Chapter 9 - Reagan’s Last Performance
Reagan entered the courtroom wearing black.
She had exchanged the red dress and expensive jewelry for a modest suit chosen to make her appear harmless.
Her attorney described her as a devoted wife manipulated by Carter.
The prosecution played the recordings.
They showed the security footage.
Doctors explained the medications found in Theodore’s system.
Northbridge employees testified that Reagan ordered them never to allow Theodore access to a phone.
Then Theodore entered the courtroom in a wheelchair.
The room became silent.
Reagan stared at him as though she were seeing a ghost.
Theodore looked older than he had before the kidnapping, but his eyes were clear.
Finnley walked beside him.
For one brief second, Reagan’s expression changed. Her confidence disappeared, replaced by the terror Finnley had seen during the first hearing.
The prosecutor approached Theodore.
“Mr. Hale, did you authorize your wife to declare you dead?”
“No.”
“Did you give her the family home?”
“No.”
“Did your son steal money from you?”
“No. Finnley never stole anything.”
“Why did the defendant accuse him?”
“To remove the only person who might save me.”
Reagan’s attorney rose for cross-examination.
“Mr. Hale, you were seriously ill. Isn’t it possible your memories are unreliable?”
“Some memories are unclear.”
“So you may be mistaken about my client.”
Theodore looked at Reagan.
“I remember begging her to call my son.”
The attorney hesitated.
“I remember her holding the phone in front of me and deleting his messages.”
“That does not prove—”
“I remember her telling me that by the time Finnley discovered the truth, I would be buried beneath someone else’s name.”
The jury watched Reagan.
Her hands began to shake.
Carter testified the next day.
He admitted forging the will, planting evidence in Finnley’s apartment, bribing the physician, and arranging Theodore’s confinement.
When asked who had designed the plan, Carter pointed toward Reagan.
“She did.”
Reagan shouted from the defense table.
“You coward!”
The judge ordered her to remain silent.
Carter continued.
“She said Finnley was too loyal to stop investigating. She said prison was better than killing him because Theodore would suffer longer knowing his son had been convicted.”
Finnley closed his eyes.
The cruelty was worse than the theft.
Money could be returned.
Time could not.
The jury deliberated for less than four hours.
Reagan was found guilty of kidnapping, conspiracy, attempted murder, fraud, evidence tampering, perjury, and filing a false death record.
When the verdict was read, she remained expressionless.
At sentencing, the judge asked whether she wished to speak.
Reagan stood.
“Theodore would have died without me,” she said. “I gave him years of my life. That house should have been mine.”
Theodore answered from the front row.
“A house is not payment for pretending to love someone.”
The judge sentenced Reagan to forty-eight years in prison.
Carter received twenty-four years under his plea agreement.
The physician later received twelve years after being returned to the United States.
As deputies led Reagan away, she turned toward Finnley.
She appeared ready to deliver one final threat.
Finnley did not let her.
“You already took enough of our time,” he said. “You don’t get another second.”
He turned away before she could answer.
For Reagan, that was the true punishment.
She had built her power by controlling where people looked, what they believed, and who was allowed to speak.
May you like
Now no one was listening.
---
