“I didn’t know. I swear. When I found out…I’m sorry. If I could take it all back, I would.”

“And all these years, you let me suffer.”

“But you got better.” Sylvie looked at Lila with something hopeful in her eyes. “You went to college and law school. You got over it.”

“You never get over something like that. You have no idea what you’ve done, do you?”

“I didn’t know what to do. He was my cousin.”

“He was evil—a monster—and you helped to create him.”

“I hadn’t spoken to him since that night. I swear. I wanted nothing to do with him.”

Lila leaned back in her chair to watch Sylvie’s reaction, and said, “Sylvie Jacqueline Dubois. Did he call you Jack because he couldn’t say Sylvie—because of his lisp?”

Sylvie didn’t answer, but looked at Lila as though Lila now aimed a gun at her heart.

Lila reached into her jacket pocket and handed Sylvie the printout of the text messages. When she saw them, Sylvie began hyperventilating. “I didn’t.” She looked at Lila, pleading. “He wanted me to, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. I swear.”

“What happened to you, Sylvie?”

“No! Listen! I got those texts and the letters, but I didn’t do anything. I would rather go to jail for what I did to you than to…Please, you gotta believe me. I didn’t—I wouldn’t.”

“The police are going to arrest you, Sylvie.”

Two unmarked police cars lit up at opposite ends of the block. Sylvie could barely breathe as she pleaded. “I have a son. Please—”

“They’re going to charge you with my kidnapping.”

When Niki and Matty got out of their cars, Sylvie slid off her chair and fell to her hands and knees, her sobs heaving in her chest. “I swear I didn’t. I swear.” Lila could only imagine the chaos spinning around inside Sylvie’s head as the world folded in on her.

Then Sylvie looked up at Lila, her cheeks wet with tears and said, “Please…forgive me?”

Niki walked onto the porch, eased Sylvie’s arms behind her back, and ratcheted handcuffs around her wrists. Lila stayed in her chair as Niki escorted Sylvie to the squad car. Only then did Lila feel strong enough to stand and walk to her car, tears blocking her vision.

In her car, Lila sat in silence as Sylvie’s pleas echoed in her head. Could she forgive Sylvie for what she did? They were different people back then, weren’t they? Dumb kids whipped around by torrents of emotion. Lila wanted to believe that Sylvie didn’t know that Gavin would rape her that night, that what happened in the bean field went far beyond what Sylvie had planned.

Then she heard the gentle voice of Dr. Roberts say, Forgiveness isn’t for them. It’s for you.

Chapter 62

Chapter 62