Chapter 15
Voss arrived in federal custody in March.
He looked smaller than I remembered.
No silver glasses.
No calm smile.
Just a frightened man in a wrinkled suit.
His testimony buried the rest of them.
He admitted medicating me.
He admitted falsifying Claire’s evaluations.
He admitted declaring Lily stillborn.
He admitted signing my father’s death certificate after inducing the event with medication Peter supplied.
Murder.
The word entered the courtroom like a blade.
Caroline stopped smiling.
Peter stared at the table.
Voss said Caroline’s obsession began long before the accident.
She had followed Claire.
Studied her.
Copied her clothes.
Applied for jobs near her.
When Claire married me, Caroline told Peter, “Then I’ll become the wife he remembers.”
The courtroom went cold.
Caroline stood suddenly.
“She took what was mine.”
The judge ordered her to sit.
She didn’t.
“She had everything. Money. Love. A child. Him.”
She pointed at me.
I felt nothing.
That surprised me.
For years, she had controlled the center of my life.
Now she looked small.
Not harmless.
Never harmless.
But small.
Claire stood too.
Not because the judge allowed it.
Because something in her had finally had enough.
“You stole my babies,” she said.
Caroline laughed.
“I raised Lily better than you would have.”
Lily was not in court that day.
Thank God.
Claire’s voice dropped.
“You taught her fear and called it love.”
Caroline’s face twisted.
Bailiffs moved in.
The judge cleared the courtroom.
But everyone had heard.
May you like
The jury had heard.
Caroline had finally testified without taking the stand.
