"I'll allow it as a point for further review," the judge said, cutting through the argument before it could grow. "Given the conflicting timelines now before me, I'm not comfortable ruling on the obstruction and resisting charges today. I'm postponing this hearing pending further investigation into the discrepancy." She looked between both tables, unmoved by the visible frustration on Austin's side of the room. "We'll reconvene once the timeline issue is resolved."
The gavel came down light, almost gentle, but it landed on Nathan like a wall falling.
Outside the courthouse, Austin paced the sidewalk, jaw tight, phone already pressed to his ear trying to reach Ashley's office. Nathan sat on a bench nearby, elbows on his knees, staring at nothing.
"They planted that log," Austin said, ending the call, frustration bleeding into his voice for the first time since Nathan had met him. "I know they did. I just can't prove it yet."
"Doesn't matter if you know it," Nathan said quietly. "Matters if you can prove it."
Austin didn't have an answer for that, because there wasn't a good one.
The setback deepened by evening. Austin got word through a records clerk that the freight company holding Nathan's contract had been notified the truck and its remaining cargo obligations were being reassigned to another carrier pending resolution of ongoing legal matters. Someone inside the department had made a call.
Nathan's rig, his livelihood, the thing he'd built for fifteen years hauling freight up and down these same highways, was gone from under him while he sat waiting on a judge's calendar.
He sat in Austin's office that night, quieter than Austin had seen him yet: not angry, just hollowed out.
"I did everything right," Nathan said. "I told the truth from the first second those lights hit my mirror. And it still wasn't enough."
"It will be," Austin said, though even he heard how thin it sounded tonight.
"When?"