I was present when the first verdict was read. Nolan looked toward me, perhaps expecting triumph. I felt only exhaustion. A verdict can name responsibility, but it cannot restore a father or return five years to a missing woman’s family.
Celeste eventually admitted under oath that she had helped conceal evidence and had given false testimony about Walter’s medication. Her sentence reflected the offenses to which she pleaded guilty and the court’s findings. I did not attend her sentencing. I asked Daniel to send me the official record.
After the Kentucky verdict, Elise and I sat on a bench outside the courthouse. Reporters waited beyond the steps. She had brought a small envelope containing a photograph of Mara laughing in a field of daisies.
“Keep this,” Elise said. “Not the one from the evidence bag. This one.”
I accepted it carefully. Mara looked happy and impatient, as though someone had interrupted a good story to take her picture.
