Chapter 9
The day of the arraignment Rhys and I sat near the front of the courtroom in our best suits, and watched the proceedings. When asked how he would plead, Russell Haven said he was guilty to the charges. The presiding judge set the hearing for four o’clock in the evening on Thursday. Before being led out of the court, Dad looked over at us.
The man I’d known my entire life had been a brash, selfish lout, a heavy drinker who neglected his family almost to a criminal degree. Now I saw before me someone who was starkly sober—chastened—as if something had snapped inside him after the fatal accident he’d caused. Maybe he finally got it. Just one nod in our direction, and he was led out of the courtroom.
Rhys and I went back to the house and set to work cleaning it from top to bottom.
