The financial value of that control would be she paused. "Considerable." The room was so quiet she could hear someone breathing three rows back. Then Marsh stood up. How was good?
Clara had known he would be good. He came at her from three directions. Her age, misrepresentation to the agency, her lack of any verifiable history in the territory, the fact that all of her testimony was her word against that of an established and respected landowner. "Miss Whitfield," he said in the tone of a man being patient with someone's confusion. "You arrived in Harland Creek approximately 8 weeks ago.
Is that correct?" "Yes." "You had no prior connection to this community?" "No, no family here, no history here, no standing here." "That's correct."
And yet you've appointed yourself the expert on 8 years of land dealings in this valley. I haven't appointed myself anything, Clara said. I stated facts that are documented in the county land records which Mr. Beckett has presented to this court. The records appointed themselves.
A ripple through the room. Marsh's expression tightened very slightly. You also misrepresented your age to the agency that facilitated your arrangement with Mr. Callahan. He said, I didn't state my age, Clara said.
That's different from misrepresenting it. "A distinction of convenience." "A distinction of fact," she said. I stated my qualifications. Every qualification I stated was true and has been demonstrated over the past 8 weeks.
If the court would like to hear from the Callahan children about whether I am capable of the work I said I could do, I'm sure arrangements can be made. Another ripple, louder this time. Webb tapped his gavel once. The room settled. Marsh tried two more angles.
Clara answered both of them the same way plainly, without emotion, without giving him a foothold. She had spent 12 years dealing with people who underestimated her and had learned that the most effective response to being underestimated was simply to be exactly as capable as you actually were until the underestimation became untenable. When Marsh sat down, he looked like a man who had gone fishing and come back with less than he'd left with. Then something happened that nobody had planned. Webb looked toward the respondents table and said, "Mrs.
Caldwell, you may address the court if you wish. Margaret Caldwell's lawyer put his hand on her arm. She looked at it. She looked at him. Then she looked at the room.
She stood up. Marsh said quietly and urgently, "Margaret." She ignored him. She stood with her hands folded in front of her and she looked at Web and she said in a voice that was steady and utterly without theater. "I will not be contesting the complaint."