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She worked her way through the gathering of people at the base of the Hall of Justice steps She guessed that limpse one of the major players in the trial: Marc Christopher, Briana Hill, either of the attorneys ould be trying the case, or Judge Rathburn, as known to make colorful, off-the-cuff remarks

The courtrooallery, and as the senior criot a seat Today, with a trial attracting so o fast on a first-come, first-served basis

Breathless, Cindy joined the line, which went from the steps into the courthouse, and slowly climbed toward the security station just inside the doors When she got to the walk-throughon the table, showed the guard her pass He ran the wand alongside her body, and when her bag appeared at the end of the conveyor belt, she slung it over her shoulder and sprinted to catch an elevator

It was only eight fifteen Court wouldn’t convene until nine She would be standing outside the courtroom door when it opened

Right now, getting a seat in Judge Rathburn’s courtroom was the most important appointment of her day

CHAPTER 39

COURTROOM 23 WAS a no-frills wood-paneled roo the California state seal on the wall behind the bench, two counsel tables facing it, and eight rows of upholstered, metal-frame seats behind the bar that were divided by the center aisle

At 8:45 Yuki and Arthur Baron were at the prosecution’s counsel table, and Yuki was nerved up She felt like an athlete coainst the current cha off the cliff into the wide-open air, wearing only a wingsuit Would the wingsuit support her flight? Or would a stiff breeze dash her into the rocks?

As the hands on the clock over the side door notched ever closer to 9 aht about her preparation for this trial

Since Briana Hill’s arraign into relevant case histories of rape trials in California They had prepped their witnesses and they had fine-tuned their argu statement with Arthur until she could hit every beat without consulting her notes, but not sound mechanical when it really counted

Last week had been devoted to voir dire

Judge Rathburn had ood on his promise to help counsel select unbiased jurors, and up to a point, both attorneys were satisfied As always in picking jurors, attorneys were uesses but could often be surprised by the decisions the jurors made

No one knehat a jury was going to do, as Yuki had first learned by watching the film of the O J Siet the stunned look on criminal defense attorney Robert Kardashian’s face when his client was found not guilty His teauilty—but Kardashian was blindsided

ThisYuki had been awake before Brady She had dressed in her fighting red suit and awoken her husband for a good-luck kiss

“Today’s the day,” she said