“An arrest warrant has been requested for Victor Parker for first-degree murder, evidence tampering, threats, obstruction, and financial crimes.”
Victor exploded.
“Helen planted it! She always wanted everything!”
I stared at him.
“My mother was one hour from execution. When exactly did she hide evidence in a house you kept locked for six years?”
He went silent.
For the first time, the cuffs went on his wrists instead of hers.
As the guards led him away, Victor looked at me.
“You don’t know anything, Claire.”
“I know enough.”
“Your father wasn’t innocent either.”
Mom stood. “Don’t you dare.”
Victor smiled with hatred.
“Daniel was going to ruin us all. Some deaths are necessary.”
No one spoke.
He had confessed without saying the word.
The next morning, the news spread everywhere.
Execution stayed.
New evidence found.
Child names uncle as real killer.
I hated the cameras outside the prison. I hated the reporters saying my mother’s name like entertainment. But Grace Nolan, from an innocence organization, came to help us. She told me Mom had written to them years earlier.
“She never stopped fighting,” Grace said. “Even when no one answered.”
I looked away.
No one.
Including me.