He Watched Me Freeze Now He Begs For My Return Chapter 23
Elaine’s hearing took place two months later.
My lawyer asked if I wanted to return to Denver to attend.
I declined.
“If you need anything from me, I’ll submit it in writing.”
I didn’t want to set foot in that courthouse again.
I didn’t want to watch any of them cry across a crowded room.
Justice didn’t need my eyes to validate it.
Even so, Sarah waited outside the courthouse that day and sent me updates.
At first, Elaine insisted she had only been trying to comfort Robert and had never lied to the police. The prosecutor then played the full video and produced the testimony she had given at the time.
Side by side, the two versions left her nowhere to hide.
Her lawyer requested a recess.
When the hearing resumed, Elaine changed her story, claiming Robert had forced her to do everything and that she herself had lived in fear for years.
But Robert, through his lawyer, submitted a statement from prison. He admitted the conversation was real but refused to shoulder the entire burden of the cover-up alone.
The couple who had once coordinated so perfectly finally turned on each other.
Robert accused Elaine of perjury. Elaine accused Robert of ruining their lives. Paige, meanwhile, submitted materials from her trust case and refused to speak for either of them.
Each of them tried to separate themselves from the rest.
But what they had said with their own mouths, stored in their own videos, and sworn to in past testimony had nailed every one of them in place.
Before sentencing, Elaine sent a letter through her lawyer.
She wrote that she was old, in poor health, and couldn’t endure prison. If I was willing to write a statement of forgiveness, she would sell the house in Denver and leave all the remaining money to me.
At the end of the letter, she wrote:
“Nora, you are my only biological daughter. Mom really does know she was wrong.”
I didn’t read it twice.
“Please tell her I don’t want the house, and I will not be providing any statement.”
Elaine was ultimately convicted of obstruction of justice and making false statements.
Sarah asked if I was happy.
I thought about it, then replied with one sentence.
“This is simply what should have happened.”
It wasn’t a victory.
It was just consequences, long overdue, finally finding the people who were supposed to bear them.