Chapter 18 - The Trial Begins
|
The evidence against the Voss family unfolded in court with mathematical, devastating cruelty.
The trial became a media spectacle. I arrived at the courthouse in a specialized wheelchair. The full-body cast was gone, replaced by heavy metal braces, thick red scars, and a body that felt alien to me. The courtroom was packed to the gills. Reporters lined the oak-paneled walls, their pens flying across notepads.
Cordelia sat rigidly at the defense table. She wore a severe black suit, her trademark pearls at her throat, her posture immaculate, refusing to look at anyone. Adrian sat at a separate table with his own high-priced legal counsel. He had chosen self-preservation over family unity, turning state's evidence where he could to lessen his own blow. They did not exchange a single glance.
The prosecution built the case brick by brick. Nolan Reeve, the shady contractor paid to loosen the balcony bolts, had been tracked down hiding in a motel in Arizona. Faced with the wire transfer records Jonah had uncovered, Reeve took a plea deal. He sat on the stand and bluntly testified that Cordelia had paid him for a "delayed structural failure," and that Adrian had been standing in the room during one of those phone calls.
May you like
Security footage from the mansion was played. The grainy video showed Adrian opening the heavy French doors for me, then actively stepping away from the railing, shoving his hands in his pockets to ensure he wouldn't accidentally touch me as I fell.
Then came the financial records. The payments routed through Ashbury Holdings. The forged life insurance policy. Seeing my own signature, traced and stolen to authorize my own murder, sent a cold shock through my system. It was so administrative. So terrifyingly cold.
