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The packed courtroom erupted in loud exclaavel

“What did she say? What did she say?” Gaines asked Yuki, even as the judge thanked the jury and dismissed them

Yuki felt sick, physically ill She’d lost She’d lost, and she’d let everyone down — the police, the DA’s office, the Campions, and even Michael Her job and her passion had been to get justice for the dead boy, and she’d failed

“I shouldn’t be doing this kind of work,” Yuki said to herself She stood abruptly

Without speaking to Parisi or Gaines, she turned around and said to the Campions, “I’m very sorry”

Lowering her eyes, Yuki pushed her way into the crowded aisle and left the courtroom

Chapter 92

YUKI SAW TWILLY RISE froallery and move to follow her out of the courtroom and into the hallway, that bastard She worked her way through the knots of people in the corridor, shoved open the door to the ladies’ room, found an empty stall, and locked it She sat with her head in her hands for long minutes, then went to a sink, washed her face, and slipped on her sunglasses

Once back in the hallway, she headed for the fire exit, heart still knocking inside her chest as she walked quickly down the staircase, herthe verdict, still shocked that the jury had found Junie Moon not guilty The public would go berserk when they learned that Junie Moon was going to get out of jail free They’d blaht to do it

It was her case and she’d lost

Yuki opened the door into the lobby and, with her head doalked out of the gray cubical building into the equally grayLen Parisi was on the top step of the courthouse, standing like a red-haired sequoia inside a clu theirquestions

She saw star TV reporters, Anderson Cooper and Rita Cosby, Diane Dimond and Beth Karas Cameras rolled as Parisi told the press whatever politically correct blah-di-blah a public servant with a coronary in his history and probably another one in his future would say

Fifty feet away from Parisi, three steps down, Maria Martinez and several of the jurors were also surrounded by reporters

Yuki heard Martinez say, “We were overwhelmed with reasonable doubt” And then the video calass double doors with her ar Junie Moon

Yuki ran down the re steps to the street She saw Connor Ca open the door to a Lincoln sedan Jason Twilly was standing beside Campion, the two men deep in conversation as Yuki passed