Chapter 7 - What Happened Next
Here's what happened after that, and it was slow, and procedural, and honestly kind of boring, which is how these things actually tend to go in real life.
I did not confront Barnaby directly. That was the first thing the police told me, and the second thing my lawyer told me, in almost the exact same words.
On Monday, the ninth of March, I went to Halloway station with the note, the folder pulled from Sorrel's laptop, and Sorrel herself — who insisted on coming, and who I wouldn't have brought otherwise.
The officer who took our statement was named Delia Okafor, and she was thorough and fast, and the sentence she said that made me cry right there in the interview room was: "This is one of the best-evidenced reports I've taken all year, and it was put together by a fifteen-year-old girl."
The phone went to digital forensics. The profile was still there, exactly as described. The enrollment date read the twenty-second of December, 2021, and the account it reported back to belonged to him.
Lowell Bray gave a statement in April. Casimir Rusk gave one in May and handed over his phone voluntarily. Grady Finch never responded to anyone, which was entirely his right.
Barnaby was arrested on the second of June, charged with stalking involving serious alarm or distress, along with unauthorized access to computer material.
He pled not guilty in July, then changed his plea in November once the full forensic report was entered into evidence.
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He was sentenced in January. Two years and eight months, a ten-year restraining order, and a permanent prohibition on any device management or account access related to either of our daughters until they each turn eighteen.
Sorrel gave a written statement. She never had to step into a courtroom, and she didn't want to, and nobody made her.
