Chapter 2
Monday morning
Sabre didn’t react to the confession. Years of representing kids in crisis had taught her that her first response mattered. If you looked shocked, they shut down. If you looked angry, they panicked. If you looked afraid, they stopped trusting you.
So, Sabre kept her voice steady. “Tell me what happened.”
The girl studied her face again, as if measuring something. “You don’t remember me at all?”
Sabre shook her head. “I represent a lot of kids. Sometimes faces blur together. Help me out.”
Bay looked down at the metal shelf and traced a faint scratch in the surface. “You came to see me,” she said slowly. “A long time ago.”
“When?”
“I don’t know exactly.” She frowned. “I was younger.”
“How much younger?”
“Maybe five.”
Sabre felt her stomach tighten. She would remember representing a five-year-old. “Tell me more about your case.”
“You came to see me at a place with other kids. I don’t remember the name of it. Then later, you took me home to my family.”
“Where is your family now?”
“I don’t know.”
“What are your parents’ names?”
“I can’t remember.”
“Where do you live now?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
That was odd. But Sabre let it go for now. “You were my client?”
The girl nodded with quiet certainty. “You told me if anything ever happened, I should come find you.”
Sabre felt the same chill as she had in the courtroom. Was this girl actually remembering her? Or had someone told her that story?
“Who told you not to say where you live?” Sabre asked gently.
The girl lifted her eyes again. “My guardian.”
Sabre’s instincts sharpened. “What’s his or her name?”
Bay hesitated longer this time, then shook her head. “He told me not to say.”
Sabre nodded. “Okay. We can come back to that.”
The girl watched her carefully. “He said you’d ask that first.”
Sabre felt a ripple of unease move through her. “Did he tell you what I’d ask next?”
The girl thought about it. “Yes.”
Sabre waited.
“You’re going to ask about the man I killed.”
Sabre folded her hands in her lap. “That seems like a reasonable question.”
The girl looked down again. “He deserved it.”
Sabre paused. “Did you know him?” she asked after a moment.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He was part of what happened to the other girl.”
Sabre’s pulse quickened. “What other girl?”
“The one who had disappeared.”
“Tell me about the other girl.”
“I can’t.”
Sabre sat very still. This was no longer a confused teenager making things up. Someone had given her a script. And whoever that someone was knew Sabre well enough to predict her questions.
Sabre looked at the girl carefully. “Did you ever have a different name? A different last name, maybe?”
The girl hesitated, then said, “No.”
“How old are you?”
“Fifteen.”
Sabre nodded. “Okay. Here’s what’s going to happen next.”
The girl looked relieved.
“First,” Sabre said, “I’m going to find out more about this victim. I’ll read the police report as well as do some independent checking. Then I’m going to figure out why you think I was your lawyer.”
Bay didn’t respond. She simply watched Sabre with the same strange certainty she had in the courtroom, like she already knew the outcome.
Sabre felt the unease return. This girl wasn’t just trusting her. She was expecting her to win. And Sabre had no idea why.