Trial by Numbers

The clock on the mantel struck half past four in the morning. Outside the tall arched windows of the Bavarian villa, mist hung over the dark grass, swallowing the foothills in thick gray silence. Inside, the quiet pressed down like weight.

Sylvie did not turn on the ceiling lights. She sat at the long mahogany desk with only the glow of her laptop screen illuminating her face, her notebooks fan-s