Chapter 8: Charge text
The arrest happened on a Tuesday morning outside the law office Daniel had been using as a temporary address.
Cameras caught the walk between the glass doors and the car. They did not catch the years of ordinary evenings when a glass of water and a tablet had looked like devotion. Cole read the charges without theater. Daniel’s attorney promised a vigorous defense. Bond arguments consumed an afternoon. Emily did not attend. Paige sat in the back and did not look away.
Rosa received a subpoena and a victim-witness advocate who explained timelines in plain language. She bought a plain blouse because she refused to enter a courtroom in the orange uniform that news sites still used as a thumbnail. The advocate said she might wait months. Rosa said she had already waited through a prayer in a chapel while a woman tried to be heard through wood. She could wait through a docket.
