I glance at her trying to figure out what she wants me to do. They invite me to join them for dinner and when Sydney gives me the nod of her approval, I agree. It would be a lie to say that I’m not starving. There’s freshly ordered Italian food from one of my favorite restaurants and James pours me a big glass of red wine.

The conversation focuses on me and my trip to California with Sydney’s mom occasionally interjecting and telling me about her experiences at Palm Springs. Almost two hours later, dinner, dessert, and coffee are finally over and I retire to my room right after everyone leaves.

“What are you doing here?” Sydney bursts in, as I change into loose-fitting pjs and climb under the covers.

“It’s a long story.”

“Nicholas is custody,” she says. “I read about it online.”

“So, I guess it’s a short one.”

“What’s going on, Olive?”

I take a deep breath.

“I went to see him. I needed to talk to him. I ended up staying the night…”

“Olive,” Sydney admonishes me.

“It’s not like that. He’s a good person, Syd. It was a mistake.”

“He’s a con man.”

I shake my head.

I mean, it’s true but so I am.

And he wasn’t conning me. Right?

“They arrested him for murder, Olive. They wouldn’t do that if he was innocent.”

“They arrest innocent people all the time,” I say.

She shifts her weight to her back foot.

She knows that what I’m saying is true, she just doesn’t want to admit it.

“How do you know he’s innocent?”

I pat the edge of the bed, insinuating for her to sit down.

She does and I tell her everything that has happened that led me to Montana, including how I found Solly. She pets his head and gives him a little kiss while she listens.

“I thought you didn’t like cats.” I smile.

“Normally, I don’t.”

“Sydney, I’m here to find out the truth,” I say, sitting back against the tufted headboard. “About Nicholas. About what he did and didn’t do. I don’t think he killed his partner. I don’t think he killed his ex-girlfriend but I need to get to the bottom of it. I need to know the truth. I deserve to.”

“Of course, you do,” she insists. “But how?”

“That I have no idea.”

We sit silently for a little bit until I pivot the conversation to her.

One of the last times we spoke, she’d caught James cheating on her.

She’d called me in tears, completely distraught, and broken.

But today, he was sitting there with her mother as if nothing had happened. I played along for her sake when I first came in, not wanting to make a scene, but now I want to know the truth.