Twisted Palace(74)

“I never touched her,” I say hotly.

“Question: ‘How did he hurt you?’ Answer: ‘I can’t talk about it. It’s too painful.’”

I explode from the chair, but Grier’s relentless.

“‘Interview was cut short because subject was distraught and could not be consoled. We will need to follow up.’”

I grab the back of the chair and squeeze it hard. “I broke up with her. We dated until I wasn’t feeling it anymore and then I broke it off. I didn’t hurt her physically. If I hurt her feelings, I’m sorry about that, but she must not be too sad because she fucked my brother last month.”

Grier’s left eyebrow pops up again. I feel the urge to pin him down and shave that fucker off.

“Great. The jury will love to hear about your deviant brothers.”

“What about them?”

He rattles more pages at me. “I have about ten statements here that say two of them date one girl.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“It shows the kind of household you’re living in. It shows that you’re a kid of privilege who is in constant trouble. Your father cleans up your messes by paying people off.”

“I break jaws, not women.”

“You’re the only person on the video surveillance entering the building the night Brooke Davidson died. That’s opportunity. She was pregnant—”

“And the baby wasn’t mine,” I protest. “It was Dad’s.”

“Yes, but you were still having sex with her, as Dinah O’Halloran will testify to. That’s motive. Your DNA is under her fingernails, suggesting that she fought you off. The bandage on your side was newly applied that night. You have a history of physical violence, particularly when a woman in your life is verbally maligned. Your family is, if I can quote Ms. Carrington, without shame or morals. It’s not a stretch that you would kill someone if you felt threatened. That’s means. Finally, you have no alibi.”

When I was four or five, Gideon pushed me into the pool. At the time, I hadn’t really learned how to swim, which is dangerous when you live on the shore. I was fighting Mom about getting into the water, so Gideon up and threw me into the pool. The water rushed over my head and into my ears. I thrashed around like a helpless, dumb fish on dry land, thinking I would never get to the top. I probably would’ve grown up afraid of the water had Gideon not hauled me out and pushed me back in again and again and again until I learned that the water wasn’t going to kill me. But I still remember the fear and can taste the desperation.

That’s how I’m feeling now. Afraid and desperate. A cold sweat breaks out at the back of my neck as Greer picks up the last page.

“This is a plea deal,” he says quietly, as if he senses just how much he’s rattled me. “I worked it out with the prosecutor this morning. You plead to involuntary manslaughter. The sentence is for twenty years.”

This time when I clutch the chair, it’s not out of rage but helplessness.

“The prosecutor will recommend ten years. And if you’re good, no fights, no altercations of any kind, you could be out in five.”

My throat is dry and my tongue feels three sizes too big. I have to force the words out. “And if I don’t plead?”

“There are about fifteen states in the union     that have abolished the death penalty.” He pauses. “North Carolina isn’t one of them.”





24





Ella





Steve and I have just finished eating dinner when my phone buzzes with a text from Reed. It takes all my willpower not to snatch up the phone and read what it says, but I know I can’t do that in front of Steve. He has no idea that I spent Friday night (and most of Saturday afternoon) in bed with Reed, and I’m not about to tip him off.

“Are you going to check that?” Steve asks as he sets down his napkin. There isn’t a trace of food left on his plate. In the week I’ve lived with him, I’ve discovered that Steve is a voracious eater.

“Later,” I answer absently. “It’s probably just Val.”

He nods. “She’s a nice girl.”

I don’t think he and Val have ever exchanged more than ten words, but if he approves of her, I’ll take it. God knows he doesn’t approve of Reed.

My gaze darts to my phone again. Willpower. I need willpower.

But I’m dying to know what the message says. I didn’t see Reed at school today, not even at lunch. I know he was there, because his suspension is over and I caught a glimpse of him on the practice field this morning. I think he might be avoiding me, but I have no idea why. When I asked Easton about it, he just shrugged and said, “Playoffs.”