The very speed that had nearly cost Elena her life, the compressed brutal timeline of a scheduled execution, became, in the end, the thing that trapped him, because it left him no room to run.

He had counted on the slowness of justice, the years it usually takes for buried truths to surface.

He was undone by its sudden, unaccustomed speed.

Chapter 25 — Factually Innocent

Three days later, the district court convened an emergency habeas corpus hearing, and the courtroom was packed to absolute capacity with journalists and legal scholars and members of a community that had followed the notorious case for half a decade.

Elena Cole walked into that courtroom wearing a simple gray suit provided by her defense team.