Witness (Forster)

When sixteen-year-old Hannah Sheraton is arrested for the murder of her stepgrandfather, a California Supreme Court justice, her distraught mother turns to once infamous defense attorney, Josie Bates. Now a small town lawyer in Hermosa Beach, Josie wants nothing to do with the case since the gruesome evidence points to Hannah's guilt. When the girl is charged as an adult, Josie can't turn her back

It's two in the morning and an aging cargo ship lies off the Port of Los Angeles. Deep in the bowels of the vessel, an important man is dead and the woman who killed him is mortally wounded. On shore another man staggers out of the sea determined to save the woman before she dies or the ship sails. Exhausted and terrified he goes to the only person he trusts to help, Josie Bates. He brings with him a history she can't ignore, a problem that seems insurmountable, and a plea she can't refuse. But Josie is up against international law, maritime justice, a Port Authority that doesn't want anything to get in the way of profit, the U.S. Coast Guard that dances to the tune of politics, and a captain who swears the people in question were never on his ship. With the clock ticking, Josie becomes ever more desperate to prove the woman is real and get her safely ashore. What Josie doesn't know is that the sands of time that are running out may be her own.

A brilliant, bold, but flawed attorney changes the course of her personal and professional life when she agrees to defend an emotionally abused girl charged with the murder of a prominent judge. The first four books of the Witness series follows attorney Josie Bates and sixteen-year-old Hannah Sheraton on a harrowing journey that will leave readers questioning the true meaning of love, honor and family but above all, justice.