Chapter 21 - ROBERT’S APPEAL
Robert appealed one evidence-interference conviction.
The appellate court agreed one jury instruction had been too broad.
That count was vacated.
His child-endangerment conviction remained.
His fiduciary plea remained.
His sentence decreased modestly.
Headlines:
ROBERT HAYES CONVICTION OVERTURNED.
Mia was thirteen.
“That’s not true.”
“One conviction was.”
“But not everything.”
“No.”
She read the actual summary with Daniel.
Courts correct errors.
Even for people we dislike.
Especially then.
Mia hated the lesson.
Later she appreciated it.
Robert sent one letter.
She declined to read it.
At seventeen, she changed her mind.
He wrote:
I heard you say you wanted your mother. I told myself Patricia had created the problem and therefore she should solve it.
Mia stopped.
“He knew.”
“Yes.”
“I knew he knew.”
“Yes.”
“But reading him say it is different.”
Robert continued:
I was more afraid of Arthur’s documents becoming public than I was of what twelve minutes in that garage were teaching you about me.
Mia closed the letter.
May you like
“No reply.”
No one asked again.
