Chapter 13 - THE TRUTH HAD TO SURVIVE PAPERWORK
The next several months were less dramatic and more important.
Cassidy returned to work three shifts a week.
She rented a two-bedroom townhouse near Lydia’s school.
Her attorney separated shared bills and established a formal method for necessary communication with Trent through counsel and approved parenting channels.
Lydia continued therapy.
Frank attended two family sessions when Cassidy invited him.
Only two.
He did not ask for more.
Investigators reconstructed the evening using evidence from sources that already existed.
Brock’s cruiser-location history.
Call-detail records.
Trent’s messages to relatives.
The neighbor’s 911 call.
Cassidy’s medical documentation.
Statements taken separately from Cassidy, Brock, Frank, Megan, and the neighbor.
No single item solved the case.
Together, they created a timeline Trent could not easily explain away.
Brock’s amended report became its own problem.
He had initially described arriving only after the official emergency call.
That was false.
During the administrative inquiry, he admitted he had omitted the earlier visit because he knew he had violated department policy by treating Trent’s call as a personal favor.
More seriously, he admitted he feared being blamed for leaving Cassidy there.
His attempt to protect his career had strengthened Trent’s claim that Lydia’s memory was unreliable.
When Frank learned that, he wanted Brock punished immediately.
Cassidy surprised him.
“I don’t need revenge.”
Frank frowned.
“I need the record to say what happened.”
That difference became the center of her final decision.
When prosecutors offered Trent an opportunity to resolve portions of the case without forcing Lydia through unnecessary future proceedings, Cassidy agreed to consider it.
But she imposed one condition through her attorney.
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Any resolution had to acknowledge that Trent’s conduct was not an accident caused by Cassidy being unstable.
That lie had done almost as much damage as the violence itself.
