Page 49 of Warped

My eyes widened in disbelief. “They can’t believe someone like Vincent, surely?”

“It doesn’t matter if they believe him or not. It will have planted the seed of doubt in their minds, and that is enough.”

“What do you mean, it’s enough? Enough for what? For the jury to find him innocent?”

“Possibly.” She gave a long sigh and sat back, making deliberate eye contact with me. “The thing is, Verity, it doesn’t even matter if they believe you or not, because I can’t use you as a witness with this kind of information against you. I’m sorry, but I can’t take this case to court. I’m not going to jeopardize the case by putting an unreliable witness on the stand. It’s better to drop the case than take it to trial and lose.”

My mouth fell open. “I’m not unreliable!”

“In the jury’s eyes you will be, and if I put you on the stand, the defense counsel will tear you to shreds. Your prints were on the murder weapon, there’s now an eye witness against you. It’s enough for reasonable doubt, and with reasonable doubt, we can’t get your father convicted.”

“Please,” I said, panic rising up inside me. “Please, don’t do this. He has to go down for what he did. He has to!”

“I’m so sorry, Verity, but he won’t go down for this one. But men like your father don’t stay clean for long. I’m sure he’ll screw up again sometime soon, and we’ll be able to get him then.”

My dizziness had returned. “So what are you saying? That he’s just going to walk free?”

She nodded, her expression solemn. “Yes, I’m afraid that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“No, no, no.” I stood, shoving my chair away. My father would be walking the streets again. He’d come after me. He’d go after Nicole.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, shaking my head and backing away. “I have to go.”

“Verity, wait, please. Go and talk to Detective Caraway. See if they’ll put you back in the program, or at least relocate you. I understand this is a shock—”

“You don’t understand at all,” I interrupted. “He’ll kill me. He’ll track me to the ends of the earth, and he’ll kill me.”

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