The Family Photo That Didn't Have Me In It novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: Perjury

"Does he know about the video?" I asked.

"Not yet," the prosecutor said. "And I'd like to keep it that way until he's under oath."

"Bring the girl who saved it. Bring her phone. Nine a.m."

The courtroom was on the fourth floor of the county building, all yellow wood and buzzing lights.

My family sat in a row behind the defense table.

Mom in a navy dress with pearls. Dad in the blue suit from the news.

Amelie at the table itself, beside the lawyer in the gray suit, in a cream blouse with a bow at the neck.

The bow sat right over her left collarbone.

Griffin sat at the end of the row in a pressed white shirt.

The creases down his sleeves were knife sharp.

Mom had ironed them. I knew it the way you know your own handwriting.

She'd done mine like that on the first day of every school year, until I was twelve.

He looked at me once when I came in, and then at Bo, and then not anywhere near us again.

Bo sat down next to me with his shoulders hunched, as if the bench were too small for what he wanted to do.

"If he lies, I'm going to hear it," he muttered. "I can't help how my face does."

"Then look at your boots."

"I look at my boots, I hear it anyway."

Raegan sat on his other side with the girl from the diner, who was chewing gum and looked bored out of her mind.

← Chapter 17 · All chapters · Chapter 19 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend