Wedding Night Confession: Husband Said I Slept With Your Best Friend novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Exhibit Four

Miriam's POV

The preliminary hearing was on Monday morning, in a Madison courtroom with a high ceiling and long wooden benches.

I sat in the second row with Declan on my left and Hazel on my right.

His mother had found me in the hallway before we went in.

She had stood very straight, with her purse in both hands.

"I asked for your ring in front of eighty people," she said. "I'm sorry, Miriam."

"Thank you."

"I was wrong about her, and I was wrong about you." Her chin shook. "May I sit with you?"

I had moved over and made room.

Now she sat beside Hazel with her hand pressed to her mouth.

The gallery behind us was full.

A group of women sat in the last two benches, close together, not looking at each other.

The email had reached them at noon on Sunday.

By Monday morning, six of them had called the Madison detective, and others had simply come.

None of them had ever told anyone.

The judge took the bench, and the room stood.

Two officers led Tierney in.

She wore a beige jail uniform, and her hair was braided back, and her cuff was gone.

I saw the pale line on her wrist where it had been.

She looked for me, and found me, and smiled.

I looked at the judge.

"The state calls Darren Bristow," the prosecutor said.

The side door opened.

Darren walked in with a deputy at his elbow, in a gray suit that was too big on him.

He did not look at Tierney.

He took the stand, put his hand on the book, and swore.

"Mr. Bristow," the prosecutor said. "Tell the court about October, ten years ago."

Darren cleared his throat.

"Everything I told Ms. Halsey at the diner is true," he said. "Here is what I held back. Tierney wrote the text she'd send Miriam afterward before I ever touched her. She read it to me to see if it sounded right. It said, 'He's gone. Go to the car.'"

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