Lucinda pulls into the driveway and rings the doorbell.
[Ask her flat out if she's Delaney Hammond Jr.'s lawyer, before you even identify yourself,] Bella advises. [Even if Charlie sent her, and she could be lying.]
It's not actually a lie as such. But he wants to see how she reacts, and whether she wants to hear the rest, before he tells it.
"Okay. I can probably get out about half a sentence about that before the defense lawyer objects, then, and it's anyone's guess if the judge will let me carry on from there." She produces some notes and consults them briefly. "The notebooks of documentation were submitted with a note saying that you have an eidetic memory, which is how you were able to remember all those events for your friend to write down; is that right?"
"We might want to prove that in court. Some simple feat of memory that almost no one could do. That will go a long way to indicating that the documentation wasn't pure fabrication. I'm sure we can think of something, but if you have a stock party trick to show it off, that's liable to work too."
"That'll do," Lucinda says. "The notebooks also included several mentions of injuries serious enough to leave marks. This is the sort of thing we want to be able to provide more evidence of, but we don't want you getting half-naked in the courtroom either; photographs in advance are the best choice. I can take them, or if you have someone you're more comfortable with available, that will work too."
Alice indicates the provenance of various marks—this one from the time his dad broke his ribs in November, that one from a ruler, those ones from a cane. A nasty-looking knife scar across his left hip gets "not Dad, don't bother". As previously indicated, he exhibits no strong feelings about the process.
Lucinda makes notes about which photos correspond to which incidents, and, when she's got them all, puts the camera away. "Now," she says. "This case is pretty much going to convict or acquit based on your testimony. Do you feel able to do that - sympathetically, convincingly, for as long as it takes? If not, I can see if the defense is up for a plea bargain, but I think we can win this outright if you testify well."
"Hello, Miss Swan," says Lucinda.
"Please call me Bella," says Bella.
"All right. You're comfortable testifying?"
Bella nods. "I'll have to anyway, won't I? The notebooks are in my handwriting."
"Well, it would be something of a problem if you didn't want to," Lucinda says.
"Well, I don't mind. I've been missing school anyway, since I was hit by a car," Bella says, gesturing at the "broken arm".
"I hadn't been planning to ask, but I'm glad you're recovering, at any rate," says Lucinda.
"That's all I can think of right now, but perhaps we could get your phone number," Bella continues.
Lucinda nods and writes it down for them. "I'll see you in a few days, if not before," she says, and she gets up to go. "Bye, Laney, Bella."
"Bye," says Bella.