“I’ve read the briefs,” she said.
“I’ve reviewed the documents.
I’ve now seen the recording.” She looked at Douglas’s table.
“Counselor, your client’s challenge is based on two arguments, both of which the submitted evidence directly contradicts.
I’m not going to ask you to restate them.” She looked at her notes.
“I’m prepared to rule.”
Douglas’s hand on the table went still.
The judge ruled in eleven minutes.
The trust was valid.
The identification was sufficient.
The challenge was dismissed.
Douglas’s attorney would have thirty days to file an appeal, but the judge noted, with a precision that left little room for optimism, that she saw no legal basis for one.
I did not cry.
I had thought I might.
Instead I felt something quieter — a settling, like a door finally closing on a room that had been open too long.
Hale shook my hand outside the courtroom.
“Eleanor would be pleased,” he said.
