Page 6 of Ruthless Intent

“It’s wrong! They’ve made a mistake. I was there. I saw what he did.”

“Honey, they wouldn’t have released him if the prosecution at the time did everything by the book. That alone gave his lawyer a reason to bring the case to the judge. They don’t just take things at face value. That’s why they looked at all the evidence again.”

“Mom, he?—”

“I had a visit from someone on his legal team a couple of weeks ago, when they were certain there were solid grounds for appeal. They wanted to speak to you, and go over what you saw that night.” Her words are like a bucket of ice being thrown over me, freezing my blood.

“You … they … what?” I sink down onto the bed.

“Oh don’t worry. I didn’t tell them where you are.” She sniffs. “Although, I still don’t understand why you think you have to hide. It happened so long ago. And none of it was your fault.”

“Because I don’t want to be forever known as the girl whose brother was brutally murdered by his best friend!”

“Jason was only your half-brother. He was seven when you were born. You barely knew him. You still haven’t explained what you were doing at the house at that time of night, anyway.”

I ignore the question in her tone. I’ve stayed silent about why I left the house that night for a long time, and I don’t see the point in bringing it up now. It will only upset her.

“He spent every weekend with us until he was eighteen. He was my brother. Just because you didn’t like him being around doesn’t mean I didn’t.”

“I didn’t have any problem with him spending time with us, Ashley. When I married your father, I was more than aware he came with a son. But his mom had full time custody, so I never really had the chance to develop any kind of relationship with him. You know that. Yes, it’s sad that he died … especially in such a horrible way. It was a shock for all of us. But I’m also not so emotionally invested that I can’t acknowledge that the authorities may have made a mistake when they arrested Zain for it. I always said to your father that it didn’t make sense. They were best friends. Closer than brothers.”

“You said that at the time. I remember you fighting with Dad when he agreed to let me testify.”

Her sigh is soft. “Honey, you were thirteen years old. What you saw would upset anyone, but your father should never have agreed to putting you on the stand. You were too upset, too traumatized. I didn’t want you to have to deal with how they’d treat you during the trial. Lawyers aren’t known to be gentle.”

“You think I got it wrong.” My voice is flat. “Do you think I lied about what I saw?”

“Of course not, but I was worried that you might have been mistaken, there’s a difference. I thought there was a risk that what you saw that night became jumbled in your head and what you think you saw wasn’t what you really saw. Especially with all the questions being thrown at you. You were hysterical when your father got to the station to pick you up. Scared out of your mind by what you walked in on.”

She sighs. “I know you think you were close to Jason, honey, but the reality is he was already a grown man when you were thirteen. There were many things about his life that you had no awareness of. One of them was the situation between him, Zain, and Louisa.”

“Situation? She was Zain’s girlfriend. That was the one of the reasons he was the only suspect.”

“She was Jason’s girlfriend as well.”

“Only because she was cheating on Zain.”

“No, honey. She was openly dating both of them, and they didn’t care. It was the talk of the town.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“What reason do I have to lie to you?”

“Did Dad know? Why would Jason be okay with that?”

I wish my dad was here so I could ask him. But I’m also glad he’s not. He’d be devastated to discover that the man who murdered his son has been released. Something broke inside him with the loss of Jason.

“I don’t know. Maybe. It wasn’t something we talked about.” There’s a short silence before she speaks again, her voice careful. “Ashley, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. You were one person amongst many that gave witness statements about the case. There were witnesses that said they saw Zain and Louisa arguing a couple of days before the murder. Then he was seen fighting with Jason by someone else. You were a young girl. A girl who walked into a room where her brother had been murdered. The first thing you saw was Zain. What else are you going to think happened?”

“You just said you didn’t believe me.”

“That’s not what I said, sweetheart. I absolutely believe you walked in and found Zain standing over their bodies. I just don’t think you walked in on him killing them. I didn’t back then either. It never made sense to me. Why would he just stand there? Even after you walked in, he didn’t try to silence you.”

There isn’t a lot I can say to that. Her reasoning makes sense, but if I allow myself to think I made a mistake, then that means I helped imprison an innocent man … and I’m positive that Zain Ryder is anything but innocent. I’m sure what I saw was right.

But are you?

“I was thinking about coming home for the weekend.” There’s a tremor to my voice that I can’t stop.

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