Chapter 16
The murder trial began nine months after the luncheon.
By then, Lily was stronger.
She carried her own allergy pouch again.
She slept in her room.
She still checked labels twice.
So did I.
She did not attend the trial.
I did.
Every day.
Evelyn sat beside Sloane, both wearing expensive calm.
Michael had taken a plea and testified for the state.
Rebecca refused to look at him.
I could not stop.
I wanted to see if any part of my brother looked human when he described betraying Anna.
He said Evelyn introduced him to Sloane.
He said Sloane offered to erase his debt if Anna’s investigation disappeared.
He said he gave Caleb the garage code.
He said he hid Anna’s journal after the funeral.
“Why keep it?” the prosecutor asked.
Michael looked down.
“Because Daniel couldn’t bear to enter the study. I thought it was safe there.”
Coward.
He had hidden truth inside my grief.
Caleb testified next.
Then financial analysts.
Then the mechanic expert.
Then Mara.
The jury saw Anna’s pages.
Her notes.
Her warning.
Her final line.
If I die, protect Lily first.
I cried when that was read.
I did not care who saw.
Evelyn’s lawyer tried to suggest Anna was paranoid.
Rebecca whispered, “Say that again outside.”
I gripped her hand.
When I testified, I spoke about Anna.
Not as evidence.
As a woman.
A mother.
A wife who made pancakes too thick and sang off-key and hid legal notes in a dollhouse because she knew danger wore family faces.
The prosecutor asked, “What did Anna value most?”
I looked at Lily’s empty seat.
“Our daughter.”
May you like
The courtroom went silent.
For once, silence served truth.
