But it’s been long enough. There have been like a hundred other news stories since Tim’s arrest, and the public has a short memory. Reporters aren’t interested in my story anymore. I’m yesterday’s news, and that’s the way I prefer it.

So it’s safe to answer the phone.

I click the green button to accept the call as I settle down at the kitchen table. “Hello?”

“Brooke?”

It’s a woman’s voice. She sounds older, about the same age my mother would have been, but I don’t recognize her.

“Yes…” I say.

“Brooke, this is Barbara Reese.”

I cringe, wishing I hadn’t taken the call. Barbara Reese left several messages on my voicemail way back when Tim was first arrested, but I never returned any of them. She was desperate to talk to me, which isn’t surprising, considering I’ll be testifying against her only son at his trial. And that’s all the more reason I can’t talk to her.

“Mrs. Reese,” I begin, “I can’t—”

“Please don’t hang up, Brooke.” Her voice breaks on the words. As hard as the last couple of months have been on me, I’m sure they were even worse for her. “Please. I need to talk to you.”

I want to hang up the phone, but I can’t do it to Mrs. Reese. The truth is, I really liked her when I was a kid. I spent about half my childhood at Tim’s house, and Mrs. Reese was way nicer than my own mother. She always had better snacks than at my house, she and her husband made the best burgers on the grill, and she always had kind words to say to me. Not to mention when my mother caught Tim and me in a lip lock that time when we were in middle school (practicing!), she did her best to smooth things out with my hysterical mother. I always envied Tim for his mother.

“I’m sorry,” I say, “but we don’t have anything to talk about.”

I pull the phone away from my ear, but I’m stopped by the sound of Mrs. Reese crying out, “Please don’t hang up, Brooke! Please just hear me out!”

I let out a long breath. “There’s nothing to talk about. I… I saw a dead body in his basement. I’m sorry. I know it’s hard to hear that. I never would’ve thought Tim would do that either.”

“He wouldn’t!” Mrs. Reese has lost her composure. “Brooke, you knew him better than anyone. Do you really believe he would kill that girl?”

“The body was in his basement.”

“So someone else must have put it there!”