When the lawyer arrived, he looked grim. "They are moving fast. They want a preliminary hearing now. They want to discredit her before she can testify against Pike. " "Can you stop it? " Eli asked. "I can represent her. " Thorne said.
"But the judge, Judge Atherton, is a hard man. He hates vice. " The courtroom was packed. Word had spread that a fallen woman was on trial. Men packed the gallery, chewing tobacco and whispering when Clara was led in, the shackles clinking. A ripple of laughter went through the room.
She wore her travel stained gray dress. She held her head up, but her face was burning. She felt naked. Every stare felt like a hand grabbing at her. The prosecutor was a slick man from Denver, paid for by the syndicate.
He did not ask about the brooch. He asked about her past. "Is it true, Miss Vale? " he paced in front of the witness stand. "That you worked at the Looking Glass Saloon. " "Yes," Clara said. Her voice was a whisper.
"Speak up," the judge barked. "Yes," Clara said louder. "And what were your duties there? " the prosecutor sneered. "Did they involve hospitality? " I serve drinks, Clara said. And for a price, did you offer other comforts?
Objection. Thorne stood up. Relevance. It goes to character. Your honor.
The prosecutor smiled. A woman who sells herself will certainly sell a lie. The gallery laughed. The sound crashed over Clara like a wave. She gripped the rail of the stand.
She wanted to disappear. She wanted to sink into the floor. She looked at Eli. He was sitting in the front row. He was not looking at the floor.
He was looking at her. His eyes were fierce, filled with a love that saw past the dirt and the shame. He nodded. A tiny, almost imperceptible motion. "Stand," Clara took a breath.
She stopped shaking. "I survived," Clara said clearly. The room went quiet. "I did what I had to do to eat. I lived in a place where men like you, she looked at the prosecutor, came to do things they would not do in front of their wives.
I saw their secrets. I saw their cruelty. She turned to the judge. I did not steal a brooch. But I saw Harlan Pike steal a life.