Take away any one of those, and Elena dies, innocent, on schedule, and Sarah goes to her own grave never knowing for certain that she had been right to believe.

The system had not saved Elena.

A series of near-miracles had saved Elena, and the system had merely, at the last possible moment, gotten out of their way.

For a person whose whole professional faith rested on the idea that the system protects the innocent, that was a lesson with a bitter center, and Sarah would carry it into every case she took for the rest of her career.

Chapter 18 — The Argument