“Sit down,” Judge Bennett said, without raising his voice, and Michael sat.

But he could not stop himself.

“She manipulates everything!” he said, pointing at me.

“She takes numbers and makes innocent people look guilty!

It’s what she does!” I had heard variations of that accusation throughout my entire career, from every person I ever caught.

It is always the same, and it is always wrong.

Numbers do not manipulate people.

People manipulate numbers.