Sara

Epilogue

"We find the defendant, Darius Madden, guilty of murder in the first-degree with regard to Samuel Cant."

Sara felt herself shaking as she heard the jury foreman's words, words that would result in Darius being sentenced to prison for life. Wordlessly, she turned to Jack, burying her face in his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her.

"You did it," he murmured. "You did it, Sara. You made sure Leah got justice."

Sara looked up at him, wiping a tear from her cheek. She had been the key witness for the prosecutor in both cases, the one against Darius and the one against Eugene Michaelson. Michaelson's case had already been decided; he had been guilty on all counts of aiding and abetting and possession with the intent to distribute of various kinds of drugs. Now Darius was being held as guilty for murder, albeit not Leah's murder, but for first-degree murder all the same.

It was all for you, Leah.

"Not without you," Sara said, her voice breaking. "Not without you, Jack."

Beside her, her mother was dabbing at her eyes, turning to Sara as soon as Jack released her. "Leah's resting in peace," she sobbed, hugging her daughter. "Leah's resting in peace now."

Clark Madden, on the other side of Sara's mother, was staring sadly at Darius' back, his son having sunk into his chair, head resting on the table. Men were stepping up to take him back into custody and Darius moved rigidly, standing up and allowing them to escort him from the courtroom, not casting a look back at the last remaining member of his family.

The four left the courtroom, heading through the corridors out of the large, stately building. Sara and Jack walked down the steps through the light coat of snow, hand in hand, Sara's mother and Clark following behind them. Once reaching the sidewalk, Sara turned to face her mother. "What now?"

"I'm going to visit Leah," her mother said tearfully. "I want to put some flowers on her grave. And your father, too, I haven't visited him in a long time."

"I want to visit the cemetery, too," Clark said in a low voice. "I need to see Cedric and my wife."

Jack glanced at Sara as the other two walked away. "What about you, darling?"

Sara tilted her head back, feeling the sun on her face. "I feel like getting something to eat," she said. "I'll see Leah and Dad later. They won't mind me getting a bite first."

"I'll go with you," Jack said, nodding. "And maybe we can watch a movie or something at your place after?"

"Seinfeld," Sara countered.

Jack laughed. "Of course, Seinfeld. The show that trumps any movie ever, right?"

"You're catching on," Sara laughed, their clasped hands swinging as they headed for Jack's car. The console was stuffed with several of Leah's albums, which Sara had taken from her house. Clark Madden had told her to take whatever she wanted of Leah's belongings and Sara and her mother had cleaned out all of her things, Sara taking possession of the CDs she had once promised to listen to often in memory of her sister. She was glad Leah and she had had similar enough taste, but the rest of the CDs were beginning to grow on her just for their poignant connection to Leah.

Leah had always loved her music, after all.

"We're almost finished Mania," Jack observed as he started the car. "Want to just go ahead and swap it out for something else?" He eyed up Black Sabbath's Paranoid – so far, his favorite of all of Leah's albums.

Sara idly picked up the CD case for the last Fall Out Boy album and ran her eyes down the track list. "No, let's finish this last song. Leah always liked it. And...so did I, for that matter."

"All right then," Jack said, pulling out of his parking spot as the last song began to play. "Don't forget, I think it's about time to water Steve again."

"I won't forget," Sara said, smiling a little at the thought of Leah's beloved succulent, Steve, sitting on her kitchen counter. She had taken over care for the plant as well, considering Darius was in no position to do so. And Sara didn't want him to have responsibility for anything of Leah's – he hadn't proved too trustworthy with her sister.

"These are the last blues we're ever gonna have," sang Fall Out Boy. "Let's see how deep we get. The glow of the cities below lead us back to the places we never should have left."

Sara smiled.