“Don’t expect all of this to resolve overnight,” she cautioned us.

“These things take time, and there will be more hard days.

But understand what has already happened tonight, because it matters: Brenda is safe, the evidence is secured, and Gavin no longer holds any power over either of your lives.

That part is already done.”

And that was how the following months unfolded, slowly and lawfully, in offices and courtrooms rather than on lawns.

As the investigation went deeper, more of the truth came up into the light.