The courtroom door creaked behind me. I looked over my shoulder. Matt and Kris Sinderling filed in and took a seat in the front row behind the defendant’s table. Matt shot me a nervous smile. Kris didn’t smile at me, but she did nod. I gave her short nod back.
I realizedthen that I might not have saved her.She had a tough road ahead of her. I had no idea which path she would eventually take.For all I knew, she was simply biding her time, keeping up her end of the bargain because she believed that she was protecting LeMond.She could be waiting until the day she turned eighteen and could go to him for good.I hoped not, but she could be.
“Mr. Kopriva?” Judge Petalski said, getting my attention.
I looked up to the bench. “Yes, your honor?”
“How do you plead?”
I glanced back over my shoulder. Kris was a vision that morning. A beautiful, heartrending sixteen year old girl in a blue and white dress, seated next to her father.If she’d had dark hair instead of blonde, she could have easily been Amy Dugger, still alive and happy.
Yeah, maybe I didn’t save her.But this time around, I didn’t let her die, either.And that counts for something.
“Mr. Kopriva?”
“Guilty,” I said, turning back to face the judge. “I’m guilty, your honor.”
Judge Petalski nodded. She entered my plea into the record, passed sentence, banged her gavel and set me free.