Chapter 6
Adrian Vale went to trial nine months later.
Corinne testified for two days.
Wyatt attended only the first morning.
Then stopped.
He did not need every message read aloud.
The case did.
He did not.
That distinction took months to learn.
Adrian’s defense did not deny the affair.
Did not deny bait.
Did not deny false insurance work.
Did not deny the Northcrest plan.
It denied that he intended Maisie or Wyatt to die.
His lawyers built a different story:
Adrian and Corinne planned insurance fraud through a staged wildlife incident.
They intended minor injury or frightening encounter.
Corinne escalated independently.
Phase Two, they argued, was Adrian’s “scenario analysis” after Corinne repeatedly talked about Wyatt dying.
The sedative was intended to slow Wyatt enough to create timing, not kill him.
The cliff throw was Corinne’s spontaneous act.
Adrian’s “Do it now” meant proceed with staging.
A lot of ugliness.
Less murder.
The prosecution had to prove more.
Messages.
Maps.
Sequence.
Then a new witness.
Adrian’s former office manager, Paul Chen.
He had left six weeks before crime after Adrian asked him to draft a success-fee schedule tied to Mercer estate changes.
Paul thought it unethical.
He refused.
Adrian said:
“You’re too moral for private-client work.”
Paul quit.
He saved an email:
Need contingency if child predeceases W.
Spouse block becomes liquid.
Paul asked:
“Why would a child predecease a healthy father?”
Adrian replied:
Estate modeling.
Maybe legitimate language.
But later.
Paul found another note in office printer tray before leaving:
M → W → C control.
Maisie to Wyatt to Corinne control.
He photographed because it disturbed him.
Did not report.
Why?
No crime apparent.
Just estate shorthand.
He felt guilty later.
Wyatt did not blame him.
Could anyone infer murder from three letters?
Maybe not.
Then Adrian’s satellite call audio.
Do it now.
Defense said stage.
Prosecution said kill.
Then trail camera.
The removed memory card had more.
Adrian accidentally left recording active after bait placement.
It captured him speaking to himself? No, maybe phone call with Corinne.
Corinne:
What if wolf only scares her?
Adrian:
Then cliff is cleanest.
Corinne:
You do it.
Adrian:
I can’t be seen there.
Corinne:
So I’m supposed to?
Adrian:
You want the life, you do the part.
There.
Direct.
He explicitly tied cliff to Corinne doing.
Then:
Corinne:
And Wyatt?
Adrian:
I handle Wyatt.
That destroyed much ambiguity.
Defense argued dark fantasy.
But map and sedative moved beyond fantasy.
Then Phase Two file metadata.
Created three weeks before trip.
Updated day before.
Not scenario after Corinne talk at mountain.
Premeditated.
Then Adrian’s search history:
widower mountain grief behavior.
estate succession no descendants.
hypothermia accidental death investigation.
search and rescue blind zones? This gets operational. Maybe avoid specific. Let's say "mountain accident investigation and rescue timing" generally.
Enough.
Then one search:
can surviving spouse sell restricted voting stock after accidental deaths.
Financial.
Then trail camera blind spots.
He had physically covered camera.
Then Northcrest fee.
Money.
Then Corinne’s testimony.
Defense hammered her deal.
“You receive sentencing consideration.”
“Yes.”
“You want Adrian blamed.”
“I want him convicted.”
“Because you hate him.”
“I do.”
“Because he manipulated you?”
“Yes.”
“Because he made you throw your daughter?”
“No.”
Court quiet.
Corinne continued:
“I threw her.”
That helped credibility.
Then:
“But he helped me plan for her death and planned Wyatt’s.”
Specific.
Then defense:
“You first suggested accident.”
“Yes.”
“You applied for insurance.”
“Yes.”
“You sent will.”
“Yes.”
“You could have stopped.”
“Yes.”
No evasion.
Hard to impeach someone willing to own.
Then:
“Mr. Vale did not physically touch Maisie.”
“No.”
“You did.”
“Yes.”
“He did not push Wyatt.”
“No. Luis ruined that part before it happened.”
Defense objected.
Sustained.
But jury heard.
Then Luis.
Again.
Then Wyatt? Prosecutors wanted testimony on estate documents and observed throw.
Wyatt testified one day.
He described wolf.
Corinne rescue.
Throw.
No emotional speeches.
Defense asked:
“You and Corinne had marital conflict.”
“Yes.”
“You had consulted divorce counsel.”
“Family counsel.”
“You considered seeking custody restrictions.”
“Yes.”
“You never told her.”
“No.”
“She feared losing Maisie.”
“You’d have to ask her.”
Good.
Then:
“Did you control family finances?”
Wyatt thought.
“Mostly.”
“Did Corinne have access?”
“Yes, but I managed.”
“Did she know full estate value?”
“Not until later, apparently.”
“Did she feel trapped financially?”
“I now know she said that.”
Then defense tried suggest motive to lie about throw because marriage conflict.
Wyatt said:
“Luis saw same thing and met us that morning.”
Good.
No need anger.
Then verdict.
Adrian guilty:
conspiracy to attempt murder of Maisie.
conspiracy to murder Wyatt? Since attempt not carried out, perhaps conspiracy to commit murder.
insurance fraud.
wire fraud.
wildlife-related offenses.
evidence tampering.
other financial crimes.
Acquitted on one count alleging direct solicitation of Corinne to murder Maisie before a specific date? Maybe too much. Let's include acquittal on one narrower charge of attempted murder because he was not physical actor? Conspiracy enough.
The jury acquitted him of personally attempting to murder Maisie, because he was miles away and the state had charged an alternative theory too aggressively.
That mattered.
He was not convicted for an act he did not physically attempt.
He was convicted for conspiracy.
Law distinguished.
Then Corinne sentencing.
She received a long prison sentence.
We can state 27 years with parole eligibility after substantial portion. Attempted murder infant serious. Adrian maybe 31 years because conspiracy + fraud? But physical actor usually Corinne perhaps 25, Adrian 28. Let's avoid exact if unnecessary but user likes closure. Say Corinne 26 years; Adrian 30 years. Fine.
Before sentencing, Wyatt spoke.
“I am not here to tell the court how much pain equals how many years.”
He described Maisie.
Then:
“She survived because Luis Ortega happened to be below us. Corinne’s intent should not be measured by the luck that saved her.”
Good.
Then:
“I also ask that mental-health evidence be treated as evidence about Corinne, not as a statement about mothers with postpartum depression generally.”
Important.
Corinne spoke.
“I rescued Maisie from the wolf and then killed the part of myself that had rescued her.”
Maybe too literary. Better less.
“I pulled her away from the wolf. Then I threw her. I cannot explain the second act by pointing to the first.”
Good.
Then:
“Adrian pressured me. He also gave me reasons I wanted to believe. I chose to keep going.”
The judge sentenced.
Long.
Financial forfeiture.
No access to insurance proceeds.
Parental rights? Family court later.
Corinne consented to Wyatt’s sole custody and no contact during initial years, with future contact only if Maisie requests and professionals/court approve.
No immediate termination maybe.
Adrian no contact.
Then wildlife case.
Adrian and Corinne were also responsible for costs of wildlife investigation and trail restoration under settlement? Fine.
Most importantly, wolf not killed.
Monitoring showed it had returned to normal avoidance after bait removed.
Dr. Erin Cole sent Wyatt a note:
The animal has not approached people again.
Wyatt printed.
Why?
For Maisie someday.
He wanted her to know the wolf was not a monster assigned to her story.
Then Luis’s recovery.
His rib healed.
Shoulder took longer.
He returned to guiding after six months.
First trip near cliff, he canceled midway.
Panic.
He told Wyatt.
“I thought I was ready.”
“No shame.”
Luis laughed.
“You sound like therapist.”
“Mine says it a lot.”
Luis eventually returned on easier routes.
No need conquer exact cliff.
Then a magazine offered him $80,000 for exclusive story and dramatic photo at site.
He refused.
“Why?”
Wyatt asked.
“I don’t want to hold a doll over the edge for a photographer.”
Of course.
The media wanted image.
He wanted life.
Then Mercer Alpine governance review finished.
Recommendation:
At death, all voting family shares transfer into an independent stewardship trust regardless of spouse or descendant sequence.
Economic value passes to heirs.
Voting power does not concentrate through death.
No family member becomes controlling shareholder because another family member dies.
Diane Mercer hated.
Then voted yes.
Why?
“Because I never want another estate lawyer to draw arrows between our funerals.”
That was enough.
Wyatt also revised life insurance.
Not to erase Corinne retroactively.
To create independent trust beneficiary for Maisie, not spouse control.
His own will gave care but no company leverage.
Boring.
Complicated.
Safe enough.
Then he sold one mountain property to reduce concentration.
Not Northcrest.
Open process.
Independent bids.
Northcrest participated and lost.
Good.
No trauma-driven blacklist.
Then Maisie turned one.
Party at home.
No mountain theme.
No wolves.
Wyatt considered wolf cake then realized insane.
Plain strawberries.
Luis came.
He brought a wooden fox.
Why fox?
“Store had no wolf I liked.”
Everyone laughed.
Maisie chewed fox ear.
Diane cried.
Wyatt said:
“Please don’t make this symbolic.”
She laughed through tears.
Good.
Then Wyatt received first letter from Corinne.
Through attorney.
He did not open.
Stored.
Not because never.
Because Maisie was one.
No one-year-old needs a prison apology.
He wrote on envelope:
For Maisie, if she asks when older.
No promise.
No family command.
Choice waiting.
Then he looked at daughter.
She stood holding couch, wobbled, sat.
Tried again.
Falling safely.
Normal.
Wyatt’s body still reacted.
He breathed.
Did not rush.
Maisie stood.
Smiled.
The mountain had tried to turn falling into death.
May you like
Childhood would contain thousands of falls that meant nothing more than learning balance.
Wyatt intended to let her have them.
