Jack’s expression darkened. The look of a man already identifying problems.
“Didn’t the Harlow boy drop out of school after that?” Brian asked.
“Yes.” My voice was soft. “After he dropped out, he spiraled. He overdosed on pain medication a few years later.”
The silence that followed was thick in the air.
“Well, that shouldn’t affect any of this, right?” Brian looked at Jack. “There are laws, I mean. Laws guaranteeing fair trials. Constitutional rights.”
Jack pressed his lips together. “There are.”
“But?” I asked, already knowing.
“But some people think they’re above the law,” he said quietly.
“Think or are?”
“Both,” he said. “Some people have enough power to keep someone locked up for years for no reason whatsoever. Long enough to drain you financially with lawyer fees until you’re broke.”
Brian sank beside me with a hollow stare. “So justice is only for the rich?”
“No,” Jack said. “But it’s hard for the rest of us to get it.”
“What are the next steps?” I asked.
“Same as before,” he said. “We’ll file the motion to reconsider today. If it’s denied, we go straight to Superior Court.The overall goal is to get in front of a jury as fast as possible. Take the power away from the judge and the AG.”
That flicker of hope returned. Small, but enough to hold on to.
“Will she still be out in a few days?” I asked.
“It’s possible,” Jack said. “But even if it takes longer, don’t lose hope. We’ll get her out. And, who knows? Maybe they’ll find the real killer in the meantime. Maybe another robbery gone wrong in the area that leaves somebody else dead. Then this will be nothing more than a terrible chapter of your lives. A test you’ll all have made it through.”
Brian and I stood and shook his hand.
“Thank you,” I said.
“Thanks, Jack,” Brian echoed.
He nodded. “It’ll all be sorted out soon.”
Chapter 14
Nicole - Three Months Later
“Well, turns out Ethan had used permanent marker, and Brian couldn’t get the fake eyebrows and mustache off for three days,” I said, forcing out a laugh, empty and fake, as I shifted on the hard plastic chair in the visitation booth.
Across the glass, Lacey sat slumped in an oversized orange jumpsuit. Her hair hung in oily strands over her shoulders. Her cheekbones looked sharper. Kinda fallen in. She had to be down twenty pounds, maybe even more. Her skin was as pale as a ghost’s, and the dark rings under her eyes made her look like the sad woman fromCorpse Bride.
She wasn’t even holding the phone. Just stared through the glass like she didn’t even see me. Next to her, a female correctional officer in a black uniform was holding the phone to Lacey’s ear. She had short black hair and a large nose. I gave her a grateful glance.
Two booths down, someone’s mother sobbed into the phone.
“Well, we miss you so much, but we’re hanging in there, so don’t you worry about us,” I said, lying.
We were falling apart at the seams. Dylan was a walking time bomb at school with Benny. Lila started wetting the bed again, waking up in the middle of the night in tears. Ethan had started biting at daycare. And Brian … God. Brian was a whole different story.
Three months. That’s how long it had been. And Thomas Harlow had blocked every effort to get Lacey out.
