“Sir…” Ethan whispered, voice cracking. “I can’t find the evidence.”
Brooks looked irritated.
“What?”
“The USB… it’s not here.”
Brooks closed his eyes like a man hearing the end of a story he already knew.
“Then we’re done.”
Up front, Salinger smiled wider.
Paula kept her eyes down, but her mouth curled in the faintest smug line.
The judge flipped through the file.
“Does the defense have additional evidence to submit?”
Brooks exhaled.
“Your Honor… no.”
It felt like the gavel was already falling.
And then—
the courtroom door opened.
Everyone turned.
A clerk rushed in, walked straight to the bench, and handed the judge something wrapped in a cloth.
Ethan’s chest seized.
It was his USB drive.
The judge looked at it for a moment… then looked directly at Ethan.
“Before we begin,” she said, “I need to clarify something.”
Silence.
“This morning, I had a roadside incident. A flat tire left me stranded and at risk of arriving late on my first day as the presiding judge of this court.”
Murmurs swept the room.
Salinger’s brow tightened.
“A citizen stopped to help me without asking for anything in return,” the judge continued. “Because of him, I arrived in time to do my duty.”
Ethan felt like his heart might burst.