The Appeal
Chapter 16 - The Appeal
Adrian appealed from prison.
His new attorneys argued the courtroom embrace prejudiced the jury, the recorder violated privacy, and Judge Ralton’s emotional statements showed bias.
The case reached the state supreme court.
Lucas feared he would have to testify again.
Rachel explained the appeal concerned legal rulings, not new facts.
The distinction did not stop the nightmares.
He began checking court news obsessively.
Leila asked what he believed would happen if the conviction was reversed.
“He comes back.”
“Would a reversed conviction automatically restore custody?”
“No.”
“Would the recordings disappear?”
“No.”
“Would you become the boy you were before the basement?”
Lucas thought.
“No.”
The appeal court upheld the conviction.
It ruled that Ben’s presence at the witness stand was within the judge’s discretion because the child was both a protected witness and a source of emotional regulation. The recording was admissible because Lucas made it to document suspected crimes and one participant consented.
Most importantly, the court affirmed that a child’s calmness or emotionality could not determine credibility by itself.
Adrian filed another appeal.
The process taught Lucas that verdicts were not magical doors. They required maintenance.
Sofia attended every hearing without sitting near the boys unless invited.
At one proceeding, Adrian looked older.
Lucas expected satisfaction.
Instead, he felt grief for the father who sometimes helped with science projects, built model rockets, and read adventure books aloud.
He told Leila.
“Does missing those parts mean I lied about the rest?”
“No.”
“Can someone love you and still hurt you?”
“Yes.”
“That feels worse.”
“Usually.”
Lucas wrote a letter he never sent.
I remember the good days. They do not cancel the basement. The basement does not erase every pancake. I wish one truth could remove the other.
He placed the letter inside the astronomy notebook.
Constellations were patterns humans created between distant points.
Families could be the same.
May you like
The pattern mattered.
So did the darkness between the stars.
