“Their only role is sacrifice and diversion.”
Marshall placed the pawn back onto the board, advanced it forward.
“Your move.”
Sidney allowed the dodge to pass in silence. Marshall was growing nervous, and Sidney knew she’d have to push him.
Sidney picked up her knight. “Will you help me, Marshall? Tell me what you know? Because I think you know a great deal about Grace and her friends.”
He stayed silent and stared at the board.
“I think you know the truth, Marshall. And I think it’s finally time for you to share it.”
“I know that if you think Grace killed them, you’d be wrong. And if you make a big deal about Henry in the documentary, the public will convict her, like they did last time. She can’t handle it again, and I won’t sit quietly this time while she is tried for Henry and retried for Julian. I did that once before.”
“I don’t think Grace killed them. I came here today to find out if I’m correct about who did.” Sidney put her knight down. “Marshall, help me. Tell me what you know, and I promise we’ll do the right thing. You and Grace and me. Together, we’ll make this right.”
Marshall pointed to the credenza, which stood in front of the window. “It’s in there. She actually showed it to Grace last night.”
Sidney slowly turned her gaze toward the credenza and spotted a thick, hard-covered book. She walked over and looked down at it, a high-school yearbook from 1999.
“This?” Sidney asked.
“Bring it here. I’ll show you.”
She carried the yearbook over and handed it to Marshall, who flipped through the pages with only slight difficulty. He placed it down when he reached his desired location. Sidney looked at the page covered by photos of girls in chemistry lab, safety goggles on their faces and short white lab coats. She recognized Grace and Ellie in a photo on the bottom left of the page. A message in dark Sharpie marker was scrawled across the photo:Ellie & Grace, nothing will separate us!
“She searched for the love lock last night,” Marshall said. “I could only laugh at her stupidity.”
“Was Ellie responsible for Henry and Julian?” Sidney asked. “Did she have something to do with their deaths, Marshall?”
The yearbook lay open on the coffee table next to the chessboard. Marshall reached for a chess piece, but Sidney put her hand softly on his. He looked up at her.
“Tell me what you know, Marshall,” Sidney said. “Tell me about Ellie. Don’t keep your secret any longer.”
An awkward moment of silence followed while Marshall stared at her.
“You have to give me Grace’s lock back. She’d be upset if she knew I gave it to you. She’ll be upset no matter what, but I don’t see what else I can do now.”
Sidney slowly nodded. She reached into her purse and removed Grace’s love lock, placing it, and the satchel that held it, on the open yearbook.
“She’s always had a strange affection for Grace. She took the blame for my accident in order to protect Grace, and she carried that burden all this time. She told Julian about Grace and Daniel’s past hoping it would keep Grace and Julian apart. When that didn’t work . . .”
Marshall pointed at the items on the coffee table. Sidney looked at the love lock, the open yearbook. She saw again Marshall’s old chess set just as her phone rang.
Marshall moved his gaze back to the game and scrutinized the board while Sidney dug her phone from her purse.
“Hello?” Sidney said, holding the phone to her ear.
“Hey, it’s me.”
“Gus?”
“Yeah. My guy just called with an ID on that print.”
Sidney waited.
“I think I got it wrong,” Gus said. “The lab guys took a look. It was hard to ID because the print was so faint and the kid’s shirt was folded. Half the print was on the shirt, with the other half on the shorts, and the picture isn’t great. Anyway, it came back as a man’s size thirteen. So, unless our girl has some monster feet, I thinkI’llbe buyingyouthat shot.”
