Chapter 8 - Justice Served
A year later.
The high-security federal penitentiary in Pekin, Illinois, was a bleak place of grey concrete, barbed wire, and heavy steel doors.
AUSA Helen Ross stood inside the warden's office, closing a thick red folder. She had just finished delivering the final appellate ruling to Lorraine Hale's defense counsel.
Lorraine sat in the visitation room behind bulletproof glass, wearing a rough grey inmate uniform. Her hair had turned completely white, her face was deeply lined, and her hands shook violently from nerve damage and the lack of luxury care. Her appeal had been flatly rejected by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. She would spend the rest of her natural life behind bars.
In another wing of the federal correctional system in Indiana, Daniel sat in his tiny cell, staring at a blank concrete wall. He worked six days a week in the prison laundry room, earning twelve cents an hour—money that was automatically garnished by the court to pay restitution to the Margaret & Evelyn Foundation.
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He had no visitors. No mail. No status. No wealth.
The world outside had moved on without him. The luxury cars, the designer suits, and the grand social ambitions had vanished like smoke. All that remained was the quiet, unending reality of his own choices.
