Rosalind’s trial is a turning point whose proceedings are not narrated in detail: the account looks back after the trial has ended, then reveals a diary that might have complicated the case but could not directly implicate Rosalind Devlin. The surrounding evidence connects Damien Donnelly’s confession to the investigation and establishes the limits of what investigators could do with the diary after the case was closed.

The confession and the case against Damien

Before the trial, Detective Cassie Maddox had argued from the outset that Katy’s killer was someone who had acted unwillingly, rather than a habitual or predatory offender. Rob Ryan recalls that the other detectives had dismissed her theory, but her insistence on it shaped the questioning of Damien. Ryan and Cassie presented confession as a way to end a life of fear and guilt; Damien eventually gave a small nod when Ryan asked whether their account sounded familiar.

In his account, Damien said he had expected Katy at one o’clock, but she arrived around a quarter to one. She brought chocolate biscuits, spoke briefly about a ballet school, and ate one while he could not bring himself to eat. He then directed her to look at a shelf and struck her from behind with a rock. The details establish his admission and the circumstances he described, but the novel does not provide the trial testimony or show how this account was presented in court.

Damien’s confession did not initially supply a complete explanation of what he had done. When Ryan confronted him with the post-mortem findings and the trowel discovered in the tool shed, Damien denied that he was withholding anything, then broke down crying. Ryan pressed him to explain the omitted assault, but Damien did not answer. The episode therefore distinguishes the confession from a full account: Damien admitted killing Katy, yet the motive and parts of his conduct remained unresolved in the interview.

Katy’s diary after the trial

A later scene takes place after the trial has ended and Katy has been dead for a year. Simone finds Katy’s diary, which Katy had searched for after discovering it missing from beneath her bed. She had found it in a shoebox in Rosalind’s wardrobe, feared Rosalind would be angry if she took it, and moved it to Simone’s so she could write privately while practicing.

The final diary entry was written three days before Katy died. Katy recorded that Rosalind had apologized for opposing her plan to go away, explaining that she had been worried about Jessica and upset at the prospect of Katy being far from home. Katy also wrote that Rosalind intended to make amends by getting her a lucky charm for dancing. The entry preserves Katy’s own hopeful account of the relationship, in sharp contrast with the murder investigation’s focus on her death.

Rob considers whether the diary would have changed anything if it had been found earlier. He doubts it would have established a crime: the mention of Rosalind making Katy drink something could have been explained as a vitamin drink or Lucozade, and the promised lucky charm proved nothing. Simone raises the possibility that finding it before Katy died might have mattered, but Rob has no answer. The diary supplies intimate evidence of Katy’s expectations, not direct proof against Rosalind.

Closure and the limits of the record

Rob places the diary and its small paper pouch in an evidence bag and sends them to Sam at Dublin Castle. He expects them to be stored in the basement with other case material. The case is closed, and he sees no investigative use for the objects unless Rosalind does the same thing to someone else. His reflection makes the timing consequential: the diary becomes available only after the trial, when it can no longer change the investigation described in the account.

The narrative confirms that the trial has ended and the case is closed, but does not recount the trial itself or specify its verdict or sentence. Instead, it sets the detectives’ earlier efforts to obtain Damien’s confession beside the diary’s belated, inconclusive testimony. The result is a narrow but significant aftermath: Katy’s private words restore some of her life beyond the case, while also showing how little they can establish about Rosalind’s criminal responsibility.