Sully sits taller, faces my sister. “Eli Beck was most certainly nowhere near here on July twenty-fourth, when you, Morris, and Minerva found drugs in their home. I have definitive proof that on that day, and for weeks before, he was turning up to his mandated hours of community service in Pittsburgh and logging in with his parole officer. I checked.” Sully continues to look straight at my sister. “As far as I see, there’s only one person who had access to both Chase Kennedy’s loft apartment and the Floyd residence. Tell me, Alex, how far would you go to protect a child?”

And it’s then, only then, as Alex withers in her seat, that I allow myself to exhale. Sully reaches under the table and grabs my arm, giving it a gentle squeeze. It’s really happening. For once, the universe is on my side. Alex is paying for what she did. And me? I might actually get my baby boy back.

ALEX

My mind is racing, but if I can just stay focused, everything will turn out the way it should. I know it. I just need to stay calm and clear.

I’ve been trying so hard, trying to do everything right. Sometimes, though, the more you reach for something, the farther away it gets. Sometimes, you reach and reach, and you can’t make contact. And everything slides away.

“Alex,” Sully says, snapping me back into the moment. “Answer the question. How far would you go to protect a child?”

“You have to be kidding me,” I say. “The Floyds could have bought those drugs from anyone, not necessarily this Eli guy. I have nothing to do with this, except the confiscation part, which tells you exactly how far I’d go to protect a child—as far as I possibly can.” I practically spit the words in his face. I hate him, this man who I once had feelings for, another betrayer in my midst, yet another person letting me down.

“Alex, your fingerprints are on the baggies we confiscated from the Floyds.” Sully folds his arms against his chest. “But their prints are not. Keep talking, though.”

Morris is still holding the lab reports. His face is the same color as the paper. “Alex, how the hell did this happen?”

“Morris, you know whose side I’m on. You know.”

“You … you planted drugs in their home?” Minerva asks.

Her eyes are watery. I’m sickened by her weakness. I roll my eyes. “Oh, fuck off, Minerva. You’ve never been in this job to do actual work. If we did things your way, we’d lose children left and right.”

She glares at me, and predictably, her tears start to fall. “How dare you,” she says. “Evelyn Floyd has been through enough. I can’t believe you’d do this to her. It’s unthinkable!”