Chapter 9 - The Gavel of Righteous Justice
Six months later, Courtroom 3B of the State Circuit Court was packed to maximum capacity for the final sentencing hearing.
Sitting in the front row of the gallery were Ethan and me.
Ethan was dressed in a sharp little navy blazer and charcoal trousers, his wrist completely healed, strong, and flexible, holding my hand with a bright, radiant smile. Beside us sat Julian Hayes and Dr. Robert Bennett.
Vanessa Kensington sat at the defense table in a bright orange prison jumpsuit, her hands and feet bound in heavy iron chains. Her hair was unwashed, her former high-society vanity completely extinguished by six months in solitary detention.
Chief Judge Eleanor Sterling took the bench with severe, uncompromising moral authority.
“Vanessa Kensington,” Judge Sterling declared, her voice echoing through the stone chamber like rolling thunder. “Your calculated, depraved, and monstrous campaign of slow poisoning against Claire Vance, followed by your unconscionable physical violence against a defenseless seven-year-old child, represents an unforgivable failure of human morality.”
Judge Sterling brought her heavy wooden gavel down with a resounding crack that resonated through the room.
“On all counts of Premeditated Murder and Aggravated Felony Child Abuse, Vanessa Kensington is hereby sentenced to Life Imprisonment without the possibility of parole, to be served at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women.”
Vanessa collapsed forward onto the defense table, sobbing in broken, hopeless gasps as state marshals secured her transport chains.
Judge Sterling struck the gavel a second time.
“Mandatory criminal restitution of $6.2 million is awarded to the Ethan Vance Foundation, along with permanent, lifetime protective restraining orders.”
As the marshals hauled the weeping convict through the heavy iron holding door forever, Ethan looked up at me with clear, untroubled hazel eyes.
“Daddy?”
“Yes, my brave boy?”
May you like
“Can we go home and finish Mommy’s song now?”
I smiled from the depths of my soul, scooping my son into my arms. “Yes, Ethan. Let’s play Mommy’s song.”
