Deputy Kimura came through the door, pointing upward toward the court. “He’s ready,” he said.

Milne took the bench and the jurors came back in. “I have spoken with each of the jurors,” he said. “All, including juror thirteen, have advised me that they feel able to continue; therefore, I am denying the motion for a mistrial.”

Nina breathed again. She felt sad, relieved, frightened all at once. Under the table, Winston squeezed her hand.

Milne now gave the BAJI instruction to the jury covering the event that had just occurred, modifying it slightly. The jury listened intently, especially Patti Zobel, as if she wanted to demonstrate her willingness to follow the law and do a good job.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,” he said. “A juror has been, ah, incapacitated and replaced with an alternate juror.

“The law grants each party in this case a right to a verdict reached only after full participation of all jurors who ultimately return the verdict.

“This right may be assured in this case only if the jury begins its deliberations again from the beginning.”

Oh, brother, Bob Binkley’s disgusted head shake said.

“You are therefore instructed to disregard and put out of your mind all past deliberations and begin deliberating anew. This means that each remaining juror must set aside and disregard the earlier deliberations as if they had not taken place.

“You shall now retire for your deliberations in accordance with the instructions previously given.”

Milne returned to his normal tone. “It is already four o’clock, and I am sure many of us are feeling upset and would like to go home to our families. Therefore the court will adjourn at this time and resume again at nine a.m. Don’t forget the cautions I have given you.”

“C’mon, Nina, let’s go out,” Genevieve said as they walked out into a cool drizzle. She reached for Winston. In response to her gesture, he put his arm tenderly around her, engulfing her in his overcoat, and Nina thought, watching Genevieve looking up at him, she acts like she owns him now. He’s not going to like that. “I do believe we’re all gonna get paid! Hey, Win, let’s drive up to the North Shore tonight and eat at that restaurant across from the casino at Incline.”

Nina made her excuses, smiling at Genevieve’s boisterous confidence. “Maybe,” she said. “But I’m going to meet Lindy at the office and explain what all this means to her. And remember, it’s not over-”

“Till it’s over,” Winston said. “You go get some sleep if you can.” He gently moved away from Genevieve. “Thanks for the offer, Gen, but I’m going to give those tables a chance to seduce me back, because Providence seems to be smiling on us right now, and I’m going to see if she hasn’t got some extra good cheer to throw my way.”

As she crawled into bed that night, Nina had a strong feeling that this would be the last night of hellish waiting. She pulled the covers up and lay on her back, thinking. If they won-oh, God, if they won-and as usual she woke up every couple of hours to lie there and fret some more, but she did have one funny dream.

She dreamed she was going to be a star, and Sophia Loren was fixing her hair. Sophia had a new pair of sunglasses for her, too.

Right. Her subconscious was apparently doing some premature celebrating with Genevieve.

Late the next morning they got the phone call: they had a verdict. Nina and Sandy drove to court together in Nina’s car. Sandy peppered Nina with questions about pending cases, but Nina was useless. She could not speak. Her mind was utterly blank. She made the familiar motions, turning the wheel of the car, driving the familiar streets, but she saw nothing but disaster ahead, if… On the way, a naturalist on the radio ranted about the songbirds and profusion of wildflowers in Tahoe at this time of year, but he might as well have been describing life on Mars. Nina turned him off before they parked.

The whole town appeared to have come out in force to hear the verdict, a testament to the extraordinary amount of media coverage the trial was receiving. Every seat was filled. Many people stood at the back of the room.

Nina took her place next to Lindy. Sandy sat on the other side of her. Genevieve and Winston were already waiting. They nodded shortly and turned their attention to the dais. Nina crossed her fingers on her lap and also waited for Milne with an eagerness so extreme it felt painful.

The next few minutes, while the judge got settled and the jury was brought in, she passed through eternity and came out the other side. If they lost…

Mrs. Lim adjusted reading glasses on her nose. She cleared her throat, looked up at the court, and then back down at the paper she held in her hand. She read the verdict.

They had won.

The jury awarded Lindy Markov a total of sixty-eight point six million dollars.

Nina anchored herself to the table with her hands, suddenly unable to see through the blur of activity, or hear through the din. Dimly, she saw the judge leave, and the jury, casting smiles her way, filing out.

They had won.

The room around her rocked like a foundering ship. Nina’s awareness narrowed to the whiteness of her hands and further to the sensitive tips of her fingers where they held tight to the wood as wave upon wave of elation swept over her, knocking the breath out of her.

They had won.

And she couldn’t believe it. Because in spite of all the plans, in spite of the fantasies, she had never expected to win.

Her sense of unreality extended into her surroundings. The courtroom had altered, and now appeared more palatial, grander, as if the roof had opened up and sun now streamed in where dull incandescents had once prevailed.

Steadying herself, trying to control the distorting tumult of her emotions, she stood up.

Lindy had squeezed her lids down tight over her eyes. Riesner talked rapidly into Mike’s ear.

Mike’s face looked drawn. On the way out, he fell against a guy from CNN who was leaving one of the rows and who just managed to catch him.

“Congratulations,” the crowd in the courtroom told Lindy and Nina, who fielded a dozen handshakes and high fives.

Lindy’s friend Alice hugged Nina, saying, “You did it, doll. It’s a left hook to the face of all those grinning baboons out there!”

Lindy grabbed Nina by the arm. “My God,” she said. “If my dad could see me now!”

“Lindy, I’m so glad for you,” said Nina, but the words fell flat. Nothing short of a mountain falling down could truly articulate something so huge and so fantastic.

She could feel Lindy’s fingernails squeezing into her arm, could smell the excitement in the close air of the room. She could hear the voices, all merging into pandemonium. She stood still, soaking up the sweetness of the moment, thinking of Bob.

But the crowds were pushing, and Lindy’s hand on her arm began to tremble.

“Let’s get out of here,” Nina said.

“We’re trapped,” Lindy whispered, looking panicked.

“We’ll have more to say later when it sinks in,” Nina said to the reporters, pulling Lindy away.

“Take the private hallway,” she told Lindy and Alice. “Stay there until they’re gone.”

“Thank you for everything, Nina,” Lindy said, clinging to her hand.

“It’s a goddamned triumph,” Alice said, pulling her away and hustling her through the door by the jury box.

And a triumph it was.

With Genevieve and Winston on one side of her and Sandy on the other, Nina gave the victory salute on the steps of the courthouse seen across California and the country on the evening news.

That evening, Matt and Andrea came over with two bottles of champagne. While the kids took pillows off the sofa and bounced down the stairs on them, the adults grabbed jackets and retired to the deck.