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“That’s quite a stack—”

“Objection. Counsel’s commentary is improper—”

Sloane raised her hand in apology. “Withdrawn. Mr.

Dominguez, how much cash did you get?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t recall.”

Ari pulled the bank statement with a single highlighted transaction out of a stack. Like a choreographed routine, she handed the document to Sloane, who extended her hand without looking. She trusted Ari enough to know it would be in her palm when she needed it.

“Would looking at the transaction from that day jog your memory, sir?”

He accepted the sheet of paper. There was no room for him to hide. “A hundred dollars.”

“Thank you,” Sloane replied, turning away from the witness stand and hitting play without looking at the TV.

The jury was enthralled as they watched Dominguez leave the register with his purchased items and go straight to the electronics department.

Ari’s lip twitched when they made eye contact. She was dying to signal to Sloane that she was doing a spectacular job dismantling his lies but didn’t dare risk looking smug or insensitive. Sloane’s eyes lingered on her before she dropped the document on the desk.

“And what is that you pulled o the shelf?” Sloane asked a second before she turned back toward him. They’d watched the videos so many times, she knew exactly what he was doing in the video without looking.

“I can’t remember,” he replied as if barely interested in the proceedings.

“Maybe I can help.” Sloane switched to an amplified image. It zeroed in clearly on the monitoring software.

“I can’t tell what that is, and I don’t remember,” he insisted.

Sloane switched back to the video which captured Mr.

Dominguez grabbing a prepaid phone from a stand before stopping in front of a shelf full of GPS tracking devices.

“Can you explain to the jury why you made a four-dollar purchase with your debit card, pulled a hundred dollars in cash, then walked all the way to the back of the store to purchase spyware, a GPS tracker, and a prepaid phone with that cash?”

As he devolved into a lying, angry mess on the stand, the jury saw him for what he was. When it was over, Sloane sat

down while the defense attorney did what he could to repair the damage his client’s arrogance had caused.

Ari glanced over at her. Sloane was perfectly composed, a stark contract to Ari’s barely contained impulse to jump up on the table and yell Hoorah!

Instead of cheering, Ari slipped her hand under the table and gave Sloane’s wrist a squeezed. She’d never tried to convey so much in such a small act. Sloane’s lip twitched as she looked at her out of her peripheral vision.

They’d done everything they could. Now it was up to the jury.

CHAPTER 29

SLOANE TILTED BACK in her seat, propping her bare feet against her open desk drawer. She hadn’t had time to break in the new shoes, but she’d agreed with Arwyn that this trial required something more understated than she normally wore.

“How long is the judge going to keep them there?” Arwyn asked, pacing barefoot around the room while repeatedly thumbing over a packet of post-its in her hand as if playing a little flipbook movie. “It’s almost eight.”

Sloane resisted the urge to tell her to sit down and stop manifesting her anxiety all over both of them. She was nervous too. They hadn’t expected the jury to deliberate so long. Hadn’t they definitively proved their case?

“According to Chin Dimple, our judge has been known to keep juries deliberating well into the night if they feel they might be close to a verdict. If they are willing to stay along with the clerk, he’ll let them stay. He’s big on not making people eat hours of tra c and miss work just to come in for a couple of hours to finish up the next day. Apparently, he’s

been admonished for it before since sta and security have to stay, but he refuses to stop.” Sloane shrugged.

Arwyn stopped pacing and her head swiveled in her direction. “Chin Dimple?”