Chapter 16
The murder trial lasted three weeks.
Every day felt like opening a wound and asking it to testify.
Malcolm’s letters were read aloud.
Edward’s journals were displayed.
Clara described the night Malcolm came to the house, demanding Gene stop lying.
She heard them argue.
She heard glass break.
She heard Gene say, “No man takes what belongs to me.”
The next morning, Malcolm was found by the lake.
Gene wore black to his funeral.
Arthur remembered that.
“She told me Malcolm was drunk,” he testified. “She told me he was reckless.”
The prosecutor asked, “Did you believe her?”
Arthur’s eyes filled.
“I believed everything she said back then.”
Dr. Pierce testified that Gene called him after Malcolm’s death.
“She said if I wanted my clinic funded, I would sign what she put in front of me.”
“And did you?”
“Yes.”
His voice broke.
“For thirty years.”
Gene’s defense argued there was no direct proof.
Then Melissa produced the final journal.
Edward had hidden it inside a hollow stair rail.
In it was one recorded phone transcript.
Gene to Dr. Pierce.
Malcolm is handled. Arthur will raise the boy. Make the report clean.
The courtroom went silent.
Gene’s lawyer asked for a recess.
The judge denied it.
Gene finally turned toward Brandon.
For one second, I thought she might apologize.
Instead, she mouthed, Ungrateful.
Brandon looked away.
May you like
Not broken.
Done.
