Chapter 36
Selene’s trial opened in spring.
By then, Rose could hold her head up.
She smiled at ceiling lights.
She kicked when my father hummed old songs.
Life kept moving while justice prepared its papers.
That felt wrong sometimes.
Then I realized it was the point.
Selene had stolen years from my mother.
She would not steal Rose’s first laugh too.
I attended the trial when I could.
Evelyn never let me sit alone.
My father testified for two days.
Ana testified.
Martin testified.
Lacey testified.
Graham testified.
Each witness added another stone to the wall closing around Selene.
She sat through all of it like a woman inconvenienced by lesser minds.
When the recording of my mother played, Selene looked bored.
Martin pushed me. Selene watched. Don’t protect blood over truth.
The prosecutor paused it.
Then asked Selene’s former driver about the delay.
He admitted Selene ordered everyone away from the staircase.
“She said Mrs. Vale was already gone.”
“But she was not?”
“No.”
“How long before paramedics were called?”
“Twenty-six minutes.”
Twenty-six minutes.
My mother lived twenty-six minutes in a house full of people who waited for her to die.
I left the courtroom and vomited in a marble bathroom.
My father found me.
For once, he did not touch me without asking.
“Can I sit with you?”
I nodded.
He sat on the floor in his expensive suit.
“She was alone,” I whispered.
He covered his face.
“Yes.”
“I hate you for not knowing.”
“I hate myself for the same reason.”
We sat there until Evelyn came to get us.
Selene was convicted on every major count.
Conspiracy.
Manslaughter.
Fraud.
Witness intimidation.
Accessory to attempted custodial theft.
She received decades.
When they led her away, she looked at me.
“Your mother was weak.”
I stood.
May you like
“No,” I said.
“She survived long enough to name you.”
