Chapter 7 - The Confrontation Behind Glass
Four weeks before the formal criminal trial was set to begin, I received a official request from the County Public Defender’s Office.
Daniel wanted to see me.
Against Gavin’s advice, I drove down to the county jail on a cold, grey Tuesday morning. I wanted to look him in the eye. I needed him to see who had defeated him.
The visitation room was cold, smelling of cheap floor cleaner and industrial paint. I sat on a stool behind a thick pane of bulletproof plexiglass, waiting.
A heavy steel door clicked open, and a corrections officer led Daniel inside.
He looked unrecognizable. The polished, handsome corporate salesman was gone. His hair was cropped short and greasy, his face hollow and pale, dark purple circles framing his bloodshot eyes. He wore an oversized orange jumpsuit that hung loosely off his stooped shoulders.
He sat down on the stool across from me, picking up the black plastic intercom phone with trembling hands.
I picked up my phone, holding it to my ear, waiting for him to speak.
"Evelyn..." Daniel rasped, his voice buzzing through the speaker, thin and desperate. "Thank God you came. You have to help me."
I stared at him, my expression completely unreadable. "Help you with what, Daniel?"
"The lawyers... they're talking about twenty years, Ev!" Daniel choked out, tears instantly brimming in his eyes, pressing his free hand against the glass. "Twenty years in maximum security! I won't survive in here! The people in here... they know what I'm in for! They hate elder abusers, Evelyn! I get threatened every single day!"
"You should have thought about that before you bought nylon rope at the hardware store, Daniel," I said flatly.
"It was Vanessa!" Daniel pleaded hysterically, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the phone. "She pushed me! She was drowning in debt from her boutique business! She told me that if we didn't get Mom’s money, we were going to lose our house! I was desperate, Ev! You know how she is—she manipulated me!"
"You hit her, Daniel," I said, my voice dropping into a low, terrifying register that made him freeze. "You tied your own mother to a bed frame. You withheld her medicine so she would die quietly in her sleep. Don't you dare sit there and blame your wife for the evil that lived inside your own heart."
Daniel dropped his head, sobbing quietly against the glass. "Please... talk to the District Attorney. Tell them you want to drop the attempted murder charge. I'll give everything back! I'll sign all the waivers! I'll give Mom every penny back!"
"You don't have anything left to give back, Daniel," I replied calmly. "The state has already seized your accounts. The house is back in Mom’s name. The lake cabin is hers again. Your law license has been permanently revoked, and your firm fired you two weeks ago."
Daniel looked up, his eyes widening in complete, utter horror. "I have nothing left...?"
"You have twenty years to think about what you did," I said.
"Evelyn... please..." he begged, his voice cracking into a pathetic whimper. "I'm your brother..."
I looked at him through the glass for three long seconds.
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"My brother died the day he made my mother scream in her own home," I said quietly.
I hung up the phone, set it back on the wall cradle, stood up, and walked out of the room without looking back once.
