Chapter 25
Claire
“Ipicked up the gun.”
That was the sentence that did it.The one that implicated me in a double homicide, attempted murder, and a staggering pile of other charges I didn’t understand.
I was asked to hand over my belongings.
Take off my belt, and shoelaces.
I took a mug shot.
Wait here.
No talking.
Stand here.
Don’t speak.
Now I’m sitting here in a cell, watching the detectives pass around some funny social media post they all got a good laugh from. Half of me thinks they were sharing the images Matteo photoshopped of me, the other half thinks they forgot all about me as soon as they locked me in this cage.
Hours and hours pass.
Detective Fury and Cage come and go, intermittently completing forms detailing my transgressions. Even more hours pass, each one longer and more drawn out than the one before, infinite.
At midnight, a dozen boxes of pizza get delivered, but not one slice is offered to me or any of the other people stuck behind these cold steel bars. I’m so hungry I feel sick.
I try to sleep but I can’t. I spend the majority of my time wrapped around the dirty steel toilet, dry heaving into it.
At nine in the morning an officer pulls open my cell door and calls my name. Bleary-eyed, I follow him out and collect all my belongings. My messenger bag with my wallet and the only cash I have left to my name, fifty-six dollars and a handful of loose change. I sign a bunch of papers and get mandated to make a court appearance at ten. I don’t have a lawyer. I wouldn’t even know where to get one or how to pay for one. I walk out into the courtyard in a confused, terrified haze.
Chloe Montgomery is waiting for me. She looks disheveled and exhausted, but I can’t read her expression. I don’t know what’s happened to Vaughn, no one has told me anything, and I rush to her, forgetting all about charges and court appearances and my dismal future. “Please tell me he’s he okay,” I cry.
“My mother doesn’t want me to tell you how he’s doing, she wants you to think he—” she swallows hard and my knees go weak. “He’s going to be okay, Claire, really. She wants me to lie to you, but I don’t think it’s right, nothing that you guys went through is right.”
I stumble back on the heels of my boots, tension draining so fast from my body I feel a thousand pounds lighter.Vaughn’s going to be okay. Now I can focus on what’s ahead for me in court. Whatever that may be. “Thank you for telling about Vaughn. Thank you so much.” My voice breaks over every word.
Chloe looks at the building behind me with a thoughtful expression and takes a deep breath. “My mother is the one that paid for your bail release. She’s also the one who is willing to pay for your lawyer and hand over our security footage of the incident.”
“Security footage?” I’m stunned. My skin tingles with electric sparks. The Montgomerys have something that can get me out of this mess?
Chloe tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear and nods. “There are security cameras all over the estate, inside and out.” She reaches out and grabs one of my hands and holds it in hers, “Claire, it shows everything. You’d be cleared of all the charges.”
“But not for what happened to Mr. Luger,” I murmur.
“The footage has sound, and Matteo says a lot of things that prove you’re innocent and he’s the one fully responsible. And like I said, Claire, my mother is offering her lawyer’s services, free of charge.”
My heart feels like it’s sinking through my stomach. I know this will all come with a cost. “What is she asking for in return?”
Chloe looks down.
I start to cry. It’s not a far stretch to wonder what she’s going to ask of me.
“She doesn’t want you to contact himever,” she says with a whimper and a sniffle. “And she would like you to relocate. I’m so sorry, Claire. Vaughn always…he always…”
I can’t ever contact Vaughn again? “Wait a second, what if after all of it, of me not contacting Vaughn, what if he contacts me?”
