Chapter 10
Diane’s trial began the following spring.
Lucy was stronger by then.
Still thin.
Still haunted.
But standing.
Jack did not attend.
He wanted to.
Lucy and I both said no.
That was the first decision we made together without fighting.
The prosecutor opened with the freezer.
The call.
The padlock.
The teddy bear Jack had dropped in the restaurant doorway as he ran.
Then came the photos.
The storage room.
The ties.
The carved cardboard.
The fake texts.
The forged court papers.
Diane stared at the table.
Her lawyer painted Lucy as unstable.
It was vile.
Lucy took the stand and destroyed him quietly.
“I was not unstable,” she said. “I was imprisoned.”
He asked why she did not escape sooner.
She looked at the jury.
“Because people believe missing women left before they believe someone hid them.”
The courtroom went silent.
I testified too.
I admitted everything.
That I believed Diane.
That I ignored Jack’s fear.
That I repeated Diane’s words until they became mine.
Diane looked at me with hatred.
Good.
Her approval had cost enough.
Evan testified under a plea.
Grace sat behind me sobbing silently.
May you like
The family had broken open.
Rot does not look like rot until light hits it.
