Spring brought news that Hank's criminal case would not proceed exactly as the local reporters had predicted. Prosecutors and defense counsel were discussing a plea agreement covering substantiated abuse-related offenses and financial misconduct. Hank would have to admit specific conduct in court, face sentencing, and be prohibited from serving as a foster parent again under the relevant administrative orders. Leo was given an opportunity to share the impact of the abuse without being required to carry the entire case through a contested trial.
The prospect of speaking in court frightened him more than he expected. He had stood in front of hundreds of bikers and watched a man with a bat lose his confidence, yet the thought of a courtroom left him awake for hours. He worried that he would forget something, cry in front of strangers, or find himself apologizing to Hank out of habit. Thomas Reed arranged a visit to an empty courtroom so Leo could see where people sat and understand what would happen.
The room was smaller than he had imagined. The benches looked ordinary, the judge's chair was worn at the arms, and the air smelled of furniture polish rather than the dramatic menace of television. Leo sat where witnesses would wait and asked whether he had to look at Hank. Thomas explained that he could speak to the judge and did not need to search the defendant's face for permission to tell the truth.
On the day of the hearing, Sully wore a plain jacket without his club vest. Mara sat beside Nadia in the public seating, and Mae Ortega had driven from the highway diner to attend. Leo noticed all three when he entered, but nobody waved or tried to turn the moment into a performance. Their presence was enough to steady him.
Hank looked older than Leo remembered. He wore a button-down shirt under an inexpensive blazer and sat beside his lawyer with his hands folded as if he were attending a routine appointment. When the judge asked him to confirm the admissions contained in the plea, his voice was flat and reluctant. Leo listened, feeling both relieved and furious that the man who had ruled the Flagstaff house through fear could sound so ordinary.
His statement was shorter than the pages he had written while preparing it. Leo told the judge that he had been frightened to eat, sleep, and ask questions in Hank's home, and that the fear had followed him even after he reached safety. He spoke about Jonah and Molly without exposing details they had not agreed to share. Then he explained that when a grown person with power hurts a child, the child can spend years believing the fault must have been his.
"I don't want that to happen to anybody else," Leo said. His voice trembled, and he let it. "I want the next kid who tells the truth to be believed before he has to run into the desert to stay alive."