Page 141 of Ruthless Intent

“I did.” My right leg is bouncing, and I flatten my hand against my thigh to stop it. I don’t need anyone seeing outward signs of how talking about this affects me.

“Reports are that Jason was still alive when you entered the room.”

“He was. He was on the floor. Louisa was on the bed. It took me a minute to really understand what I was seeing, then I ran across the room. Jason was conscious, but not enough to really talk. He asked me to put him beside Louisa.”

“Louisa was already dead?”

“I think so. I’m not sure. My focus was on Jason, to begin with.”

“Did you ask who attacked him?”

“Of course I did, but all he wanted was to be near Louisa.”

“What happened then?”

“I got him on the bed, just as his sister came into the room.”

“Ashley Trumont. She was thirteen at the time, wasn’t she?”

“Something like that.”

“And it was her testimony that you were the one who killed them. That you had the knife. Did you have the knife, Zain?”

“I did not. I believe the knife was near the door. In fact, I think she tripped over it when she ran out of the room.”

“And called the police?”

“That’s right.”

“How long did it take them to arrive?”

“Not long. It’s a small town, and very little goes on here, so there was nothing else to stall their arrival.”

“And you were immediately arrested.”

“Yes.” Movement beyond the cameras catches my eye, and Ashley comes into view. She stops, and I think she’s figuring out if she’s out of range of the cameras or not.

Roxy follows the line of my gaze. “Since coming home, you’ve spent a lot of time with Ashley, haven’t you? Residents of the town have reported seeing you at dinner with her, and having breakfast.”

“We had a lot to talk about.”

“Like the fact it was her testimony that persuaded the jury you were guilty.”

“As you said earlier, she was little more than a child.”

“And now?”

“Now she knows it wasn’t me. In fact,” I turn to face the camera head-on, “since talking to Ashley, more information was brought to light that we didn’t even know at the retrial. I spent yesterday afternoon with Sheriff McFadden, and …” I pause to check my watch “... an arrest related to the murders should be getting made right about now.”

Chaos erupts around me.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT

ASHLEY

Someone is being arrested?

My initial response is to reach for my cell so I can call my mom. But my hand stops halfway to my pocket.

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