Pierce gave a short laugh. "Your Honor, are we seriously going to accept digital-forensic testimony from a teenager who hasn't finished college?"
"I'm not offering an expert opinion," Elijah answered. "I'm pointing to a conflict between two records the city itself produced."
"And he intends to resolve that conflict with what? An internet search? A late-night theory?" Pierce turned toward the judge. "The state has presented a qualified accountant, properly authenticated logs, and a coherent financial trail. We should not require a new trial every time a family member discovers another spreadsheet."
Harrison looked at the printouts for a long time. He agreed that the defense had raised a question worth exploring, but he would not let Elijah give technical expert testimony simply because he had detected discrepancies. He allowed Bennett to mark the documents for identification and promised to revisit their admissibility if a qualified witness could explain them. The motion to exclude Exhibit 42 at that stage was denied.
It was a narrower ruling than Pierce's triumphant expression suggested. Elijah understood the distinction intellectually: being unable to testify as an expert was not the same as having no evidence. But the emotional force of it was devastating. Sarah lowered her head, and Elijah heard himself asking the judge to look at just one line of the raw data.
"Mr. Cross," Harrison said sharply, "I have ruled. If you interrupt again, I will require you to sit in the gallery and leave the presentation entirely to counsel."
Elijah froze. Bennett guided him back to his chair while Pierce gathered her materials with the satisfaction of someone who believed the defense's last strong point had collapsed. The jury returned and saw a calm prosecutor beside a shaken young man. That was all they had to judge about the hearing they had missed.
Pierce resumed her questioning, walked Keene through the simplified chart, and asked whether Exhibit 42 accurately reflected the city's collected authorizations. Keene answered yes, as far as the source records he had been given were concerned. He had not performed a forensic examination of the fourth-floor machine and had not seen some of the newly produced maintenance correspondence. No one in the jury box yet knew why either omission mattered.
At the end of the day, Pierce announced that the state expected to rest its case the following morning. She described the evidence as overwhelming and asked Harrison to limit any further defense requests that might prolong the proceeding. Harrison said the court would address motions when they were properly presented. Then he adjourned.
The courthouse emptied gradually. Elijah sat at the defense table after the bailiff had cleared the jurors from the room and stared at the numbers in his notebook. Sarah had been taken to a temporary holding area for a scheduling conference, leaving him alone with Bennett. She waited until he spoke.
"They aren't going to listen," he said.