Chapter 6 - The Verdict
The sentencing hearing was a media circus, but I didn't care. I kept Emily far away from the courthouse, leaving her at home with my sister, playing video games and eating whatever she wanted from our fully stocked, completely unlocked kitchen.
Rachel stood before the judge in a standard orange jumpsuit. She had plead guilty to avoid the audio being played in open court, but the judge had read the transcripts.
Judge Harrington, a woman known for her zero-tolerance policy on child abuse, looked down from the bench with eyes like flint.
"Rachel Reynolds," the judge's voice boomed through the quiet courtroom. "In my twenty years on the bench, I have seen crimes of passion, crimes of desperation, and crimes of neglect. But what you did to a helpless, grieving eight-year-old child was a crime of pure, calculated cruelty. You used a position of trust to torture a little girl simply because she was hungry."
Rachel kept her head down, her shoulders shaking.
"You have signed away your marital assets, but that does not absolve you of the criminal debt you owe society. I sentence you to fifteen years in the state penitentiary, without the possibility of parole for the first ten years. Furthermore, a permanent restraining order is granted. You are never to come within five hundred yards of Emily Reynolds or Jack Reynolds for the rest of your natural life."
The gavel slammed down like a thunderclap.
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The bailiffs moved in, grabbing Rachel by the arms. As they led her away, she didn't look back. The façade was gone. The monster was finally locked in a cage.
I walked out of the courthouse into the bright afternoon sun. The press shouted questions, cameras flashed, but I ignored them all. I got into my car and drove. For the first time in years, the drive home didn't feel like a chore. It felt like I was actually going to a home.
