Two hours later, Mary is in Montgomery having dinner with her best friend, Loucilla Payne, a political-science professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Loucilla presses her for details about Bria’s case, which has made national news. Mary tries to downplay the arraignment scheduled for the following Tuesday, but Loucilla warns that media attention will be intense and that security at the Bullock County Courthouse is inadequate. Loucilla reveals that university students are already organizing protests and compares the case’s potential significance to the Scopes Monkey Trial. She also advises Mary to “[d]o the right thing” (82)—the same words Erskine used, but with the opposite meaning. Concerned for Mary’s welfare, Loucilla suggests that she could withdraw from the judge’s race to avoid presiding over the case. Mary states that she has no intention of quitting and must fulfill her duty to Bullock County. As they leave the restaurant, they spot a man in the shadows photographing them with his phone, who flees when Loucilla calls out. On the drive home, Mary feels uneasy and repeatedly checks her rearview mirror.

On Tuesday morning, Mary enters her courtroom for Bria’s arraignment. The courtroom is filled beyond capacity. Bria sits alone at the defense table, dressed conservatively. Mary is dismayed to learn that Chuck Rich is representing Bria, recalling his poor performance in a previous case and noting that he waived the preliminary hearing—a decision that she suspects DA Reeves influenced and considers a serious mistake. Rich waives formal reading of the charge and enters a plea of not guilty on Bria’s behalf. A man in the gallery stands and shouts that Bria is a “murdering witch.”

The courtroom erupts, and Mary bangs her gavel, ordering a bailiff to remove the man. While being escorted out, the man continues yelling, claiming that he saw Bria on TV and that Nova’s mother, Starla, gave a media interview about the case. Bria bows her head, visibly distraught. Mary holds the man in contempt and orders him taken to jail. She then leaves the bench, walks onto the courtroom floor, and addresses the spectators about due process and the Fifth Amendment. Midway through, she spots reporter Reese Wilson in the back row, violating court rules by recording her with his phone. Flustered, she returns to the bench.

DA Reeves argues that Bria’s $10,000 bond is too low. Conflating Bria’s crime with murder, he suggests that she’s dangerous and a “flight risk.” Mary notices that Rich fails to object to this prejudicial language. Taking control, Mary questions Bria about her ties to the community, including her medical practice, which serves nearly 400 patients, and her home ownership. After Bria affirms that she will appear for all hearings, Mary rules that the bond will remain at $10,000.

To avoid the press, Mary leaves through the courthouse’s back door. Earl Hodge, the mayor of Union Springs, stops her by grabbing her arm. After she makes him release her, Hodge says that he needs to discuss the “situation” that the case is creating for the city, suggesting that the trial should be held elsewhere. Mary notices that he’s dressed in a flashy suit, clearly camera ready, and recalls his larger political ambitions. She tells him that the venue cannot be changed.

Hodge reveals that the Alabama attorney general’s office will serve as DA Reeves’s co-counsel to “balance the scales” (97), as Reeves believes that Mary is prejudiced against him. Mary asks who from the office will be involved. Hodge tells her that it will be Eleanor Lindquist, a name Mary recognizes, leading her to conclude that things are about to get worse for Bria.

That night, after returning to work in the afternoon and completing farm chores after dark, Mary arrives home exhausted. She eats crackers and peanut butter before falling asleep in bed with her phone. She’s awakened by a call from an unfamiliar Alabama number that goes to voicemail. The caller claims to be speaking on God’s behalf and warns Mary not to join Bria on her path to “hell.” Over the next few hours, she receives several more harassing calls, and she wonders how her private number was leaked. The final message is from a man with a deep voice who calls her a “[b]ig Black bitch in a big black robe” and threatens her life (102). Mary saves this message, mutes her phone, and keeps it in her hand, ready to call emergency services. Unable to sleep, she realizes that her normal life is over for the foreseeable future.

The narrative shifts to Bria’s perspective. Her felony charge has destroyed her medical practice through cancellations and no-shows. She has cut her office hours to mornings only, sent her receptionist home indefinitely, and posted a sign welcoming walk-ins. On a Tuesday afternoon, she’s at home watching television when the doorbell rings. She has been harassed recently, including having her personal information posted online and her garage vandalized with the word “Murderer” spray-painted in red. Through the peephole, she sees a well-dressed, young white man whom she assumes is a journalist. She tells him through the door to leave, but he knocks politely again. She opens the main door but keeps the screen door latched. The man introduces himself as Benjamin C. Meyers, an attorney and Duke Law School graduate who wants to represent her. When Bria says that she already has a lawyer in Chuck Rich, Meyers reveals that Rich gave him her address and encouraged the visit. Meyers asks if she trusts Rich with her life, reminding her that she faces a potential life sentence, and states that he’s confident he can get her acquitted.

Before sunrise, Mary waits on her porch for Dr. Troy Nelson, the county veterinarian who grew up nearby and attended school with her. They go to the barn for a prenatal checkup on Mary’s pregnant horse, Tornado. Mary is anxious because Tornado previously lost a foal. Troy examines the mare and says that she appears fine but warns that the previous loss is a risk factor for another miscarriage. He explains that the likely cause was placentitis, a bacterial infection, and advises Mary to watch for signs of distress. After Troy leaves, Mary stays in the barn and comforts Tornado, telling the horse that everything will be fine.

On Friday morning, Bria is about to close her nearly empty office when she finds Benjamin Meyers waiting, accompanied by Chuck Rich. Reluctantly, Bria gives Meyers five minutes. He delivers an impromptu opening statement, highlighting the case’s complexity, detailing Bria’s background from valedictorian to her medical education at UAB, emphasizing her dedication to an underserved community, and challenging the DA’s narrative by questioning why a 13-year-old was pregnant in the first place. Impressed but still hesitant, Bria tells Meyers that she trusts Rich as a friend. Rich responds that she should trust his advice to let him withdraw so that she can hire Meyers. Convinced, Bria agrees, and Meyers tells her that he would take her case for free.

Mary is on the bench presiding over a guilty plea for Ray Wagner, a habitual car burglar with a poor attitude. As DA Reeves outlines the plea agreement, Luna interrupts to tell Mary that she has a phone call. Annoyed, Mary instructs her to take a message. Luna whispers urgently that the governor is calling. Mary tells Luna to have the governor leave a number and that she’ll call him back after the hearing.

After completing the guilty plea, Mary enters her chambers for a conference call with Governor Bert Lamar and Alabama Attorney General Dick Winston, whom Mary knows and dislikes. The two officials are overly friendly, praising Mary’s work before pressuring her to recuse herself from Bria’s case and move it to Montgomery or Birmingham. They cite inadequate facilities in Bullock County—poor security, no hotel, limited restaurants, and a nearby elementary school—and suggest that Montgomery judges have more experience with major cases. Mary calmly but firmly refuses. After the governor ends the call, Mary is distracted by a text on her cell phone and fails to hang up the landline. She overhears the governor call her an expletive, and Winston replies that he has dealt with her difficult behavior for years. Mary announces that she’s still on the line, and both men immediately hang up.

By mid-June, Mary and Loucilla have changed their meeting routine to avoid attention. Upon arriving home one Friday afternoon, Mary finds a postal notice on her doorframe indicating that she’s missed a certified letter from Arch Pearce at the Pearce Law Firm. Pearce is an unscrupulous lawyer, notorious for “land-grabbing.” Mary often rules against him, and she realizes that he’s targeting her farm. The farm is vulnerable because it’s “heirs’ property,” passed down without wills through generations—a situation historically exploited to dispossess Black families of their land. Mary is furious with herself for not previously taking legal steps to clear the title.

Mary drives to Arch Pearce’s law office in downtown Union Springs and barges past his receptionist into his office. Pearce produces a copy of the letter claiming that his client Caleb Wilton bought an heir’s share from Abraham Stone, described as a descendant of Mary’s grandfather, Luke Stone. The letter demands that the property be sold at auction or that Mary buy Wilton’s share for $190,000, an inflated price. Pearce mentions that he’s headed to a political event where the governor will speak. Pearce’s behavior reminds Mary of a childhood bully. Enraged, she vows to disprove his claim by any means necessary.

Mary calls Nellie and tells her to meet at their sister Jordan’s house immediately. When Mary arrives, she shows them Pearce’s letter and explains the legal vulnerability of heirs’ property because their ancestors died without wills. Nellie points out the inflated valuation, and Mary outlines a plan to fight back: gathering the deed from her safe-deposit box, the family Bible, old obituaries, and death certificates and conducting a title search. Nellie notes the difficulty of tracing Black family history through official post-emancipation documents. Jordan asks tearfully if they’ll lose the farm, and Mary vows that they won’t. Nellie states her belief that this attack is retaliation for Mary’s involvement in the abortion case. Mary doesn’t deny it.