Chapter 44
44
J enna stares at me nervously after I end the call with Adrian. “Am I in trouble? Did you call the police?”
I want to scream at her.
Kick her out of my office.
Tell her to go fuck herself in as many ways as I can come up with.
How could she?
She knew this for years and did nothing.
Let an innocent man go to prison.
Held the truth from a family mourning their son.
From me .
I don’t know the entire story yet.
After she told me the wrong man was in prison, I told her to stop talking.
I need an attorney to be here with me.
I need Adrian . He knows just as much about this case.
“I called someone to help,” I explain, my pulse speeding.
Needing to do something with my hands, I flip my phone over on my desk.
Then do it again.
And again .
Jenna stands.
“Sit down, Jenna,” I snap, both of us shocked at my hostility.
She drops back into her chair.
“I didn’t call the police. I called another attorney to come help with”—I pause, gesturing toward her and hating that my voice breaks—“this.”
Adrian, please get here fast .
I unlock my phone to call him again, but stop.
Taking my call will only delay him further.
Not even a minute later, he rushes into my office.
For some reason, River is with him.
If I wasn’t shaking and on the edge of a panic attack, I’d question why.
Lainey comes up behind River, uncertainty on her face of what to do.
I nod a silent Everything is okay and gesture for her to leave and shut the door behind her. The less people who hear this conversation, the better.
Which includes River.
Out of all people, why would Jenna come to me?
Adrian wrinkles his nose, coming to my side.
As far as I know, he doesn’t know my history with Jenna.
He doesn’t even know Jenna.
River, on the other hand, knows exactly who she is.
He presses his lips together in a grimace, not taking his eyes off her, and crosses his arms. He looks almost like he’s standing guard between her and me.
“Tell them what you told me,” I direct Jenna.
She squirms in her chair, warily looking at us. “Why would I say anything in front of them? I came here to talk to you about help.”
“River, out,” I say before mouthing, Sorry , to him.
“You can’t be serious?” He scoffs. “I don’t trust her with you. ”
I lay my hand over my chest. “I’ll be okay. As attorneys, we need to speak with her.”
River scowls at Jenna before leaving my office and slamming the door behind him.
“Jenna, this is Adrian,” I introduce. “He’s also an attorney.”
She starts to offer him a friendly wave but drops her hand when Adrian doesn’t wave back.
I’m sure he got the hint Jenna is no friend of mine by River’s reaction to her.
“Adrian has worked with the Prison Exoneration Program, the organization that picked up Earl’s case.”
Jenna’s shoulders tense.
I peer up at Adrian. “Jenna came here, asking for representation. She claims Earl isn’t the one who caused the accident that killed Ethan.”
Adrian’s eyes slip to Jenna, untrusting, as he steps behind my chair and rests his hands on my shoulders. “Jenna,” he says, his voice soft and comforting, “who caused the accident?”
“Isn’t this a conflict of interest?” Jenna asks. “You’re literally helping the other side.”
“No, my mom is working on his case. But if you tell us what you know, it’ll save all of us a lot of work and give us a chance to help you out. You asked Essie for representation. In order for her to consider, she needs to know what she’d be representing.”
Jenna bites into her lower lip.
“If you’d rather speak to my mother, who I can have subpoena you, or the police, we can arrange that,” Adrian tells her.
“Do you promise I won’t get in trouble?” Jenna runs a hand over her face, smearing her red lipstick.
Mascara remnants are on her cheek. Her clothes are rumpled when she’s usually always put together. She looks like she hasn’t slept in days.
“We can’t promise anything,” I tell her. “You told me you know who killed Ethan. Not that you killed him. If you help us, the police, then whoever your attorney is, will fight for a deal where you won’t face any criminal charges.”
Tears fall down her cheeks, and she sniffles.
“Who caused the accident?” I say, feeling like I’m moving into interrogation mode more than I should. But I can’t help it.
Adrian squeezes my shoulders—a silent agreement that I am.
All I need is for her to tell me.
Tell me that I’ve been wrong for so many years.
That the monster in my nightmares isn’t who it should be.
“It was Greg,” Jenna finally says. “Greg and his friends.” She covers her mouth with her hand, as if she never thought those words would leave her mouth.
I lose a breath, shocked I’m keeping my cool and not running out of the office to hunt down Greg.
I’m also shocked I’m not screaming at Jenna.
It’s probably because Adrian is with me.
Having him here helps keep me calm.
“Was it an accident?” I ask her, feeling like I already know the answer.
“I didn’t expect it to go as far as it did.” She shakes her head, refusing to meet my eyes.
Greg was Jenna’s boyfriend in high school. He played football with Ethan, and they ran in the same circle. But as far as I knew, they weren’t super close. Ethan even called Greg a douchebag a few times for the prank that had gotten Earl fired.
After Ethan’s death, Greg even made a speech at his funeral, speaking for the football team. He graduated, earned a football scholarship, and moved.
“Why did he do it?” I ask her.
“Because of me,” she whispers.
Adrian squeezes my shoulders, walks around my desk, and takes the chair beside Jenna. “Why because of you?”
“I hooked up with Ethan at a party one night. We were both drunk. Greg found out and was pissed. The entire football team gave him hell for it, saying he wasn’t man enough to fuck me, and I had to go look for sex elsewhere. He broke up with me, but I begged him to take me back.” She blows out a long breath, regret crossing her face. “He claimed Ethan broke bro code .”
“ That was his reasoning for killing someone?” I bite out.
“Yes.” She lowers her head. “Greg and Jayden were drunk one night and complaining that Ethan was a crap friend and thought he ruled the school. That’s when they came up with their plan to cause the accident. I don’t think they wanted to kill Ethan, just scare and hurt him. They said if Ethan was hurt, it’d hurt his ego, and he wouldn’t be able to play football anymore.”
“How’d Earl get brought into it?” Adrian asks.
“Earl was Josh’s idea. The guys knew they couldn’t hurt Ethan without having someone to blame for it. They obviously didn’t want it to be them. Josh was suspended from the football team after Earl told on them for partying on the field. A scout was scheduled to watch him play at one of those games, costing Josh a possible scholarship.” She squeezes her eyes shut. “I swear, the plan was for Ethan to maybe break a leg, not kill him.”
Maybe break a leg?
Jesus.
They killed Ethan for something that petty?
Put me through hell over a high school hookup and missed football game.
“I helped them,” she says, her words barely audible.
I lean forward, resting my elbows on my desk. “What do you mean you helped?”
“I snuck into Earl’s truck, stole his key, and had it copied for Greg. I also, um … I dropped them off in the woods, so they could walk to Earl’s house and steal his truck with the copied key. After they ditched his truck, I’m also the one who picked them up.”
Silence takes over the room after her last word.
Adrian focuses on me. His only concern is how I take this.
“Why?” I ask, raising my voice. “Why would you help?”
“I thought it was some stupid prank, I guess. I didn’t know they were going to kill him. I didn’t even find out Ethan was dead or you were in the car until everyone in town started talking about it. I just wanted my boyfriend back.” She wipes a tear from her face. “I was a stupid girl in love.”
And with that, everything I’d thought I knew just went up in flames.