Dad puffed out his chest.
“Yes, your honor. She is a deceitful liar.”
The gavel struck the wood.
The sound ripped through the courtroom.
Foss recoiled.
His face drained from arrogant pink to chalky white.
Judge Okafor leaned forward.
“The defendant is not a switchboard operator. She is Major Mary White, senior prosecutor for the United States Federal Military Justice Office. These satellite documents carry the classified authorization of the commanding general of the Army. And you, sir, have just committed perjury and slandered a federal officer right in my courtroom.”
The words dismantled Dad’s reality piece by piece.
Major.
Senior prosecutor.
Federal Military Justice Office.
Classified authorization.
Commanding general of the Army.
Perjury.
Slandered a federal officer.
His mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
His hands, which only minutes earlier had gripped the table with absolute confidence, fell uselessly to his sides.
The same hands that had pushed grocery invoices under my bedroom door.
