Chapter 16 - THE VERDICT
The jury deliberated for less than four hours.
We waited in a conference room.
Taylor paced.
Aaron drank bad coffee.
Daniel sat beside the window.
I thought about Lily.
She was at school.
We had decided she should not spend the day waiting on a verdict.
Her childhood had already been interrupted enough.
At 3:17, we were called back.
Evelyn stood.
The clerk read the decision.
Guilty.
Then another count.
Guilty.
Then another.
Guilty.
Taylor started crying.
Not because she wanted Evelyn free.
Because there was no version of this story where a daughter heard those words about her mother and felt nothing.
Evelyn showed almost no reaction.
Until the judge ordered her held pending sentencing.
Then she looked at Taylor.
“You did this.”
Taylor stared back.
“No.”
Her voice was quiet.
“You did.”
Evelyn was taken away.
Outside, reporters shouted questions.
I walked past them.
There was nothing I wanted to say.
Justice was not a victory.
Lily had still been inside that freezer.
No sentence could change that.
When I picked her up from school, she ran toward me wearing a bright red winter coat.
“Did you win?”
I crouched.
“This wasn’t about winning.”
“Is Grandma coming back?”
“Not for a long time.”
Lily studied my face.
“Because she did bad things?”
“Yes.”
“Does that mean she’s bad forever?”
The question caught me off guard.
“I think people are responsible for what they do.”
“But you don’t have to decide what she is forever.”
Lily considered that.
Then she nodded.
“Can we get pancakes?”
I laughed.
“At four in the afternoon?”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely.”
We ate pancakes for dinner.
For the first time in months, nobody mentioned court.
Nobody mentioned Evelyn.
Nobody mentioned custody.
Lily covered hers in too much syrup.
I let her.
Then my phone rang.
Taylor.
I almost ignored it.
But when I answered, her voice was shaking.
“My therapist thinks I need to tell you something.”
I looked at Lily across the table.
“What?”
May you like
Taylor took a breath.
“The divorce wasn’t my idea.”
