Chapter 5

The trial began in early spring.

I hated being on the other side of the courtroom.

For thirty years, I had entered through a private door, adjusted my robe, and watched everyone rise.

Now I sat behind the prosecutor with a scar near my temple and my son beside me.

The first witness was the responding officer.

Then the emergency room doctor.

Then Detective Collins.

When Jenna testified, Carly stared at her with such cold fury that the jury noticed.

Jenna shook as she described the years of threats.

But she did not stop.

“I thought if I stayed quiet, she would leave me alone,” Jenna said. “She never did.”

Then Andy took the stand.

I had never been prouder of him.

He spoke about the glass.

The money.

The fear.

He admitted he had stayed too long because he was ashamed.

The defense lawyer tried to make him sound weak.

“Mr. Miller, are you saying you were unable to control your own finances?”

Andy looked at the jury.

“I’m saying I trusted my wife. She used that trust to hurt me.”

No one spoke after that.

When it was my turn, I walked to the witness stand without fear.

Carly’s lawyer asked about my years as a judge.

“Is it possible your legal experience has made you too certain of your own judgment?”

I looked at him.

“My experience taught me that certainty should come from evidence. That is why I called police, preserved the broken glass, sought medical treatment, and cooperated with investigators.”

Then he asked whether I had provoked Carly.

I thought about that night.

About the empty glass in her hand.

About my own calm voice.

“I refused to pour alcohol for an intoxicated woman,” I said. “That is not provocation.”

The jury returned a guilty verdict on assault, identity theft, fraud, and witness intimidation.

Carly did not cry until the judge read the sentence.

Three years in prison.

Restitution.

A permanent protective order for me and Andy.

As deputies led her away, she turned toward Andy.

“I loved you,” she said.

He looked at her with tears in his eyes.

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“No,” he answered. “You loved having power over me.”

Then she was gone.