Chapter 16 - Lucy on the Stand
Lucy chose to testify.
Her attorneys advised against it.
Everyone knew.
She did it anyway.
Control.
Always control.
At first, she was excellent.
Elegant.
Measured.
She described meeting my father after working with the foundation.
She admitted loving him while he was married.
She admitted insulting my mother.
"Words I regret."
She admitted financial irregularities.
"At Thomas Shaw's direction."
She admitted false psychiatric documents.
"To protect Jonathan during a custody crisis."
Every crime became context.
Then the prosecutor asked.
"Did you pay Victor Hale fifty thousand dollars two days before Elena's death?"
"Yes."
"For what?"
"Security."
"Did Victor enter Elena's home that night?"
"I don't know."
The prosecutor played the camera footage.
Lucy adjusted.
"I had forgotten."
"Did you tell Victor to drug Elena?"
"No."
Victor's recording played.
You wanted the divorce stopped.
I stopped it.
Lucy said Victor was lying.
Then the prosecutor played Sienna's audio.
Jonathan's heart will do the work.
Lucy closed her eyes.
She claimed dark humor.
Then my father's final recording played.
"Lucy knows I am changing the trust."
"She has threatened me."
"If I die unexpectedly, investigate my medication."
That sentence had not been shown at the gala.
Miriam had withheld it for investigators.
Lucy stared at the screen.
For the first time, she looked genuinely old.
The prosecutor asked.
"Did you love Jonathan?"
"Yes."
"Did you threaten him?"
"Yes."
"Did you falsify his prescription?"
"No."
"Did you know it had been changed?"
A pause.
"Yes."
The courtroom froze.
Her attorney stood.
"Lucy."
Too late.
The prosecutor stepped closer.
"When did you know?"
"After."
"After what?"
"After he became ill."
"Did you correct it?"
"No."
"Did you call the doctor?"
"No."
"Why?"
Lucy looked at me.
Not the jury.
Me.
"Because he was leaving me."
Silence.
The prosecutor asked no dramatic question.
She simply sat down.
Sometimes the cleanest truth does not need decoration.
Lucy had not admitted changing the prescription.
She admitted knowingly allowing danger to continue because my father planned to leave.
The jury heard exactly what it needed.
Outside court, reporters asked if I felt vindicated.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because my parents are still dead."
That answer ended the interview.
The verdict would come later.
May you like
Nothing could give me back the years before it.
