Chapter 10
The aftermath was chaos.
Paramedics.
Police.
Photographers.
Question after question.
But through it all...
We were together.
My mother was taken back to the hospital.
Her wrist had been re-injured.
She was dehydrated.
Shaken.
But alive.
Alive.
Arthur was treated for his cuts and bruises.
Then he gave his statement.
Everything.
Three years of abuse.
The threats.
The night Brooke had attacked Mom.
Everything he'd been too scared to say before.
He told it all.
And with every word...
The case against Brooke got stronger.
And stronger.
Landry was re-arrested.
This time, no bail.
The judge called him a danger to the community.
A flight risk.
He would stay in jail until his trial.
And Brooke...
She was charged with attempted murder.
Aggravated assault.
Kidnapping.
False imprisonment.
The list went on and on.
Her uncle's protection was gone.
Her system of corruption was in ruins.
For the first time in her life...
She would have to face the consequences of her actions.
The trial was set for three months later.
The state versus Brooke Vance.
And Thomas Landry.
It would be the biggest trial Westbridge had ever seen.
The days leading up to it were a blur.
Meetings with prosecutors.
Preparing witnesses.
Going over evidence.
The three women Brooke had abused before.
They all agreed to testify.
Officer Reed.
He would tell the court what he'd seen.
What Landry had made him do.
And Arthur.
He would be the star witness.
The man who had lived through the nightmare.
Who had finally found the courage to speak.
I visited him every day.
He was staying at a friend's house.
Trying to put his life back together.
He'd started seeing a therapist again.
This time, he kept going.
"I keep having dreams," he told me one afternoon.
"About that night. About the cabin."
"I wake up and I think... did I really do that? Did I really stand up to her?"
"You did," I said.
"And it's okay to be proud of it."
He looked at me.
"Mom... does she hate me?"
The question was so small.
So broken.
"No, Arthur. She doesn't hate you."
"She's just... she needs time."
"She went through something terrible. And she needs to heal."
"Will she ever forgive me?"
I thought about my mother.
The woman who had always put her children first.
Who had loved Arthur even when he didn't deserve it.
"Yeah," I said.
"She will."
The trial began on a cold Tuesday in October.
The courtroom was packed.
Reporters.
Victims.
Curious onlookers.
Brooke walked in wearing a gray suit.
Her hair pulled back.
She looked like a teacher.
Or a librarian.
Nobody would have guessed the monster beneath.
Landry sat beside her.
His face like stone.
The prosecution went first.
They laid out the evidence.
The baseball bat.
The DNA.
The financial records.
The emails.
The text messages.
Item by item.
They built a wall of proof.
Then the witnesses.
One by one.
The three former partners.
Each told their story.
Each described the same pattern.
The charm.
The isolation.
The violence.
The cover-up.
Officer Reed testified next.
Trembling.
But clear.
He told the court about that night.
About seeing my mother on the ground.
About Landry ordering him to stand down.
About the bat in the trunk.
Then it was Arthur's turn.
He walked to the stand.
Swore to tell the truth.
And he did.
Everything.
He told the court about meeting Brooke.
About falling in love.
About the slow, terrible change.
The emotional abuse.
The threats.
The night he tried to leave.
And she'd threatened to kill his mother.
He told them about that night.
About watching her beat his mother with a baseball bat.
About being too scared to stop her.
About lying to the police.
About the cabin.
And finally finding the courage to fight back.
When he finished...
There wasn't a dry eye in the courtroom.
Even the judge looked shaken.
The defense tried.
They tried to paint Brooke as the victim.
Tried to say Arthur was abusive.
Tried to say my mother was mentally unstable.
But the evidence was too strong.
The witnesses too credible.
The jury deliberated for four hours.
Then they came back.
Guilty.
On all counts.
Brooke showed no emotion.
No tears.
No anger.
Nothing.
Landry...
Landry closed his eyes.
And for the first time...
He looked like a defeated man.
The sentencing came two weeks later.
Brooke Vance.
Thirty-five years to life.
No possibility of parole.
Thomas Landry.
Twenty years.
For corruption.
For obstruction of justice.
For his role in the cover-up.
As the judge banged his gavel...
I felt something I hadn't felt in months.
May you like
Relief.
It was over.
