Two Stones, Under Oath

The hearing room had a window facing the harbor, but the fog made it look painted shut.

Imogen sat behind Sera and her solicitor, with Ferro across the aisle and the prosecutor arranging papers on the table. The replacement ring was not in the room. The wax report was. So was Saye’s signed statement, sealed in a clear evidence sleeve, its careful qualifications visible in his small handwriting.

Sera had not spoken to Imogen since they entered. Her solicitor leaned close and murmured something. Sera listened, then shook her head once.

When the magistrate asked whether the defense intended to call her, the solicitor stood. “We do.”

The prosecutor looked up, almost too quickly. Sera saw it. Her mouth tightened.

The solicitor turned to her. “You understand you’re not required to testify.”

“I understand.”

“You don’t have to fix what they’ve made of your statement by taking the stand.”

Sera glanced toward the papers in the prosecutor’s hands. “They’ve made it already.”

The solicitor held her gaze for a moment, then nodded. Sera stood.

Imogen watched her take the oath. Sera’s fingers were steady on the rail. She kept her eyes on the magistrate, not on Imogen.

The prosecutor began with the back door. He asked how far Sera had been from it, what she had seen through the opening, how long the hand had remained in view. Sera gave short answers. A hand and sleeve. No face. A ring on the right ring finger.

“Please describe the ring.”

“One dark stone. One pale one.”

“Which was nearer the fingertips?”

“The dark one.”

“And the pale stone nearer the wrist?”

“Yes.”

He paused as if she had given him something he hadn’t expected, though the answer was already in the file. “That is the same arrangement you described to Detective Calloway?”

“It is.”

The prosecutor looked down at his notes. “You had seen Mr. Quill wear a ring like that?”

“A matching one.”

“On his right hand?”

“Yes.”

“And you knew how he wore it?”

“I knew how he wore his.”

The pause that followed was small, but Imogen saw Sera notice it. The prosecutor had offered her a bridge and waited for her to cross.