“Is it true?” she repeated, looking into his eyes.

“What do you think?”

“I’ll believe whatever you tell me.”

Ross hadn’t expected this. As he looked into her eyes, his anger dissipated. It had been a long time since he’d been given the benefit of the doubt by anyone.

“No, I didn’t murder her. But I killed her.”

Ross had looked down as he said it, and when he looked back up, he expected there to be fear or shock in her eyes. There was only empathy.

“Alyssa was my fiancée. I loved her more than anyone or anything in this world. I loved her even as much as I love you. We were going to get married.” He ran his hand across the table. “The world was mine. I had just won the largest advertising account in Minneapolis. I had the girl of my dreams. I guess no happiness goes unpunished. Four days before our wedding my brother calls. He tells me that he saw Alyssa eating dinner with her ex-boyfriend. He said they were holding hands and kissing.” Ross slowly shook his head in remembrance. “Rational man that I am, I go crazy. I went to her apartment and confronted her. At first she denied it. But I kept on her until she admitted that she had been with him. She begged me to let her explain. She said that she and her ex-fiancé had parted without finality and that she wasn’t sure whether she still had feelings for him or not. She wanted to give all of herself to me and didn’t think it was fair to marry me without knowing for sure.”

Ross rubbed his forehead. “She said that after they talked she realized that there were no feelings—that she wanted only me.” He looked up into Eliana’s eyes. “It should have been enough.

“But I was so blinded by jealousy that I didn’t hear what Alyssa was really saying. She started to cry and ran out. I followed her to the park near her apartment. Then she turned and asked me to just leave her alone. I knew I was wrong, I wanted to apologize. I was so afraid of losing her I didn’t know what to do. So I did as she asked and walked away.”

Ross’s eyes began to moisten. “It was the last thing she would ever say to me. A half hour later she was found in the park by some joggers, bleeding to death.”

Eliana raised a hand to her mouth. “Dear Lord.”

“I drove around Minneapolis for almost three hours. Finally I just decided to go home. By the time I got back, the police were waiting for me. I was charged with her murder.”

“But why?”

“We were pretty loud. There were at least a dozen people who heard our fight, and some of them saw me follow her into the park. I had no alibi. When the joggers asked Alyssa who had done this, all she could say was my name. She died with my name on her lips. I was given fifteen to life for criminal homicide.