Chapter 11 - The Courtroom
Caleb looked smaller in custody.
That surprised me.
In my memories, he filled doorways.
Controlled rooms.
Made everyone adjust themselves around his moods.
Now he sat beside his attorney beneath fluorescent courthouse lights.
Just a man.
When he saw me, he smiled.
The same crooked smile he'd used when we were teenagers.
It once terrified me.
Not anymore.
Elise testified first.
Her voice shook occasionally.
But she finished.
Then I was called.
I described the night I left home.
The laptop.
The recordings.
My parents' request for a false alibi.
Caleb stared at me.
His attorney asked:
“You clearly dislike your brother, correct?”
“I don't know him anymore.”
“You've carried resentment for twelve years.”
“I carried a scar.”
The courtroom went silent.
The attorney changed direction.
Outside afterward, reporters waited.
I refused interviews.
This wasn't entertainment to me.
It was my life.
Mom approached near the courthouse steps.
“You were brave.”
I looked at her.
“I was fifteen when I was brave.”
Her face changed.
“Today I just told the truth.”
She nodded.
For once, she understood.
Then Detective Ortiz approached.
“We need to talk.”
“What happened?”
“Nolan Pierce confessed to giving Caleb your information.”
“That isn't surprising.”
“There's more.”
Nolan claimed Caleb had been planning to leave Ohio long before Elise disappeared.
He had cash.
False documents.
And another identity.
But that identity wasn't for Caleb.
It was for a woman.
A woman investigators hadn't yet identified.
And Elise suddenly remembered something Caleb once told her:
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“If I disappear, I won't disappear alone.”
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