Innocence

My stomach turned again thinking about them hurting people I loved. Hurting Ty. The muscles tightened within me ready to spring. Jaxson’s jaw clenched in my peripheral vision. He squeezed me tighter. “I know what you’re thinking. Don’t.”

There was nothing to say. I couldn’t lie to him. If I needed to leave, I would. The pressure from Jaxson’s hold didn’t let up. “London, don’t do anything rash.”

I turned. “What if they come after Ty? Or you? To hurt me. We barely know each other.” A few more tears escaped. “Alec died because of someone wanting to hurt me.”

“Let’s talk this out. Okay? No rash decisions.”

Nodding in agreement, I took a deep breath. “Okay.” That was something I could promise.

Millie came back in the room. “Sorry, they were checking if I could be at the hospital tomorrow afternoon for a department head meeting. Apparently, there’s a big announcement coming on Monday they want us to be prepared for. I think the administrator is resigning unexpectedly. There’s been a lawsuit the hospital has been dealing with and it seems like they’re taking action upon some findings. They’re paying for the change fees. I’m going to have to change my flight to the early ass one again. Ugh. After dinner I’ll staying at a hotel near the airport. The hospital is making the reservations.”

“You can stay here.” I hated I would only have today with her, but some time was better than nothing.

Resuming her seat, Millie responded, “I know, but it’ll be easier. Getting up at four is better than three in the morning.”

“Well, you’re always welcome here.” Millie grabbed my hand and gave it a loving squeeze as I asked, “What’s the next step?” Obviously, I wanted the person responsible behind killing Alec to pay, but we needed to be smart about this.

Thumbing through the medical records again, Millie pointed to a small faint line. “You were treated in Guin, but Doctor Albertson worked at Northwest Medical. My hospital. They sent your blood work to Winfield to have it done in the orders on the first page. The Guin hospital lab was backed up, which happens from time to time.”

As I looked for more answers within the documents I stated. “The Guin records were forged to make it look like the blood tests happened there.”

Papers shuffled. “Yeah, I’ll see if I can find anything which shows the lab was backed up. I think whoever the mastermind behind this didn’t get the doctor to cooperate until after. Why have blood tests done at all if they planned to forge them? Let me see what I can find.”

“Millie, I don’t want you to get hurt.” The thought of Millie hurt because of all this was too much to bear.

She leaned forward. “If we keep it only between the three of us then no one should be the wiser until we find something else. Enough to take the asshole down. We’ll have to keep everyone else in the dark.”

A headache loomed in the back of my head. I wanted my name clear, the real killer to be convicted, but not at the cost of other people getting hurt. “For now I think that’s a good plan.”

IT WAS EARLY EVENING AS Millie and I sat on the couch, curled up next to each other watching 90210. Jaxson left midmorning to work. I could tell he hated leaving me but knew I needed time with Millie. The reality still felt like an illusion.

Innocent.

That was now my verdict.

Whoever caused Alec’s death, I wanted them to pay. But, we had to be careful. Surprise was our biggest ally at this point.

I checked the time. Dinner would be here soon and Millie would be gone. Seeing my best friend helped in more ways than one. She approved of Jaxson and thought he was a good guy.

The 90210 show ended as we finished the last of our hot chocolate. Millie took a chance because she believed in me. “Thanks for all you did, Millie. Even if only the three of us ever know, I know.”

“That’s what besties are for. We’ll keep looking to see if there’s anything else.” Pensively, she tucked the strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

“What made you decide to start looking?”

In all the commotion, I hadn’t thought of getting the backstory. “I never stopped, but I wasn’t close enough to dig deep and not bring attention. The evidence said it was your fault, but it never made sense. Two nights after you left for Colorado, I watched an episode of Criminal Minds. Then, I started thinking about the facts.”

After I was convicted, I asked Millie and my parents to stop saying I was framed. It only made the guilt worse and felt like I wasn’t dealing with the repercussions of my actions. I raised my eyebrow. “Criminal Minds?”

Shrugging, she said, “You can’t help when a stroke of genius happens.” She took a sip of water as I laughed. It felt good to be able to be happy without any guilt. “Anyway, I thought about how the accident didn’t make sense. And then the note that was sent to the businesses. While you were in prison, there were no threats. Nothing. Not hardly twenty-four hours after being released, you’re threatened.”

Her finger raised in the air to emphasize the point. “And that didn’t happen until after you saw Charles with . . . Rachel and her parents while you were at Caroline’s. The next day, threats happened. The only other person you saw was Alec’s mom, who I don’t see having the pull to blackball you. Rachel’s family have hidden scandals before.”

A vague memory took shape as I filled in the gap. “Oh, I remember. In high school, there was that article about Rachel’s mom getting arrested for drunk driving. Then, the newspaper printed a retraction in a special edition which ran that afternoon.” It had been forever since I’d thought about that. One day the town was abuzz with the gossip, then there was nothing. No one spoke a word about it.

Millie snapped her fingers. “Exactly. And now that you’ve left Guin . . . had no contact with Charles . . . the threats magically stopped. That’s more than a fucking coincidence. I knew we needed to get creative and relook at the facts. There was something we missed. There’s always a loose thread that unravels the rest of a plan. No one is perfect. At the Piggly Wiggly, I ran into Chris and remembered Norman was the officer in charge. My plan hatched when Chris asked me on a date.”