Chapter 8 - The Verdict
The jury returned after less than two hours of deliberation. The courtroom was packed to maximum capacity, the air thick with anticipation.
"On the count of first-degree kidnapping, how do you find?"
"Guilty."
"On the count of felonious assault, how do you find?"
"Guilty."
"On the count of grand theft and wire fraud, how do you find?"
"Guilty."
Gail Merritt didn't scream this time. She sat frozen as the judge pronounced her sentence: life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for thirty years. Holt Merritt received twenty-five years for his role as an accomplice and his failure to protect a minor.
As the bailiffs stepped forward to lead them away to the state penitentiary, the judge looked down at them with absolute disdain.
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"You used the sanctity of family as a shield to commit acts of monstrous cruelty," the judge said, her voice cutting through the silent room. "You stole five years of a mother's life and nearly took the life of an innocent child. The law has no mercy for monsters who wear the mask of grandparents."
I stood up, holding Marcus Vance's hand as he smiled at me. The legal battle was won. The paper monsters were gone. The system had done its job, but the real work—the human work—was still waiting for me at the lavender cottage.
