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Frank Haelo Michele's turn

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury Over the last five days you have heard a lot of couments, some of them from me, and some of them from Mr Hammond Unfortunately it had to be that way The scale of the fraud at Quorum: seventy-five billion dollars"

Angelo Michele paused to let the impact of the number sink in Even after so many months of repetition, the sheer size of the Brooksteins' theft never failed to shock

"means that, by its very nature, this case is complicated The fact that the bulk of thatmakes it even more complicated Lenny Brookstein was a wicked man But he was not a stupid man Nor is his wife, Grace Brookstein, a stupid woman The paper trail they left behind them at Quorum is so complicated, so impenetrable, that the truth is, we may never recover that money Or what's left of it"

Angelo Michele looked at Grace with naked loathing At least two female jurors did the same

"But let me tell you what's not complicated about this case Greed"

Another pause

"Arrogance"

And another

"Lenny and Grace Brookstein believed they were above the law Like so many of their kind, the rich bankers on Wall Street who have raped and pillaged this great country of ours, who have taken taxpayers' money, your money, and squandered it with such shameless abandon, the Brooksteins don't believe that the rules of the Little People apply to theentlemen Do you see a woman who understands what ordinary people in this country are suffering? Do you see a woman who cares? Because I don't I see a woman born into wealth, a woman married into wealth, a woiven right"

Up in the gallery, John Merrivale whispered to his wife

"This isn't a l-legal argument It's a witch hunt"

The district attorney went on

"Grace Brookstein was a partner in Quorually responsible for the fund's actions She was morally responsible for them Make noAnd she supported and encouraged him every step of the way

"Don't let the coentleon and paperwork, all the offshore bank accounts and derivative transactions, what happened here is really very sireedy She stole because she thought she could get aith it"

He looked at Grace one last time

"She still thinks she can get aith it It's up to you to prove her wrong"

Grace Brookstein watched District Attorney Angelo Michele sit down He'd given a bravura performance, far more eloquent than Frank Hammond's The jury looked as if they wanted to burst into spontaneous applause

If he weren't trying to destroy me, I'd feel sorry for him Poor man, he's tried so hard And such passion! Perhaps, if we'd met in other circumstances, we'd have been friends?

The general consensus in the media was that the jury would take at least a day to deliberate The mountain of evidence in the case was so enormous that it was hard to see how they could review it any quicker But in fact, they came back to Court 14 in less than an hour Just like Frank Hammond said they would

The judge spoke solemnly "Have you reached your verdict?"

The foreman, a black man in his fifties, nodded "We have, Your Honor"

"And how do you find the defendant? Guilty, or not guilty?"

The foreman looked directly at Grace Brookstein

And smiled