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CHAPTER 16

THE PRESS AND the public, now seated in the gallery, shifted and stirred when the courtroom’s side door opened. Necks craned as two court officers escorted Esteban Dario Garza through the doorway and to his place at the defense table.

Dario was trim, and wore his dark hair slicked back. His blue suit, white dress shirt, and casually knotted indigo-striped tie were expensive looking, and despite an uncool accessory—a pair of iron shackles around his ankles—he wore an air of invincibility that looked like the real thing.

Yuki observed all of this as Dario hobbled across the well of the courtroom. He shook hands with his attorneys, grinned when he got a double handgrip from Credendino, and took his seat beside his counsel. But he wasn’t through making his entrance. Yuki noted that when Dario flashed his perfect smile at the jurors, three of them smiled back.

Nick was studying his phone as if it held the secret to eternal life. Gaines abhorred Dario. Couldn’t stand that the public viewed him as some kind of celebrity. Dario was not only a feature at nightclubs; he also had bragged to the press that his family gave back to their neighborhoods in Mexico and the United States.

Of course, Dario looked nothing like the killer the State had to prove he was. What Yuki knew was that Dario was the ultimate monster, a serial killer so good at extinguishing innocent life that he had left no trace of his crimes, not on him or on his victims. Only one of his alleged kills had been observed by a still-living witness. That witness was currently housed in a hotel room under a false name. Said witness had lost about ten pounds since he’d agreed to testify against Dario. He could still back out at the last moment due to sheer terror. The man was lucky to be alive and knew it.

“Thought should be given,” Yuki had earlier told Credendino and Judge Orlofsky, “to sequestering the jury.”

That suggestion was still under consideration.

Now, as Judge Orlofsky banged his gavel, Yuki’s mouth went dry. No matter how many times she tried a killer, she felt the enormity of her responsibility. Her nerves knotted up until she spoke. And then the feeling passed.

Orlofsky said, “Ms. Castellano. Are you ready with your opening statement?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

Yuki got to her feet, stepped out to the center of the well, the space between the judge’s bench and the lawyer’s tables, and faced the jury.