My Sister Faked the Fall. This Time, I Filmed It. novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: Verdict
The jury was out for two hours and ten minutes.
I spent them in the corridor with Theo asleep on my shoulder and Finbar's hand on the back of my neck.
Kylie sat on a bench across from us, staring at her shoes.
At four o'clock the bailiff opened the courtroom doors.
The foreman was a heavy man in a corduroy jacket, and he held his paper in both hands.
"On the count of conspiracy to commit fraud against my grandmother's estate," he read, "we find the defendant Palmer Boteler guilty."
Palmer's shoulders folded.
"On the count of filing a false report, guilty. On the count of coercion of a witness, guilty. On the count of burglary, guilty."
The judge had to rap the gavel for the gallery.
"On the count of conspiracy to commit fraud against the estate, we find the defendant Gisela Hungerford guilty."
My mother did not move.
"On the count of filing a false report, guilty. On the count of fraud and the forgery of a signature on a pledge, guilty. On the count of witness tampering, guilty."
The foreman put his paper down.
"That's all of them, Your Honor."
A sound came out of the gallery that was not quite a cheer.
I felt Finbar's hand close hard around mine.
The judge waited for quiet.
"Sentencing will follow in the morning," she said. "But the court is prepared to address the defendants today, and I'll do so."
She turned her chair toward Palmer.
"Mr. Boteler. You whispered a threat to a woman eight months pregnant in front of forty guests. Then you broke into her home. You carried a newborn out of a house at night and held him on a front walk."
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