and the second uncle was sitting on it so no one would see.
Aunt Jo was holding her phone in both hands, ready to film, and Grandpa Ambrose sat at the end of the row with his cane between his knees and his best gray vest buttoned wrong.
Beside him, in a green coat, with her long braid over one shoulder, was a girl who had taken a train from Providence.
She waved at the curtain, though she couldn't have seen me.
My stomach turned over.
"Birdie," my teacher said. "Are you ready?"
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