I watch as he nods his head and the conference room door bursts open. I’m suddenly part of a low-budget cable-TV cop show. Three uniformed officers swarm in, one on each side of me and the other blocks the door.

I watch Branson’s lips moving but I can’t hear anything, not really. Time is slipping or something is. Everything is hazy. I sit down.

He taps the table. “Your Kylie story better hold, Jane, because I’m starting to realize most everything you say is a lie.”

“Wrong. I’m the one who has been wronged here.” I can’t believe this.

“Jane Harris, you are a suspect in the murder of your daughter Mary Harris. You have the right to remain blah, blah, blah.”

He finally stops talking and it’s my turn.

“Look, you were right the first time. It was a tragic, awful accident. Mary slipped, that’s all. I mean, she was too close to the edge. About seventy-eight Americans die every year falling from cliffs.” I turn on the tears. My knees give out and the officers on either side of me catch my fall, helping me into a chair.

“We know you were there, Jane. You followed your daughters, I bet you tracked them like a predator hunting her prey. In this case, your own flesh and blood. We’ve been working the case again, thanks to Sam’s instincts. We’ve been digging around, and we found a new witness, Jane, someone who spotted you on the closed trail. She didn’t come forward before, because like most of society, she could never imagine a mother hurting her own child. None of us could. She thought she was mistaken, that it couldn’t have been you running down the trail with the dog. But it was.”

“How Law & Order of you. A mysterious new witness? How convenient,” I blurt, but my heart is racing as my memory flashes to a woman jogger.

Focus, Jane. Get yourself under control. He knows nothing. You know I’m innocent.

I fold my arms across my chest, and stop the tears. I will pivot, I’m a master of it. I match his steely gaze. “So what if I was there? Maybe I was the one trying to get Mary away from the edge. I barely saved the dog. I couldn’t save Mary. It was her fault. I tried. Maybe it was just a horrible accident.”

My mind reminds me of all the tragic deaths from falling over a cliff. The Grand Canyon claims twelve people a year. There is danger everywhere. I look up, and for some reason, Betsy, David and Bo are now in the room. I thought she was locked up, David was dying of a heart attack and Bo was packing his car, preparing to run away to avoid prosecution. This is disconcerting.