Chapter 9 - The Grand Jury Indictment
The grand jury proceedings were closed to the public, a merciful shield that spared Leo from having to sit in a room full of strangers and reporters. Instead, Marcus sat in the waiting area of the county courthouse alongside Sarah Jenkins from CPS, his leg bouncing nervously against the wooden bench as the hours ticked by.
At 2:30 PM, the heavy mahogany doors of the grand jury room swung open. The county prosecutor, Evelyn Vance—a brilliant woman with a reputation for being an absolute pitbull in courtroom battles involving abused children—walked out into the hallway. Her briefcase was tucked firmly under her arm, and her face wore the grim, settled expression of a surgeon who had just completed a long, successful operation.
She walked straight over to Marcus, extending a firm hand. “It’s done, Mr. Vance.”
Marcus stood up, his mouth dry. “What did they decide?”
“True bill on all eighteen counts,” Evelyn said, her voice echoing slightly in the marble corridor. “First-degree murder for the death of your sister Elena. Two counts of aggravated child torture. Two counts of unlawful imprisonment. One count of grand larceny regarding the unauthorized withdrawals from the children’s trust fund, and one count of felony bail jumping for his little stunt in the pharmacy parking lot last Thursday.”
Sarah Jenkins let out a long sigh of relief, leaning her head back against the wall. “What about bail, Evelyn? Tell me he’s not getting out again.”
“Judge Holloway signed the remand order ten minutes ago,” Evelyn replied, a faint, grim smile touching the corners of her mouth. “He is being transferred to the maximum-security state penitentiary awaiting trial. No bail. No visitation rights. No phone privileges except to his legal counsel. He is staying in a seven-by-nine cell until a jury of his peers decides whether he spends the rest of his life there or on death row.”
Marcus felt a physical weight lift from his shoulders—a crushing, invisible burden he hadn't realized he had been carrying since the moment he saw Leo crawling across his porch. He looked out the large arched window at the end of the courthouse hallway. The rain that had drenched the city for the last week had finally stopped. A bright, clean shaft of afternoon sunlight was cutting through the gray clouds, illuminating the green leaves of the oak trees in the courthouse square below.
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“Thank you, Evelyn,” Marcus said, his voice husky with emotion. “Thank you for believing them.”
“I didn't just believe them, Marcus,” Evelyn said softly, touching his arm. “I looked at the photos of that little girl’s ribs. I listened to the tape of Leo talking to Dr. Aris about the brakes on his mother’s car. I have been a prosecutor for twenty-two years, and I have never seen a clearer case of a man who traded his soul for a bank account. I’m going to bury him, Marcus. I promise you that. When I’m done with him in that courtroom next month, Julian Vance will never see the outside of a prison wall again.”
