Chapter 19 - The Verdict
On the morning of the verdict, Ethan had almost stayed home. He stood in his workshop staring at the half-painted wooden airplane. His hands shook so badly he couldn't tighten a clamp. Jonah appeared with two breakfast sandwiches and put one on the bench.
"Eat," Jonah said.
"I'm not hungry."
"Then hold it until you are. You're scaring me more than the jury."
Ethan sat down. "What if they let him walk?"
"Then we keep living," Jonah said. "And we keep telling the truth."
"That simple?"
"No. But it's what your dad would have wanted you to do."
At the courthouse, Margaret refused to enter through the private corridor. She wanted to walk through the front entrance where reporters had once called her a liar. Ethan steadied her elbow but let her set the pace. Halfway up the steps, she stopped to catch her breath.
"You can use the chair," he offered.
"I know," she replied. "Today I want to walk."
They took the remaining steps together.
The trial lasted six weeks. Prosecutors called Samuel, Tessa, Claire, Owen, the transport driver, accountants, engineers, and fire experts. The defense challenged witnesses who had lied in the past and witnesses who had received deals. The jury heard those weaknesses as well as the documents that supported their accounts.
Ethan attended every day he could. Some afternoons he left early because hearing his father's final minutes described in a quiet courtroom was more than he could bear.
Margaret testified about the threats and the forged company documents. Then prosecutors played Tessa's video of the wedding.
Richard's lawyer suggested Margaret had exaggerated the shove for attention.
"I fell at my son's wedding," she replied. "I would have given anything to stand there and watch him be happy."
No one spoke for several seconds.
Claire testified next. She admitted lying to Ethan and signing papers she did not understand. Her testimony cost her the protection of her family's reputation. It did not erase her choices.
During closing arguments, the prosecutor held up Daniel's letter and reminded the jury that letters were not substitutes for proof. Then she reviewed the verified logs, payments, recordings, and witness testimony linking Richard to the fatal fire.
The jury deliberated for two days.
Ethan waited with Margaret in a courthouse corridor, holding two paper cups of bad coffee.
"I used to dream he'd walk through our kitchen door," he said. "Even when I was thirty, I still had that dream."
Margaret wiped her eyes. "So did I."
A bailiff opened the door. "They're ready."
The jury found Richard guilty on the central fire-related counts and several obstruction offenses. It acquitted him of one separate financial conspiracy charge where the proof had not met the required standard. Frank and Knox faced their own cases under separate agreements.
Ethan barely heard the reading. He felt no sudden happiness, only a long-held breath finally leaving his chest.
Outside, reporters shouted questions. He took his mother's arm and guided her past them.
Then she stopped. "Ethan. There's one thing you haven't asked me."
May you like
"What?"
"Why I brought the envelope to your wedding instead of going straight to the police."
