Harlan studied him.
“And the State?”
Reid had spent his life learning how to keep a courtroom from seeing him think.
This time, there was no hiding it.
“The State cannot ethically proceed as though that testimony did not happen.”
Beside him, Harper said quietly, “The defense moves for immediate dismissal.”
Harlan cut his eyes toward her.
“You’ll get your turn, Ms. Harper.”
But there was no real rebuke in it. Only procedure trying to stay alive.
He looked back to Reid.
“Mr. Calloway, do you oppose?”
The whole courthouse seemed to shrink into that question.
Reid felt it land in his chest with the full weight of everything that had led them here: the indictment, the press, the bad blood, the long weeks of trial prep, the human wreckage sitting ten feet away.
He answered the only way he could.
“No, Your Honor.”
The words left a mark.
Harper’s head turned slightly toward him.
Harlan exhaled once through his nose and looked toward Burke.
“Sheriff.”
Burke stepped closer.
“Trooper Daniel Mercer is not to leave this courtroom unescorted,” Harlan said. “I want him separated and secured pending whatever formal action you and the district attorney’s office take next.”
Burke nodded once.
“Yes, sir.”
Danny made a broken sound from the stand.
David closed his eyes.
At the bench, Harper’s hand flattened against the wood. Reid saw it tremble once before she stilled it.
Harlan straightened.
“When we go back on the record,” he said, “I will excuse the witness, note the State’s position, and hear the defense motion. Then I will rule.”
He pinned both of them with a hard stare.
“In the meantime, neither of you will grandstand. I will not have this turn into theater because the town has been fed too much of it already.”
