“He’d gone out for a walk,” Ricky continued. “I didn’t ask why. I was just relieved to see him. We walked and talked. I left over an hour later. Which puts it past the time of death, meaning I’m Gabriel’s alibi. I can testify, beyond a doubt, that he couldn’t have killed James. That’s what I’ll do, if these charges aren’t dropped. I can prove he’s innocent.”

“By admitting you’re the one who beat James.”

“What’s the alternative, Liv? Let him go to jail?”

I felt as if someone had nailed me in the gut. If it was anyone else, I would not want Ricky turning himself in. But this wasn’t anyone else. This was Gabriel.

My stomach heaved.

“It’s okay,” he said, pulling me into a hug. “I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”

I pushed him away. “You absolutely should have mentioned it.”

“I mean planning to confess. I know I had to tell you what I did to James, as much as Gabriel didn’t want me to.”

“And I mean planning to turn yourself in. You need to talk to Gabriel first. We need to see how serious this is, how big the risk is, before you do anything.”

“I know. I wasn’t planning to walk in there and confess tonight, Liv. I’m not that selfless, or that stupid. It comes down to this: I won’t let him go to jail. If it looks like that’s going to happen, then I’ll do whatever I have to.”

I reached over and pulled him into a kiss. He went slow at first, as if braced for me to pull away. I only kissed him harder, held him tighter, and the kiss turned hungry, rough, with an edge of desperation.

“We’re okay?” he said, as if he had to check, no matter how clear that seemed.

“I’m just sorry,” I said. “I’m so damned sorry—”

He cut me off with a hard kiss, then said, “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Nothing to be sorry for. But I did, didn’t I? As inadvertent as our roles were, we still felt the weight of them, the guilt of them, and anything we could do to divert our thoughts from that, if only for a few minutes, we seized on it, losing ourselves in the moment, banishing the rest into the night.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

The next morning, Gabriel was arraigned on charges of second-degree murder. While I’d held out some hope that wouldn’t happen, the arraignment was simply a formality, a chance for Gabriel to enter his official plea. Not guilty, of course. That’s all he got to say.