Micah tried to follow the lawyer's words, but the many questions, repeated and restated, were giving her a headache. They had spent the past two hours reviewing her testimony, going over everything she had reported to the police about what happened the day the cashier was killed at McDonald's. Micah had wanted to help the moment she learned that Toby was accused of the killing and she had immediately contacted the police to say that the boy who was her neighbor and classmate for 10 years could not have done it. Now Trudy Hanover, Toby's lawyer, was grilling her, supposedly testing to see how she'd do in the courtroom, except Micah wondered if the lawyer didn't actually believe her.
"Ms. Landis, did you contact the police before or after you knew they had Mr. Eliot in custody?" asked Trudy.
"After," Micah said, shifting in her chair to sit straighter.
"And what inspired you to reach out to them? Did you know anything about the crime?"
"No, I was with Toby that afternoon."
"But Toby said he was alone that afternoon. If he had an alibi witness, why wouldn't he just say so?"
"We didn't want it to sound bad." Micah furrowed her brow and tried to look concerned.
"An alibi is a great thing, Ms. Landis. Why would it sound bad?"
"Because he was dating Kelly, except he was with me."
"Kelly, the young woman killed at McDonald's that afternoon?"
"Yes. He was protecting me. He didn't want me to sound like a bad person, cheating on a dead girl with her boyfriend, though I didn't know she was dead at the time. It's terrible that she died, but he shouldn't go to jail for it. He was going to break up with her anyway."
Trudy stared at Micah then slumped down in a chair across from her. She pulled her hand through her hair and sighed.
"Micah, you need to just stick to the facts," she said. "You can't keep embellishing."
"I'm not. It's all true!"
"I didn't say it wasn't. But it sounds less true the more you say about it."
"You believe me, don't you?"
"It doesn't matter if I do. Only that the jury does."
"Of course they will!" Micah lifted her hand to her mouth and chewed on her index nail. She had never been involved in a trial before, and it wasn't as glamorous as she'd imagined, but she still had her testimony to give tomorrow. It was all she'd ever wanted after watching years of crime shows and mysteries. The moment she heard about the murder in her own small town, and that someone she knew was one of the suspects, she could hardly contain herself. She called the police immediately, then went to see Toby to explain the alibi she had created for him.
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