Chapter 80: The Repair of the Side Gate

I hired a carpenter to replace a warped section of my side gate and repair the scratch beneath the camera.
Eli insisted on helping, although I told him we could afford the work.
The carpenter agreed to let him assist after confirming the job would not take longer or create a safety issue.
They spent the morning measuring boards and checking the hinge alignment.
I listened from the kitchen as they discussed ordinary things like tools, weather, and the local hardware store.
The carpenter never asked Eli about the disappearance.
At noon, they finished the repair and tested the latch several times.
The gate closed cleanly without the scraping sound that had annoyed my father for years.
Eli stood back and examined the work.
“Dad would have said the gap was too wide,” he told the carpenter.
The carpenter measured again and found that the gap was within the normal range.
“Then your dad and I could have argued about it over coffee,” he replied.
Eli smiled.
After the carpenter left, he asked whether we could keep the old hinge in the garage.
I asked why he wanted a bent piece of metal.
“Because Dad complained about it every summer,” he said.
“I want to remember that he was also just a man who hated a noisy gate.”
I put the hinge in the drawer with the spare screws.

Chapter 81: What the Trial Could Prove

The case proceeded through pretrial hearings that were slower and less dramatic than the news coverage suggested.
Attorneys argued about which records could be admitted and how the old recordings had been preserved.
A specialist explained the limitations of the cassette transfer and described the procedures used to protect the originals.
The defense challenged several witnesses’ memories because more than a decade had passed.
The prosecutor responded with documents, dates, financial transfers, and the surviving physical evidence.
Eli testified about being locked in the chamber and about the threats that followed his escape.
He answered questions carefully and said when he did not remember something.
At one point, the defense asked whether he could have left one of his later residences without permission.
Eli said the door had not been locked.
Then he explained that Calvin threatened consequences against his family whenever he tried to return.
“I was allowed to walk outside,” he said.
“I was not allowed to believe my family would survive if I walked home.”
The room remained silent while the court reporter finished typing.
I had wanted a single sentence that would explain everything.
The testimony showed that coercion was more complicated than a sentence could hold.
Afterward, Eli asked us not to discuss his performance as though it were a school examination.
We respected that request.