Chapter 9 - The Verdict and the Cell
The jury was out for only two hours and forty minutes.
When the buzzer sounded signaling a verdict, the atmosphere inside the courthouse tightened like a coiled spring. The gallery filled within minutes, the whispers dying down into a suffocating, breathless hush.
Lauren was brought in by two bailiffs. She looked frantic, her fingers clawing at the seams of her wool blazer, her eyes darting between Montgomery and the empty seats where her mother should have been.
Evelyn Miller had not returned. After the telephoto surveillance photographs were revealed in court, Evelyn had left Charleston for an undisclosed private estate in North Carolina, abandoning her favorite daughter to the judgment of the law.
Judge Vance took her seat on the bench. “The defendant will rise and face the jury.”
Lauren stood, Montgomery flanking her. Her breath came in short, jagged gasps.
“Madam Foreperson,” the judge said, “has the jury reached a verdict?”
An older woman in the front row stood up, holding a folded sheet of paper. “We have, Your Honor.”
“On the first count of the indictment, Attempted First-Degree Assault with a Corrosive Substance, how do you find?”
“Guilty,” the foreperson read clearly.
Lauren gasped, a high, strangled sound escaping her throat.
“On the second count, Aggravated Battery Resulting in Permanent Disfigurement, how do you find?”
“Guilty.”
“On the third count, Mayhem, how do you find?”
“Guilty.”
“On the fourth count, Stalking with Intent to Commit a Felony, how do you find?”
“Guilty.”
*Guilty on all counts.*
The gallery erupted into chaos. Journalists scrambled for the doors; the gavel pounded relentlessly against the sound block.
“Quiet! Order in this court!” Judge Vance bellowed.
Lauren’s knees buckled. Montgomery caught her by the arm, but she tore herself away from his grip, spinning toward the gallery. Her face was twisted into a mask of pure, unbridled madness.
“No!” she screamed, her voice tearing at the rafters. “You don't understand! She provoked me! She’s always looked down on me! She thought she was better than me because she was smart! Because she was quiet! She deserved it! She deserved every drop! *She deserved it!*”
The bailiffs moved instantly, grabbing her by both arms and forcing her toward the holding cells. She kicked, thrashed, her manicured nails raking against the wooden partition, screaming obscenities until the heavy steel door slammed shut behind her, cutting off the venomous shriek mid-syllable.
The courtroom fell into an eerie, ringing silence.
Judge Vance turned her attention back to the bench, her face pale with disgust.
“Sentencing will proceed immediately,” Judge Vance declared, bypassing the standard pre-sentencing delay. “The Court has observed sufficient evidence of unrepentant, premeditated cruelty that constitutes an ongoing danger to society.”
Montgomery tried to object, but Judge Vance silenced him with an icy stare.
“Lauren Elizabeth Miller,” Judge Vance stated into the record, “for the crimes of premeditated chemical mayhem, aggravated battery, and felonious stalking, you are hereby sentenced to twenty-five years in the custody of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, without the possibility of parole for the first eighty-five percent of that term.”
*Bang.*
The gavel fell for the final time.
Twenty-one years minimum behind the barbed wire and concrete of Leath Correctional.
I sat in the prosecution row. Beside me, Detective Reed leaned over and touched my shoulder gently. “It’s over, Claire.”
I looked at the empty defense table, where the papers were being shuffled away into leather briefcases.
May you like
The fire that had burned on my neck for six months finally went out.
***
