According to Detective Smalls’ deputies, Rosalee’s husband was on his way. His plane was scheduled to land in just a few hours. He was an attorney and Rosalee wanted him there beside her. It was only by the grace of god that he hadn’t shown up already, his original flight cancelled and then postponed again due to weather. The longer I can keep the lawyer away, the better, the detective thought, wearily.

Her silence made sense, certainly. She was soon-to-be-married to a lawyer. Normal, everyday people want to talk: the guilty, so they can weasel their way out of trouble, and the innocent, to tell their side of things and prove they aren’t capable of whatever crime they’re suspected of committing.

But people who have been through the system often, and those familiar with law enforcement and the judicial system—they often know better. They rarely waive their right to an attorney.

She might be too nice, but she certainly isn’t gullible, the detective thought, studying the young, stoic woman sitting at the table across from her. From what the detective could gather from the other women, and sources close to her, Rosalee was smart and kind, creative… and also damaged.

She had lost her parents at a very young age. Tragedies like those are hard to overcome; one minute you think you’re unaffected by the past, and the next minute, the ripples of what you’ve been through are creating waves and eventual tsunamis in every avenue of your life.

Detective Smalls should know—she, too, lost her mother tragically at an early age. Suicide. Peyton Smalls, who suffered with untreated depression her whole life, had finally given into her demons and leapt from a bridge, falling a hundred feet to her death. Just to make sure she finished the job, she chose the only bridge in the city with no water below.

Luckily for the detective, she was younger than Rosalee when it happened. She didn’t know or understand what had happened to her mother, only that she had gone to heaven according to her father and other family. Not until many years later did she learn the truth about her mother’s death.

“Look, I understand if you don’t want to talk. To be honest, I probably wouldn’t talk either if I were in your situation. Asher will be here soon, so hopefully you’ll be ready to talk then.”

Silence.

“But I do want you to know that you’re the only one who hasn’t spoken to me so far. Everyone else has given their side of the story and told me what they know…”

Detective Smalls pulled out her chair and forced herself to stop pacing and take a seat across from Rosalee. They stared each other down for what felt like minutes, and then the detective started talking.

“I don’t need you to talk. I just want you to listen. Okay?”