Chapter 12 - Marisol Took the Witness Stand and Told the Truth Nobody Wanted Recorded
Marisol had never testified in public.
She practiced answering questions in Brennan's kitchen.
I played the impatient attorney.
Dale played the judge.
Hollis kept offering everyone pie.
We laughed for the first time in weeks.
At the hearing, Marisol's hands trembled.
She placed them flat on the table.
Then she described Cain's behavior at Sen.
She explained the threats against employees.
She identified the archive schedule.
She described how the backups were preserved.
Cain's lawyer suggested she wanted revenge.
Marisol looked him straight in the eye.
"I wanted my paycheck," she said.
"I also wanted people treated decently."
The lawyer asked whether she'd disliked Cain.
"Yes," she answered.
"Because he fired you?"
"Because he hurt people who couldn't fight back."
She didn't raise her voice.
She didn't need to.
The technician confirmed the video metadata.
A forensic accountant explained the payments.
A former inspector admitted receiving envelopes.
He said Cain instructed him to hurry approvals.
He also named Victor Rinaldi.
After the hearing, Marisol leaned against a wall.
Her legs finally gave out.
I sat beside her on the floor.
"You did it," I whispered.
She laughed shakily.
"I thought I'd faint."
"You didn't."
"Not until now."
We laughed until we cried.
Then the detective approached us.
He had news about my mother's disappearance.
A witness had come forward after watching the hearing.
She had worked at the old ferry terminal.
She remembered a frightened woman with a suitcase.
The woman had called herself Evelyn.
May you like
She had boarded a bus heading north.
And she hadn't been alone.
