Chapter 14 - The Verdict
The jury deliberated for three days.
Three days felt longer than the eleven months before them.
Claire and I stayed home with Tommy.
We refused to wait inside the courthouse.
The world had taken enough hours from us already.
On the third morning, Detective Ellison called.
“Verdict.”
We drove together.
Claire held my hand in the back seat.
No one spoke.
The courtroom was full.
My mother entered.
She looked older.
Not weak.
Just older.
For years, wealth had protected her from consequence.
Now consequence had finally caught up.
The clerk stood.
Count one.
Guilty.
Count two.
Guilty.
Count three.
Guilty.
Conspiracy.
Guilty.
Attempted murder.
Guilty.
Kidnapping.
Guilty.
Fraud.
Guilty.
Obstruction.
Guilty.
Witness tampering.
Guilty.
My father’s murder.
Guilty.
Blackridge homicide conspiracy.
Guilty.
By the sixth guilty verdict, Claire’s fingers were trembling.
By the final one, my mother showed no expression.
The judge ordered her held pending sentencing.
As deputies approached, Evelyn turned.
Not toward reporters.
Not toward Nathan.
Toward me.
“Daniel.”
The judge looked annoyed.
I stood anyway.
My mother stared at me.
“Are you happy?”
It was such a strange question.
“No.”
She almost smiled.
“Then what was all this for?”
Claire looked at me.
I thought about the answer.
Blackridge.
My father.
Nathan.
Tommy.
The coffin.
The key.
Finally I said:
“So nobody has to be afraid of you anymore.”
Her smile disappeared.
At sentencing two months later, four Blackridge families spoke.
Jennifer Hale went last.
She held a photograph of her father.
“My mother died believing her husband left us.”
She looked directly at Evelyn.
“You didn’t only take my father.”
“You took the truth about him.”
She paused.
“But you don’t own that truth anymore.”
Evelyn received multiple life sentences.
Harrow received thirty-eight years after cooperation.
Owen received twenty-two.
The retired officer who buried Elias’s report received twelve.
Nathan received twenty-six.
The judge acknowledged his cooperation.
Then added:
“Cooperation after participating in horror does not erase participation.”
Nathan nodded.
He didn’t appeal.
I visited him once before his transfer.
He asked about Tommy.
“He walks now.”
Nathan smiled faintly.
“Already?”
“Almost runs.”
“Claire?”
“Good.”
“You?”
I looked at him.
“I don’t know.”
He nodded.
“Fair.”
Before I left, Nathan said:
“Tell Tommy I’m sorry.”
“No.”
His face fell.
I continued.
“You can tell him yourself someday.”
“If he wants to see me.”
“If.”
Nathan nodded.
That mattered.
No entitlement.
No family obligation.
If.
Outside the prison, Claire waited in the car.
I got in.
“How was he?”
“Still Nathan.”
“That good or bad?”
“Both.”
She smiled.
Then looked toward the road.
“What now?”
For nearly two years, every decision had been about the past.
Court.
Evidence.
Blackridge.
My mother.
My father.
For the first time, “now” had no subpoena attached to it.
I took Claire’s hand.
“Home.”
But before we could build a future, there was one final thing I needed to do.
My father had written two letters.
One to me.
One remained sealed.
On the front were three words.
FOR EVELYN’S GRANDCHILD.
May you like
It had been waiting in the safe all along.
For Tommy.
