Page 45 of Honest Neglect

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“TONY MCCARTHY,” THE judge announced. “The jury have deliberated.”

I tensed up in the hard seat beneath me as I watched the head of the jury hand the note to the judge. It had been a grueling few days, going through everything Tony had done again, but I had wanted to be there every step of the way—I needed to make sure I showed my face, so Tony understood that I wasn’t going to let him get away with this or with trying to intimidate the brave women who had come and stood against him into giving up on their efforts.

No less than nine women had testified against him in the last few days, including me, to build up a pattern of the abuse he had committed against all of us. Hearing it all laid out like that was painful—I couldn’t help but toss and turn at night, wondering if there was more I could have done to protect the women that had come after me. If I had dug my heels in and refused to leave when he had tried to push me out of Oakville, I could have made a fuss and brought him down then...

But I knew that wasn’t how it would have worked. He had been too strong then, his family’s grip on the place too powerful, and any attempt I made to try and take them down would have been brushed off by the local cops. There was strength in numbers, and the strength these women had was enough to put both Tony and Mark in jail for good.

Marcy had been the last one to testify against him, and I had held her hand in her seat in court before she had gone up there. She was terrified, even all these years later, and who could blame her? Tony had come after her with the intent to kill, and he would have taken out her family if he thought he could get away with it. Paul, her father, sat in the stands, watching his daughter with tears in his eyes as she recounted everything she had been through. I knew they had a whole lot of work to do when it came to rebuilding their relationship, but at least she could finally come out of hiding now.

I was sure of how the jury were going to vote, after everything they had seen and heard, but still, as I sat there and waited for the verdict, I was scared. Warren put his arm around me, pulling me in close, and I could feel myself trembling against him. This was it, the moment we found out if it was really over. If Tony went down, then his father would too—they had been in so much of this together, and the murder of the woman they had tried to frame Warren for would put them both away for the rest of their lives.

The judge lifted his gaze once he had read the paper and finally spoke the words I had been longing to hear all this time.

“Guilty, on the charge of...”

My ears began to ring, and I couldn’t take in the rest of what he was saying, but I didn’t care. He was guilty. Guilty. He was going away for a long time. I heard a rush of relief in the gallery around me, as everyone else who had come out to see this finally got what they wanted. There were so many people the McCarthy family had hurt over the years, so much darkness they had cast over Oakville and beyond, and this would officially be the end of it.

Tony was led away by the guard, and I watched as the door closed behind him—it would be decades before he saw the light of day again, and I doubted his father would ever set foot outside a prison, with what he was being charged with. He would die locked behind those bars, and the rest of the world could finally start to heal.

The gallery emptied out into the light spring sunshine outside, and I tipped my head back and inhaled a great big lungful of air, closing my eyes and letting it wash through me. I couldn’t believe this was finally over. How many years had I imagined this moment, the moment where I would finally be able to leave behind the horrors Tony had enacted against me? He was going to be held responsible for what he had done, and there was no way for him to escape the consequences of his actions. He had lived free for far too long while the rest of his victims had been under the weight of the terror he’d left them with, but no longer.

None of the other women who had testified against him were here, most of them moving back on to their real lives as soon as they had the chance, but Marcy was staying in Oakville a little longer. Turned out she actually liked the place, and I could see her putting down roots here. Starting afresh, just like I had.

“We should get back to your mom’s place,” Warren remarked as he opened the car door for me.

“You don’t want to go out for a few drinks to celebrate?” I replied, feeling as though I could have levitated off the ground. He cocked an eyebrow at me and grinned.

“Look, don’t tell her that I told you,” he remarked, “but she’s throwing a party for you to celebrate all of this finally being over.”

“Oh.. Wait, what? Really?” I gasped. “How could she be sure it would go our way, though?”

“Guess she just had faith in you,” he replied, leaning over to kiss me. I smiled into the kiss. He had been with me every step of the way, standing by my side to help me in any way I could—even when I had woken up in the middle of the night in a total mess because all of the memories of what Tony had done to me were flooding back thanks to the testimony I’d had to give. He was patient with me every step of the way, careful and caring, and I was so thankful for his support.

We arrived back at Mom’s place, and sure enough, there were already people spilling out of the front door. I spotted Frank and Leroy right away, Frank clearly a little tipsy as he sipped on his beer.

“Lily!” he exclaimed when he saw me, coming over to give me a hug. He seemed a whole lot more relaxed than I had ever seen him. He had been promoted to chief of police, and he was currently in the process of clearing out all the corrupt cops who had used to make up the basis of this town’s force. There was a lot of work to do in fully undoing the rot that had set in thanks to the McCarthys, but he was getting there.

“Congratulations, we just heard the news,” he greeted me. My mom was beaming next to Barry in the doorway, and I thanked Frank and then rushed over to hug her too.

“Oh, Mom, it’s really over,” I murmured to her, squeezing her close. She hugged me back.

“I know, darling,” she replied. “It’s what you deserve. You never have to worry about either of those awful men again. Now would you like a drink?”

“I would love one,” I sighed as she steered me through to the kitchen. When I got there, Grace was grabbing a beer from the fridge, and I felt my whole system light up when I saw her.

“Grace!” I exclaimed. I hadn’t expected her to come all this way just for this, but I was so glad she was with me—I had hoped she and my mom might meet one day, and I was sure they would get on like a house on fire.

“Leroy told me you testified against that man,” Grace remarked, shaking her head. “I’m so proud of you, Lily. I can’t imagine how hard that was.”

“Thank you,” I replied, bowing my head slightly. “Is Leroy here? I’d like to speak to him...”

The rest of the celebration rushed by in a haze as I sipped on my beer and chatted to everyone who had turned out. Marcy and Paul were there, and Barry had come along to see my mom. The whole house seemed to be filled with life and joy at the verdict, and I couldn’t have been happier. Our long nightmare was over—not just mine, but the one the whole town had been trapped in. Finally, we could all look forward to what came next, instead of wondering what twisted mess the McCarthys would force on us next.

As it started to get dark, people trailed out of the house, and Barry and Mom went to bed—yes, together, so I supposed they were officially a couple now. Warren and I headed to the back porch to let Silver play in the yard as we finished off our beers, and I gazed up at the clear, starry sky above me.

“How do you feel?” Warren murmured.