Chapter 16 - The Families Behind the Files
The investigation ultimately identified dozens of compromised cases.
Julian spent months helping establish an independent review initiative.
He refused publicity.
Instead, he met families.
A father who lost custody after private addiction-treatment records were leaked.
A mother whose therapy notes were used against her.
A grandmother who spent her retirement savings fighting an emergency order based on illegally obtained medical information.
Julian listened.
Sometimes they yelled at him.
He let them.
One woman said:
“Your signature took my son.”
Julian answered:
“I know.”
“You didn’t sign it.”
“No.”
“Then why are you apologizing?”
“Because the institution bearing my name failed you.”
That conversation changed him.
He stopped thinking of the scandal as something that happened to his family.
His family had merely been the door through which he finally saw it.
Clara recovered gradually.
Her scans improved.
Alba started kindergarten.
Daniel visited Chicago regularly.
He never demanded the title of father.
He allowed Alba to choose the relationship.
One afternoon she called him Dad Daniel.
He cried in his car afterward.
Clara saw him.
She pretended she didn’t.
Julian returned home that evening and found Alba waiting.
“Grandfather.”
“Yes?”
“Mom says you might become a judge again.”
“Maybe.”
“Do you want to?”
He considered it.
“I don’t know.”
She handed him a drawing.
A courthouse surrounded by sunflowers.
At the top she had written:
PEOPLE FIRST.
May you like
Julian stared at it.
Perhaps the five-year-old understood justice better than all of them.
