Chapter 9 - The Trial of the Vale Family
The trial began five months later.
The recovered Guardian footage was played before a packed courtroom.
Mason’s face appeared on the screen, illuminated by the dashboard lights. The flask rested between his legs. Declan could be heard telling him to slow down.
Then came the crash.
The recording stopped before showing anything graphic, but the audio captured the conspiracy that followed.
Mason asking Declan to accept blame.
Charles ordering the cameras removed.
The attorney instructing Mason to alter the seat and move Declan’s watch.
Victoria’s voice appeared in a later recording from the police station.
Tell them you were driving. You are stronger than Mason.
Members of the jury stared at her.
Daniel Cross’s widow, Emily, sat in the front row with her young son.
Declan had met her privately before the trial.
He expected anger.
Instead, she apologized.
“I believed everything they said about you,” Emily told him. “I hated you for two years.”
“You were given a lie.”
“My husband still died.”
“I know.”
Declan established a trust for Daniel’s son using part of the compensation he received from the state and Vale Automotive.
He did not do it to purchase forgiveness.
He did it because Daniel’s family had also been robbed by the Vales.
Mason testified in his own defense.
He claimed Declan had pressured him to lie after the crash.
The prosecutor asked why he had kept the Fenwick keys.
Mason had no convincing answer.
Charles claimed he had acted to protect the company from scandal, not to frame Declan.
The prosecution presented financial records showing payments to Robert Kelton, the false witness, and the private warehouse used to conceal the car.
Victoria accepted a plea agreement in exchange for testifying against Charles.
On the stand, she admitted that she and Charles had learned Declan was not their biological child when he was six.
She also admitted they had never told Audrey and Garrison.
“Why did you keep him?” the prosecutor asked.
Victoria looked toward Declan.
“At first, because we loved him.”
“And later?”
Her voice dropped.
“Because returning him would have exposed what we had done.”
The jury found Charles and Mason guilty on all major charges.
Charles received eleven years in prison.
Mason received nine.
The attorney who helped alter the evidence was disbarred and sentenced separately.
Victoria received probation, community service, and a permanent criminal record because of her cooperation.
Outside the courthouse, reporters surrounded Declan.
One asked whether he felt satisfied seeing his former family destroyed.
Declan considered the question.
“They destroyed themselves,” he answered. “The truth only removed the walls they were hiding behind.”
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He walked down the courthouse steps beside Audrey and Garrison.
For once, no one asked him to remain behind.
