“So why don’t you take this chance to convince them you didn’t?” I said. “Dane, you lied to Gus about your alibi twenty-two years ago. We know you didn’t kill Ellie. Jamie did. You’re not in danger of prosecution.”
“I don’t believe you,” he said.
“I’m the prosecutor! Gus is the detective on this case. We’re the ones telling you you’re not in jeopardy here. If you want it in writing, I’ll put it in writing. Full immunity. But you have to tell the truth. Jamie’s lawyer has used you to raise reasonable doubt. He only has to make one member of that jury think maybe you’re the one who killed her. Then Jamie walks. And this whole thing starts all over again for you. Not from us. We know the truth. But everyone else will believe you’re a murderer forever.”
“Take the deal and do the right thing, Fischer,” Gus said.
“I don’t trust you!” Dane shouted. Spit flew from the corner of his mouth. Gus stayed right where he was, in Dane’s face. “I don’t trust your deal. And I don’t owe you anything. I did what I had to do. The only one who can look out for me is me. I’m not signing anything. I know my rights. I’m not going back into that courtroom.”
I sat back hard in my seat. Time was running out. Soon, there’d be a knock on the door when Judge Saul was ready to retake the bench.
“Dane,” I said, softening my tone. “Okay. I get it. I really do. You’ve gotten a raw deal. It isn’t fair. The Lukes were wrong about you.”
“So was I,” Gus said. “Is that what you need me to say? I was wrong. And it’s killing me to know that. I wish I could go back in time and change things. You want an apology? You have it. I’m sorry.”
“It’s worthless,” he said.
“Who else are you protecting?” I asked. It was almost a throwaway question. But as I said it, something clicked. Dane’s eyes widened. I knew that look. I knew I’d hit on something.
“Your alibi,” I said. “You told Gus two different stories about where you were and both of them were lies. But you weren’t anywhere near Ellie Luke. We all know that. So why not come clean now? You’ve never told the truth about where you were. That’s why you failed the poly. But we know youhadan alibi because we know Jamie’s the one who killed Ellie. Why do you think you can’t tell us the truth now?”
“We’re done,” he said. “I told you ten minutes. We’re well past that.”
“Is there somebody who can vouch for where you were the night Ellie went missing?” I asked. “Dane, for god’s sake. Tell me. Let me go in there and prove your innocence. If I don’t, this cloud of suspicion will be over you the rest of your life. This is really your one chance, your last chance to take back some of what you lost.”
He said nothing, but he didn’t have to. A shudder went through him. Dane’s eyes went red.
“I’m right,” I said. “Aren’t I? You lied because you were protecting someone. Who? Whatever it is, does it still matter after twenty years?”
He buried his face in his hands. Gus caught my eye across the table.
“Everything,” Dane whispered. “I lost everything.”
“Who did you lose?” I asked. “Who got scared away when Gus zeroed in on you as the prime suspect?”
It wasn’t his family, I knew. They’d already turned against him at Ellie Luke’s word two years before her death. So it had to be someone else he loved.
“Who was she?” I asked. Dane’s head snapped up and he looked at me.
“You loved her,” I said. “But you didn’t want to drag her into all of this. Is that it?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he whispered.
“I think she does,” Gus said. “Who was she, Dane? Why didn’t you want anyone to know you were with her?”
“The hell with both of you,” Dane said, but I knew the fight had gone out of him. Love. It was the only thing I could think of that might make Dane Fischer hold on to his secret.
“Maybe she’d want to help you?” I said. “Does she know she could make it so the whole world knows you’re innocent? Finally. After all this time. If she cared about you at all, wouldn’t she want that for you?”
“She doesn’t deserve this,” he said. “She never did. You had no idea what I put her through. I made a lot of promises I didn’t end up keeping. But I kept this one.”
“She wasn’t supposed to be with you that morning, is that it?” Gus asked. “It would have cost her something if people knew.”
Dane nodded.
A thought popped into my head. “Dane,” I asked. “Did she have another boyfriend? A husband?”
“A husband,” he whispered.
