Chapters (41)
It’s finally time. A guard walks me down the long hallway. My standard-issued rubber shoes make a loud scratching sound as they hit against the linoleum. When the door opens, I see her. Her face lights up and she smiles. I practically rush over to get to the phone so that I can hear her voice.
“You’re here,” I whisper.
“I’m here.” She nods.
Her hair falls a little bit into her face and she brushes it away. Our eyes meet and I see a tear in the corner of hers.
“It’s okay, everything is going to be fine,” I whisper.
I have no way of knowing that, but it’s a good thought and right now I just want to think good thoughts.
"Thank you so much for doing everything you’ve been doing to help me. Nancy just filled me in,” I say, putting my hand on the glass, wanting more than anything to touch her. “You really didn’t have to, but I appreciate it so much.”
“It was Owen all along,” she says quietly. “He killed your partner and he killed his girlfriend.”
I nod.
Looking back, it totally makes sense. That’s why he was always accusing me of it. That’s why he was upset with me being around her.
He wanted me to take the fall for his crime and here I am standing at the cliff.
Olive puts her hand up to the glass matching the outline of mine. But then she hangs her head and pulls away.
“What’s wrong?” I ask. She doesn’t respond so I ask again.
“Meredith got fired,” she says quietly. I have no idea who that is.
“She’s the paralegal at the district attorney’s office who was helping me with the case. She knew everything about it and she believed that you were innocent.”
“I’m so sorry,” I say.
“And Robert, I mean Pink Eye, is refusing to cooperate. He told me one thing but now he’s retracting his story. And without him and without the DA testing that DNA evidence…” Her voice trails off.
“Don’t cry,” I say. “Please don’t cry.”
But tears start to flow down her face. She wipes them off just as new ones arrive. After a few moments, she gives up and just lets them run.
“It’s going to be okay, Olive,” I say over and over again, trying to calm her down.
It’s a lie. We both know it but what else is there to say?
What else is there to do but stay in this moment for as long as possible and hope against hope that tomorrow might be different?