AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Okay,” he begancarefully, “I get that you think Vaughn is wrong for this. And I’m inclined toagree with you. But nothing we’ve found exonerates him. And what we havefound makes him the most likely culprit out of anyone we’ve encountered so far.Maybe it’s time to stop trying to find holes in the case against him and startshoring it up. Is it possible that Parker isn’t the only one being a littlepig-headed here?”
Jessie sat withthat for a moment, then stood up.
“Please don’t getpissed,” he begged.
“I’m not pissed,”she told him, and it was true. “It’s a fair point. I’ll admit that I’mconfident that I’m right about this, but maybe I’m holding on to that tootight. I think I just need to take a little break to clear my head, then comeat this fresh. Do you mind if I step out, maybe call Hannah to check in on howKat’s doing?”
“I actually thinkthat’s a great idea,” he said. “I’ll be here when you get back.”
She leaned overand gave him a kiss to reinforce that she wasn’t upset with him. Then she leftthe conference room and walked down the long hallway that led to the back doorof the West Los Angeles Station. She stepped outside and made her way to aconcrete bench along the back wall of the building.
This place was theopposite of Central Station, which was old and dilapidated but had a charmingcentral courtyard with grass, a tree, and multiple wooden benches. The sceneryaround here was much nicer, with dozens of palm trees swaying in the wind. Butthe outdoor break area was a fenced-in patch of asphalt with unforgivingbenches. Since that was all she had, Jessie sat down, pulled out her phone, andlet her finger hover over the screen.
She consideredcalling Kat directly but worried the conversation might take longer than shehad right now. A surge of guilt hit her, as she realized she was avoiding hergrieving friend in favor of a case. Trying to push the feeling out of her head,she called Hannah instead.
The call rang onceand went straight to voicemail, a clear sign that her sister was either in themiddle of something or just didn't want to be bothered. Hannah had even toldher once, back in her junior year of high school, that she would sometimes let thephone ring once before declining it to let the caller know that they'd beenrejected in favor of whatever she was doing at that moment. The thought wasinfuriating. Now, even her mental break was falling through.
Her thoughtsdrifted to her sister. Even though she had made so many strides, Hannah couldstill be stubborn and immature. Right now, she was helping out a woman in deeppain, but she could just as easily slip back into her high school mentality,where it didn’t occur to her to think about anyone other than herself. She wastechnically an adult, and often acted like it. But sometimes she behaved like alittle child.
As thatrealization hit her, Jessie felt an intense shudder that passed up through herbody and into her brain, where an odd tingle lingered. She knew the sensation.She’d had it many times before. It almost always meant she was onto something,but that her mind hadn’t yet wrapped itself around what. She couldn’t put herfinger on what her brain was trying to tell her, but she knew one thing: itwasn’t about Hannah. It was about this case.
She got up andwalked back inside. But this time she wasn’t wandering listlessly. Now she wasmoving with a purpose.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Hannah feltguilty.
Normally she wouldhave accepted Jessie’s call, but under the circumstances, she felt sure hersister would understand. This was more important.
She and Kat weresitting on the couch in her apartment, watching the video footage that Jennythe nurse had recorded of Hannah’s hospital room conversation with Ash Pierce.Jenny had surreptitiously handed her a thumb drive with the recording as sheleft the floor’s secure unit.
The video wasgrainy, and the audio was a little scratchy, but the entirety of their chat hadbeen captured. When it ended, Hannah turned to Kat, who looked pale.
“What do youthink?” she asked.
Kat shook herhead.
“I think that Iwasn’t prepared for this,” she conceded. “I went to that hospital room so manytimes when she was in a coma that I guess I got used to seeing her like that.But the sight of her now, sitting up and alert, is really disconcerting. Somepart of me hoped that maybe she’d lost some mental acuity because of whathappened. But she seems as sharp as before.”
“I agree,” Hannahsaid, noting that Kat hadn’t addressed the larger issue, “but I mean, what didyou think about her credibility? Do you think there’s any chance that she’stelling the truth, that she really did lose all memory of her time as ahitwoman for hire?”
Kat slumped backon the couch.
"Idon't," she said, "but I'm not sure how much my opinion matters. Thiswoman tricked me, as you well know. She gave a false identity and claimed to bean abused woman trying to hide from her husband, all as a ruse to get me to anisolated location so she could torture and kill me. If such a thing exists, youcould probably show me a brain scan proving that she lost her memory, and Istill wouldn't believe it. The real question is, did you believe her?You were in that room, talking to her face to face. You saw hermicro-expressions and heard the variance in her voice in real time. Did you buyher story?”
Hannah slumpedback on the couch as well. She knew this question would be coming, and she wasno more confident in her answer now than before.
“I don’t need toremind you that she snowed me too with the ‘abused wife’ persona, or that shewanted to torture and kill me too. Or that I had to hide in safe houses whenshe was hunting for me after she escaped from prison. I’m as biased as you are.So my initial impression is that she’s full of it…”
“I think I hear a‘but’ in there,” Kat noted.
“But,” Hannah saidsheepishly. “I don’t know if my conclusion is based on any actual evidence. Imean, there were a couple of moments that gave me pause.”
“Like what,” Katwondered.
Hannah sighed asshe tried to relive the memory. “One was when she mentioned getting stabbed inthe neck when she was ‘supposedly’ trying to kill some young woman. I swear Ithought I saw a flinch of recognition, like she knew I was the young woman shewas referencing.”
“And the other?”Kat asked.
