She and her attorney rejected all offers to plead to a lesser sentence, each of which would have required her to serve at least six months in jail. Deirdre’s defense was funded by the right-to-die lobby, a group that was, thanks in part to Jared Stone, marshaling a significant war chest. They saw Deirdre’s trial as a test of both the law and of public opinion.
The trial, which didn’t begin until almost a year after Jared’s death, lasted six weeks. Deirdre’s legal team pursued a unique strategy. She was, they contended, defending the rights of Jared Stone. They freely admitted that Deirdre turned off the ventilation machine and smothered Jared with a pillow, causing her husband to die. (They had no choice, as the prosecutors showed the video from every camera angle in the room save the one covered by a pillowcase.) Deirdre had wanted to keep her daughters out of it, but they were all over the police report, so both appeared as hostile witnesses for the prosecution.
The DA made a simple argument: Deirdre Stone, frustrated by the intrusion of the television cameras—a fact with which he sympathized—had admitted to killing Jared Stone. Doing so was against the laws of the state of Oregon. The state had no choice but to hold her accountable.
Church officials were called to testify about the nature of the care administered to Jared Stone on the set of Life and Death. The defense countered that the Church had used its influence to cajole the medical team into artificially prolonging Jared’s life, making him an icon to promote their political views.
In the end, the jury sided with Deirdre. She was found innocent of murder. The double jeopardy clause of the US and Oregon State Constitutions kept the DA from filing a manslaughter charge—which he wouldn’t have done in any case—and for Deirdre, the nightmare was truly and finally over.
Like Sherman Kingsborough, Deirdre is writing a book. It’s called House of Stone and is dedicated to the memory of her late husband.
***
When the news stories spread about the events that night in Portland, Hazel was featured prominently. Until then, her parents had known little about her involvement with Jackie Stone. They were aware of her fund-raising effort but thought the matter had ended after that.
Hazel wasn’t sure how they’d react, but the Hucks were good people. They saw tenderness and love in their daughter they had never managed to see before. As a reward, they bought Hazel a dog: a pug, whom she named Max.
Hazel drifted away from Azeroth. There were just too many real-world adventures to spend time chasing zeroes and ones in the form of dragons and gold. Her newfound celebrity brought her more attention than she wanted at school. But it also opened up new avenues of friendship. Before long she was dating a boy by the name of Richie McGill. He played drums in a punk band, and he worshipped Hazel.
She and Richie fell in love. Both were accepted to schools in Boston—she at Emerson College, he at Boston University. The following fall, the car loaded with their belongings, and Max the pug, they moved north.
Jackie and Hazel did finally meet two years later when Jackie was scouting colleges. The online friends were each thrilled to be in the other’s company, and Hazel delighted in showing Jackie around Boston. But, truth be told, the two young women didn’t have that much in common. They kept in touch for more than a year after that meeting but eventually drifted apart. Time and distance, as it often is, was too much to overcome.
***
Outwardly, little changed for Megan Stone. She was the queen bee before it all started, and in the aftermath of the unprecedented media coverage, she was the queen bee still. The other popular girls at school flocked around her, and the popular boys wanted to date her.
But Megan was different. Not only were she and Jackie talking again, they were friends. As often as not, Megan would decline an invitation to a party with the in-crowd to spend time with her big sister. As she looked back on the events of those several weeks, she was in awe of Jackie, of the strength and courage she’d shown in standing up to the network, and in standing up for her father.
And it wasn’t just Jackie, it was Deirdre, too. Megan did all she could to be supportive of her mother during the trial. They were, as a family, closer than they had ever been before. And that, more than anything, made Megan miss her father.
***
Maxim Andreevich Vasilcinov went from nobody to rock star overnight. News of his involvement in the Stone family saga—it was the biggest story on the Internet for one solid week—made its way to Saint Petersburg, and to Max’s school. Suddenly, everyone wanted to be his friend.
At first, Max was overwhelmed and didn’t know how to act. But before long, he realized that he simply needed to be himself.
Three weeks later, when the world was returning to a measure of equilibrium, Max was summoned to the headmaster’s office. Max had never been called to the office before, and he racked his brain as he made the walk down the long hall-way, trying to figure out what he might have done wrong.
“Ah, Maxim,” the headmaster said when Max entered, “please, please come in.”