Chapter 17 - THE TRIAL
The criminal case against Reed lasted months.
The poisoning evidence was strong.
Audio.
Missing injectors.
Financial motive.
Celeste’s cooperation.
The staged contamination materials.
The delayed emergency plan.
Reed’s attorney argued he never directly admitted wanting Maren dead.
Then prosecutors played the dining-room recording.
Celeste.
“How long?”
Reed.
“Until the policy becomes useful.”
Another section.
Celeste.
“What if she survives?”
Reed.
“Then we lose everything.”
Silence in the courtroom.
The jury heard about the car crash too.
Different charges.
Different evidence.
Reed had intended sabotage.
Not necessarily paralysis.
But he knowingly tampered with the vehicle.
Maren testified.
She did not perform strength.
Did not cry on command.
Did not look at Reed more than necessary.
The prosecutor asked.
“Mrs. Whitaker, when did you realize your husband intended to let you die?”
Maren answered.
“When I understood every emergency injector was gone.”
“And what did you do?”
“I pressed a button my father installed years earlier.”
“Why?”
“Because I could not reach my phone.”
“And what did that button do?”
Maren looked toward Reed.
“It gave everyone else a chance to hear the truth after I could no longer speak.”
Reed was convicted on multiple serious counts.
Celeste pleaded guilty under a cooperation agreement.
Graham Voss faced separate federal and state proceedings involving financial conspiracy, obstruction, and the earlier vehicle sabotage scheme.
No one applauded.
May you like
Maren was grateful.
Courtrooms were not theaters.
